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Cozmo Is 5 Months Old

Cozmo Is 5 Months Old

Today my little man is five months old and weighing in at a healthy 57 pounds. This year is clipping along quickley and it is hard to believe that three months has passed since I brought Cozmo home.

Cozmo’s 5 Month Progress Report:

  • Crate trained
  • Potty trained
  • Both testicles present and accounted for
  • Shots and vaccinations completed
  • Preventative treatment for heartworm and fleas/ticks started
  • Some basic manners
  • Enrolled and attending Doggie Daycare
  • Teething – still teething but the end is near
  • Ears – ears are still wild and crazy

We are in the very beginning stages of obedience on leash and have yet to start protection work.

Cozmo is confident and very much an alpha male yet his dispostion is also sweet and loving. He has a calmness about him, is a bit of a thinker, has displayed a sense of humor and has definitely bonded with his household pack members.

Today is Cozmo’s third session in doggie daycare and he already loves it.  I drop him off twice a week for supervised play and socialization. Socialization and exposure to other dogs and people is a must with any dog and especially a large breed dog. I do not believe in dog parks so for me, doggie day care is an alternative solution that I am comfortable with.

On “play days” (a.k.a. doggie daycare) my little big dog comes home tired and hungry and continues to be mellow into the following day. As far as I’m concerned, this is a win-win situation for everyone in my household.

 

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Cozmo Is 13 Weeks Old

Cozmo Is 13 Weeks Old

At thirteen weeks of age, Cozmo weighed in at a dainty 31.3 pounds. The receptionist at the vet office made the observation that I was no longer carrying the little guy.
I have some observations of my own:

• The more I feed Baby Bigfoot, the more he eats
• The more squeaky toys I purchase the more Cozmo prefers to chew on me
• Anyone who has a puppy and does not crate train, is truly insane
• Anyone who has small children, is even more insane
• Anyone with small children AND a puppy = showoff

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Cozmo Is 12 Weeks Old

Cozmo Is 12 Weeks Old

At twelve weeks of age, my little man weighed in at 26 + pounds.  Over the course of a month Cozmo easily transitioned into a new household and routine.  He is definitely going to be a momma’s boy but has become more independent and no longer likes to be picked up or tolerates being held.

Over the past month we have mastered crate training and done a couple of upgrades in crate size.  From the crate to the backyard is no longer a “mad dash” to make it to the lawn for a potty break.  Cozmo has learned from the crate we go to the door and from the door we go to the lawn for potty relief. 

Cozmo and I successfully spent our first day together driving eight hours to get home so traveling in the vehicle is no biggie.  He came with a good foundation of being environmentally exposed to people and noises from the breeder.  At eight weeks of age Cozmo arrived at my house curious and confident and is now wavering between confident and cocky. 

Little man has a solid sit, understands that really good things come from the refrigerator and has the attention span of well…a puppy!

 

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Cozmo’s 1st Play Date

Cozmo’s 1st Play Date

Cozmo had his first official play date and… it was with an older woman!

Thank you Chickie Bunny (Yellow Lab) and the Hendricks clan (Chickie’s Guardians) for hosting the play date.

A  big shout out for the puppy fruit platter.  It has provided the kid with hours of squeaky fun!!!

Cozmos 1st Play Date

Cozmo's Fruit Platter

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Puppy Crate Training & Cozmo

Puppy Crate Training & Cozmo

Cozmo’s introduction to crate training took place the morning I picked him up and prepared to leave the breeder’s residence.  Cozmo resisted being placed into the puppy size crate inside my vehicle and then briefly cried, screamed and carried on.  By the time we reached the end of the breeder’s drive, Cozmo had quieted down.  A few miles down the road I took the opportunity to take a peek into the crate and found Cozmo sound asleep. 

The trip home was approximately 500 miles and almost an eight hour drive.  Inside his crate, Cozmo had no potty accidents, no tummy issues, and experienced no car sickness.  A lot of people are amazed by this but I confidently had expected to have no issues.  My confidence level was based on the following factors:

  • German shepherd’s are smart
  • I paid extra for the alpha male in the litter
  • I was placing my puppy into an appropriate sized crate
  • I planned on making frequent stops

Along the way we made four stops for potty, play and water – no food until we made it home.  After each stop Cozmo was placed back into his puppy crate and each time he fussed something fierce before settling down and taking a snooze.

