Life with a 6 month old Cockapoo

 Ah Fozzy feels ancient now! Today is his 6 month birthday and he weighs 13.7kg. 

Pretty much straight after his 5 month birthday, we decided to stop putting him in his crate at night / when we went out. Don't get me wrong, he doesn't mind his crate at all and he still takes himself off to sleep in there at night, only now we leave the door open. 

When Fozzy was a small puppy, I thought we would always use his crate but then something just switched and he just seemed ready to be given a bit more freedom and I decided to give it a try. Fozzy has never been one to chew furniture etc.... and he is well behaved at home and the transition for us has been fine. 
We haven't used his crate when we go out during the day or at night now for a month and it's been great with no accidents etc. He feels so grown up now! 

I would probably get rid of his crate now but we are going away for a week in October and he is staying with my mam. She really wants his crate for that particular stay which makes sense as it will be his first time sleeping over there and I think it will help him to settle. And like I say, he still takes himself into his crate to sleep. I would like to change it to a dog bed now though and think we will do this and get rid of it after our holiday in October. 

Fozzy is absolutely crazy in the morning when each of us comes downstairs - jumping all over us, snuggling in and giving us all kisses. It's very sweet that he's so happy to see us. 

Fozzy starts to settle down on an evening any time from 8pm now and will sleep until after 9am sometimes. We are blessed with a good sleeper. He doesn't really nap too much during the day now compared to what he used to but he does like curling up on the sofa.

The exception to this was when we stayed in a lodge in the Peak District last month. The curtains weren't black out ones like ours at home and the combo of the light morning and noisy birds tweeting meant he got up at 5:30am. Yikes! We'll be taking black out curtains with us if we take him away in summer again. 

Fozzy is getting so much better at being out and about with us. Generally in a pub/restaurant he knows to just lie under the table now and doesn't bother us. Although sometimes he can still jump up when the food arrives. I am just trying to persist and keep at his training to minimise this. 

He's getting a little better on a lead too and doesn't pull as much but it is still hard work walking him through a town centre or in a shop - he just wants to be smelling everything and a super short lead and firm grip is usually required. Again, we are just persisting and hoping this improves through time (which I think it will). 

Fozzy is no bother in the car - he managed the drive to the Peak District just fine. 

He is still eating raw food and loves it - between 600-700g a day at the moment which feels like a lot. Once he's fully grown this will reduce though. From tomorrow we are cutting his meals down from 3 meals to 2 meals per day. I think he's ready for this now. 

I cannot put into words how much we love him. We are so pleased we made the decision to add a dog to our family. He is always just so happy to see everyone and you can't help but smile at him. I don't really feel like adding a dog to our family has been too much work at all but that is also likely because after three kids, a dog is a breeze and everyone pitches in so I never feel like I have to do all of the dog care. 

The kids are still pulling their weight 6 months in and take him for daily walks / pick up his poo / spend time playing with him. It's lovely for me seeing how much they love him and take responsibilty for him too. 

His new teeth are coming through thick and fast now and I'm sure they must be sharper as these past few weeks he has destroyed pretty much all of his soft toys. I'm sick of finding stuffing all over the place. In the past, this hasn't happened. No more stuffed toys for him now (unless they are the hard-wearing type). Sad times! 

Fozzy's favourite thing to do is play fetch at the beach or on the field next to our house and morning cuddles. He doesn't go off lead all of the time at all but when he does, his recall is excellent and like many cockapoos, he has this thing where he just wants to be around us and make us happy. Even when he's off lead he still stays next to us and is constantly looking at us for approval. 

He is a very good boy and never bothers us when we're working etc...., he just lies on the sofa or plays with his toys. 

Fozzy sometimes does a funny thing where he'll see an animal on the TV and it will walk off screen. He walks behind the TV and looks for it/gets very confused when he can't find them. 

He is also addicted to stealing socks. Trying to do the washing and keep socks away from Fozzy is a challenge to say the least. Dogs are too smart for their own good.