Exactly six years ago today, I met Cosmo the Dog.
I lived with my brother at the time and I went to someplace in West Covina and looked at a bunch of different puppies. Cosmo was the first one I saw and the first one to jump into my arms and struggle to get ahead of all the other puppies. He WANTED to see me. He NEEDED me. And I fell in love immediately. He had such spunk. Such personality.
Now, remember, I was a very young barely 24 year old (I had just had a birthday). I didn’t know about “puppy-mills” or shelters. I mean, I just thought the shelters kept all the puppies — I never really knew they were “put down”. Had I known, I wouldn’t have “bought” Cosmo, but found a shelter and saved a pup. But I still remember finding an ad in the Pennysaver, driving to a woman whose name was Denise Kiss. My mom’s name is Dennise so I remember it easily. She didn’t want to accept a check because she was afraid it would bounce since she didn’t know me (I mean, even if she did know me — I was 24 and had bounced a few checks). Once she saw how much I loved Cosmo and how much the puppy loved me back, she said she’d accept a check no problem.
I drove home with him on my arm the entire time. He couldn’t have weighed any where near a pound.
I walked into the house with him and my brother was on the couch, taking a nap. I placed Cosmo on his chest and he woke up and said, “What is that? Is that a dog?” Actually, looking back on it, I’m not even sure if I ever asked him if he was okay with me getting a dog. Heheheh…*drawing circle in sand with toe*…sorry ’bout that, Brother.
I think they loved each other immediately too. We went to the pet store and got him food and toys and he was so awesome. Still is awesome. Even if it did take me about 3 years to potty-train him.
About 10 days after I got Cosmo, he got incredibly sick. I mean, seizures-barfing-whining-taking-him-to-the-puppy-ER-in-the-middle-of-the-night sick. We almost lost him and my brother got up in the middle of the night with me and took care of him and knew what to do and knew where to go. I just shut down, but my brother really put the plan in action to save his little life. I think that is the night I knew he could make a fantastic doctor. I know it’s the night I decided I could trust him with just about anything.
The doctors first thought he was hypo-glycemic (which is hilarious because my mom is hypoglycemic and then it would “run in the family”), then found that he had a parasite running around his little body. He weighed in at .6 lbs when he was sick. POINT six, people. He was a sick little boy — which is, I’m sure, the reason I’ve babied him his entire life. And that’s probably why he is on the “bratty” side. I think having a pet is good practice before having a child. Hopefully, I’ve learned from my mistakes. And Cosmo doesn’t have to grow up to be a productive member of society so I don’t really care how bratty he is. He’s my boy.
And I couldn’t love him more.
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