From the start, when placing Cozmo into his crate, I have been consistent with the commands “kennel” and “good kennel” and always given a food treat once inside.  I have also ignored barking, howling and whining fits when first placed into the crate.  Barking, howling and whining in the crate during the middle of the night, early morning hours, or after a nap initiates a swift trip outdoors for a potty break.

The picture in this post illustrates Cozmo’s initial feelings towards crate training. 

Cozmo and I are three weeks into our journey together and his crate has been integrated into our daily routine.  Car rides are not an issue, he willingly enters the crate on his own in exchange for a yummy treat, and initial protests are becoming fewer and farther between.  Bedtime in the crate is a routine that has not been an issue from first night home.   

Until Cozmo is through the antics, energy and chewing phases of puppyhood, the trusty crate will keep the house intact and everyone safe and sane.

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New Puppy = New Routines

New Puppy = New Routines

A new puppy is exciting, exhilarating and exhausting all rolled into one little bundle of fur and pointy teeth.  Holy terror’s when awake and perfect angels when asleep.

Cozmo’s first few days were spent adjusting to his new surroundings.  A feeding schedule was established, a zillion potty trips were made outside, the cat went missing, and a lot of visitors stopped by to check out my long awaited (and well researched) new addition.       

The normal everyday routine from a few days ago has been forever altered.  New energy is in the house and the new “routine” will be a work in progress over the next few years. 

The picture depicts my little guy with a full tummy and passed out after a busy afternoon of meet and greets and lots of fresh air.

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Cozmo Is Home

Cozmo Is Home

I picked up my little man from the breeder at eight weeks of age on Friday February 3, 2012.

Cozmo and I hit the road and spent the entire day driving. Nearly five hundred miles later, we reached home sweet home. No accidents in the crate and no major issues to speak of.

Once home, meet and greets were performed and we checked out the new pad. Cozmo inhaled some chow and we made several trips to the yard before retiring for the night.

I placed his crate on my bed and we both settled in after a very long and exciting day. Cozmo fussed only once during the night which resulted in a trip outside and some much needed puppy bladder relief.

No issues settling down once back inside and crated. I woke up two separate times during the night and heard Cozmo entertaining himself with a plush toy and rawhide I had placed in his crate and that had thankfully been given to us by the breeder.

When I began to stir Saturday morning I immediately heard the thump, thump, thump of a tail wagging inside of a crate. The day was off to a good start!

 

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New German Shepherd Puppy – Cozmo

New German Shepherd Puppy – Cozmo

I have been without a dog for over a year but that is going to soon change.

Here is my new little man at six weeks of age and weighing in at around 12 pounds.

Cozmo will be coming home soon so stay tuned!

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Bruno’s Blog – Final Post And Final Thoughts

Bruno’s Blog – Final Post And Final Thoughts

Change is inevitable, change is hard and change is good.   Bruno’s absence brought change and a lot of it.  I packed up his Kong’s, collars and leashes, gave away his food and cookies, and cleared the counters of supplements and pills.  The first few weeks were emotionally hard as I updated friends and acquaintances on Bruno’s passing. 

By letting Bruno move on it was time for me to move forward as well.  Physical ailments that I had been suffering from decreased in severity and I realized how much lighter and clearer I felt mentally.   Bruno’s battle with Degenerative Myelopathy had not only affected him, but mentally and physically it had consumed me as well.      

Within a month of Bruno’s passing I made numerous lifestyle changes.  The circumstances and timing were opportunistic and as things fell into place, moving on just felt “right”.  Old doors were not closing, new doors were opening.             

It has been over a year that I have been without my beloved Bruno.  I still miss him but my heart no longer hurts.  I am grateful for the journey we shared together and thankful for the antics, protection, laughter, joy, comfort, knowledge and unconditional love he gave me.      

 

 

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Checking in With Bruno – Session with Karen Anderson, Pet Psychic

Checking in With Bruno – Session with Karen Anderson, Pet Psychic

Wednesday afternoon, September 22, 2010, I made phone contact with Pet Psychic Karen Anderson for an appointment I had booked the previous Friday.

Karen asked if we were going to be checking in on my boy today which I confirmed.  Karen then stated that from my appointment notes it looks as though he is suffering mostly from old age.  I told Karen that when I made the appointment Bruno was with us but that I put him down the following day.  Karen gave me a heartfelt condolences and I stated, “I think he has been ready.”  Karen confirmed I was 100% correct, Bruno had been ready. 

