Life with a 5 month old Cockapoo

Fozzy turns 5 month old tomorrow so it's time for a little update. 

His favourite things are cuddles on the sofa, eating (anything), playing fetch on the field near our house and visits from grandma. In the mornings he will climb on your knee for big cuddles which are just the best. 

He is really settled now during the day and no longer rings the bells on the back door for attention/to go out in the garden to mess about, he mostly knows my Mon-Fri routine and lies on the sofa as I work, knowing that playtime is just around the corner. 

Fozzy is an absolute joy. We all love him so much and have zero regrets. We waited a LONG time before adding a dog to our family and the time was definitely right for us. I know lots of people moan that their teens don't help out but I have to say, our three have been fab and definitely pull their weight taking Fozzy for walks, picking up his poo and playing with him. 

Fozzy sleeps in his crate and wakes up when he hears the first person go to the toilet upstairs - this is usuallya round 7am on a weekday and 8:30am on a weekend. I'm pleased he's not an early riser! He can go to sleep any time from 8pm on an evening. He likes his sleep! 

He also loves being in the garden and if we aren't looking, his favourite thing is to climb in our pond and drag our solar powered water fountain out onto the patio and start chewing it. What a scamp! We have been lucky in that he hasn't chewed any furniture so I will let him off with the pond. 

Between 4-5 months is when I would say Fozzy became fully toilet trained. I'm not saying he won't ever have another accident because that would be naive but he doesn't seem to have any now and I am past that stage of worrying about taking him indoors somewhere that he will randomly wee - I know he won't now. 

We have been giving Fozzy a little more freedom now and if we pop out for half an hour or so if I go upstairs for a shower etc...., I just leave Fozzy downstairs with free reign rather than in his crate. Don't get me wrong, he is happy in his crate but it's just easier not having to secure him each time. It's been great and he just seems to sleep on the sofa when we are out. 

I am half wondering if we should leave his crate open in the evenings now? He would still sleep in there but I like that he could jump on the sofa or stretch his legs / get some water if needed. The only thing that is stopping me is that I don't want any regression with toilet training. He would never go in his crate so if he sleeps outside of his crate, that association might not be there? I will probably give it a try in the next month or so and see how it goes. 

It has been a lot more chilled taking Fozzy out and about now. We tend to tie his lead to our table or chair if stopping somewhere for food or drinks and he mostly just lies there. I'm really looking forward to summer walks followed by beer gardens! 

Fozzy is still thriving on his raw diet, we buy most from Raw Factory / Gosforth Bark's own brand and get it delivered from there but I also top up with Morrisons and Pets at Home although these two are quite a bit more expensive. 

We had our first holiday with Fozzy. It was quite a challenge packing for a weekend away with a dog, two teens, one tween and two adults. Our car was PACKED. We managed though. However we will definitely be investing in a roof box at some point. He was great - we took his crate and bells for the door and there were no issues at all. Most importantly though, Fozzy had a brilliant time. I'll be sharing more about our weekend in Rothbury soon. 

Fozzy currently always has a 20 minute walk at 7am (ish - or whenever we get up) and a 20 minute walk at 4pm ish plus usually a 20 minute walk at lunch time (or playing fetch on the field) and/or late at night depending on if we feel like he needs it. More often that not, he seems pretty content just with us at home and in the garden at the moment.

On my days off and the weekends we usually go for a longer walk / trip out but we try to keep these to a max of 30 minute stretches at a time as I know puppys' bones are still developing until they are one and longer walks are not advised due to the risk of arthritis in later life. 

He does enjoy a longer walk occassionally though, usually when I haven't realised how long somewhere is. I am ok with this as long as it's not a regular occurance. 

Fozzy's friend Ollie still visits us on a Saturday. Fozzy does still try and play fight with Ollie when he arrives and does all the classics of bowing down, sneezing, spinning around, putting his bum in Ollie's face! Haha it's like watching our very own live action nature documentary. 

After a few minutes I usually stop this behaviour now though as Fozzy just ends up getting over excited. Both dogs are then really settled with each other and get along great. 

One thing Fozzy is obsessed with is other people and kids. When we're walking, it's the people he'll make a beeline for more than dogs. He just loves the attention and is very sociable. He thinks that everyone is going to stop and give him attention / a stroke which obviously isn't the case. I'm hoping as he gets older, he will still love people but he will calm down a little and not get over excited when he sees someone approaching. 

All of us find ourselves saying how much we love Fozzy and he's just the best all of the time. Steve found a meme and sent it to our whatsapp group where husbands will walk past their wife and say 'you're so cute' I love you' and head straight for the dog. This is so funny and so true for all of us - we all do this. 

Fozzy doesn't mind a bath, he has had two so far and he has just kind of stood there but he isn't keen on getting brushed still. He just constantly tries to bite the brush as we're grooming him. I try putting something else in his mouth but he just wants the brush. I'm tempted to buy a second brush for him to chew on as I brush him and see if that works. 

On the whole though, his biting has really calmed down now and he's not *so* much of a crocodile. Some of his grown up teeth are coming in now. 

So that's Fozzy at five months. I feel like he has been a breeze this month and has just fit perfectly into our family. He is my little shadow and follows me around constantly but he is also absolutely fine being left at home alone too which I am super thankful for. 

However whenever I visit somewhere without Fozzy I absolutely hate it as I miss him and feel sad that he can't be with us / part of our day. Yes, I am becoming one of those people who wants to take their dog everywhere!