Karen shared she recently had to put down a pet of 13 years and completely understood how hard it is to end your pet’s existence and one of the worst decisions in the world to make.  I told her the decision had been easier than I thought it would be when I finally admitted to myself Bruno was in a lot more pain than he was letting onto and he was struggling and merely existing instead of living.  I relayed to Karen that on Friday September 17, 2010 I did not get out of bed expecting the chain of events that occurred over the next day and a half.  I told Karen that after I had booked the appointment with her I realized nothing was going to improve for Bruno between Friday and today and his existence, at this point, was more for me than for him.  I took Bruno into the vet the following day (Saturday September 18, 2010) to be euthanized and let him go.  I voiced I did not feel the appointment went exactly smooth but it had been comforting for me.  Karen stated the entire process is way harder on us (humans) than for them (pets).

For the session Karen asked if I wanted to check in with Bruno to see how he was doing and what messages he had.  I told Karen I had originally made the appointment out of desperation, I even thought about cancelling but decided not to.  The message I wanted to send to Bruno was if I had waited too long to let him go, I wanted to apologize to him and let him know that I am okay.

With that, Karen started the session.

Immediately Karen stated that a human energy was coming through along with Bruno’s energy and Karen asked me if I was open to their messages as well.  I stated I was.  Karen focused on Bruno’s energy first and stated that she had love, love, love coming through, both the word love and the feeling of love.  Karen said she also had a light feeling, a light hearted feeling, a very causal feeling, a very comfortable easy feeling coming through from him. 

He just kind of saunters in and plops down, not making a big fuss about anything in particular; just kind of working his way into my space and letting me know he is here.  He brings with him an older female energy.   When I say older I mean older than you.  It could be a mother or grandmother energy.  It is usually someone in your close family circle and I’ll get to her energy in a minute.  I just want Bruno to go ahead and share. 

He is saying that he did not want to go into a critical situation and that it worked out just fine for him.  He said that he would rather it go peacefully than to endure anymore trauma.  He is saying that he understands everything that happened; his heart will always be with you and his family.  He says that worries and troubles are all gone and he wants me to thank you for that.  He is telling me it feels like he can actually move again and breathe again.  He is saying that he feels so lucky and so grateful to have been able to spend this time with you. 

He says he was greeted by this older female energy.  Karen than said she was going to describe her to me and asked me to confirm if I recognized who this is.  I am seeing somebody come through and she has a very big smile on her face.  It looks like she has either a flowered dress or a top with flowers on it but it is very brightly colored and it looks like she has round cheeks.  She could not smile any bigger, that is how big her smile is and she wants me to talk about the S name as in Steve, Sam or Sarah . . . I need to talk about the S name.  Karen asked me if this sounded like somebody I recognized.  I told her it did not.  Karen said that she had the feeling that this was a motherly or grandmotherly kind of feeling coming through.  She is very bouncy, very upbeat.  She is all smiles with lots of happy energy around her and this is not a shy quiet person coming through.  She is literally like a burst of sunshine when she comes into my space. 

She is telling me she was there to greet him and that she welcomed him into the family group or family collective souls, so to speak.  She is also talking about some kind of tile work that has been done or is being done with you or with somebody connected to you.  I confirmed that my parents have tile in their kitchen that is torn up and waiting to be replaced.  Karen said she basically needed to comment on that, she is (the female energy) seeing that going on.  Bruno knows your mom and dad too right?  Yes, I confirmed.  Okay, because he is saying that they are very loving towards him and he is very loving towards them.  Yes, I confirmed again.  I need to send a shout out to your mom and dad from Bruno. 

Is there a Steve?  Dumbfounded, I relayed I had an older cousin named Steven who had passed about ten years ago.  Okay, because he keeps whispering it in my ear tell her Steve, tell her Steve.  So I have Steve here as well.  Karen explained that even if we were not close to somebody or knew them physically in our life they would be here for us and take care of our animals when they transition.  Karen commented that it’s amazing how connected we all are and how the family group, family unit stays together. 

Bruno is also telling me it is like he left his body even before the injection.   He says he was so ready to go that he was excitedly leaving his body before it was even time for him to go.  Karen stated that he must have gone very, very quickly.  I thought he did but it did not exactly go smoothly.  Karen than said the view from my perspective can very different than his perspective.  If they have poor circulation at the time of injection, the body can retaliate but he is making me feel that he was so ready to go.  I responded that was what I felt on Friday after I had made the appointment with her and as the day dragged on I felt that there was no point in prolonging the inevitable.  Karen agreed there is no point, it becomes about us being selfish and not wanting to do ultimately what we have to do.

Karen said that Bruno was telling her he had a very deep and constant burning inside. “I am seeing literally bottles of pills and he says that they were barely working anymore.”  He said he felt like the pain was everywhere.  I asked him where he was hurting and he is telling me everywhere.  He felt like he could barely maneuver around and he had very limited mobility.  He says, “I was old and feeble and hardly but a shell of who I used to be.”  I commented, “he is right.”  He says that my time has come to leave and I will continue my journey; now I can do this with feeling good and not having any of this heaviness surrounding me.  He said literally his entire system was failing him.  I feel like someone going through the house and shutting all the lights off, that is how I feel in his body. Things were just failing on him to the point where obviously he could not go on anymore. 

He says something about not being able to relax.  Is that what was going on?  I responded yes, lately it was like he could not get comfortable and it was hard for him to get up and move.  He would come to me and want my attention and I just felt like there was nothing I could do for him.  He keeps saying to me not being able to relax and there is just a feeling of not being able to get rest, that is what he is sending me and it does not feel very good to be that way.  I inserted that he was restless but he could not pace, and he was uncomfortable and I could sense that. 

Karen said that his energy was in the recovery stage meaning he is getting all the attention he needs.  He is getting all the re-energizing that his body was drained from; it is all coming back to him now.  “I have all of this attention and everyone around me taking good care of me.”  He says that there is someone with him (Karen starts to laugh a bit) and I do not know if this is the same female energy that I described to you before but he says that there is someone with him that is very glamorous and that is his word.  (I begin to laugh at this point)  He says she is very glamorous and I am getting the imagery of a Hollywood kind of celebrity or movie star.  It looks like someone from the black and white era of pictures so this is somebody from long past but he is using the word glamorous.  I asked Karen if he was happy with that.  Karen laughed and said, “oh yeah.”  I commented that he thinks very highly of himself so I am sure he would think that is a good match.  Karen again laughed and commented that being around someone glamorous is a good match for him. 

I have absolutely no complaints or no regrets from him what-so-ever.  He actually apologizes for you having to plan your life and work schedule around him, and having to put him first all the time.  “I need to go take care of him,” – that sort of thing.   

No complaints at all about the timing or the transition or anything.  Karen stated that I had made the right decision.  I followed my gut, I followed my instincts and I did everything right.   Karen commented that Bruno supports my decision and then said that if I could see him he looks like this big spoiled boy sitting there and he is basking in it.  He is truly, truly a happy boy coming through right now.

We began to end the session and Karen told me to hold the thought in my mind of how much I love this handsome boy.  How there will never ever be another one like him nor do we want there to be anybody that can hold a candle to him.  Karen thanked Bruno for coming through and the other energies, Steven and the female energy that came through came as well.

Karen’s final comments were that there is no better message from departed loved ones than they are doing great, they are adjusting and they are happy.  Karen reminded me that I sent Bruno off to be free and that the bond of love will always be there, that we will always be connected, and he will always be a part of my life.  Karen’s session brought tears, laughter, comfort, wonderment and closure for me. 

Bruno had been ready to move on and was doing just fine.  I was comforted that family was waiting for him when he transitioned and it even appeared that he had already found himself a new glamorous sidekick.  The “glamorous” reference makes me laugh.  I happen to be nowhere near glamorous in appearance or lifestyle and that word is not even in my vocabulary.  So, “glamorous” came out of the clear blue but I can certainly see Bruno digging someone with clout who would appreciate his beauty.

Immediately after the session ended I knew the female energy that first appeared was my cousin Diane who had passed almost 20 years ago.  The male energy Steven, is Diane’s younger brother.  The two of them being together makes sense and is an easy connection for me to make.  My older sister listened to the recorded session and instantly agreed that the female energy was Cousin Diane.  My sister also confirmed that Karen’s description of Diane was fitting.  I shared the session with my parents and to my surprise, my mother understood the reference to the brightly flowered dress.  When Diane was a young teenager my mother let her pick out bright flowered material and helped her sew a dress out of it.  This occurred long before my sister and I arrived into the family and was the first time I had heard this story.

I should have made the connection to Diane during the session but I was so focused on Bruno that the other “energies” caught me off guard and I was unable to process while in the moment.  In hindsight, I am very grateful to all of the energies who came through during my session.  It is nice to know our loved ones are together, looking after our cherished pets and still keeping a watchful eye on the rest of us.    

 

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