My Cockers

Rusty

       Rusty was my first dog, which I'll never forget. We adopted him at a shelter in Perth Amboy, NJ on August 12, 1995; he was four or five years old at the time. We were all lucky we did, because all the animals were going to be put to sleep the next day. We took him home and did not know what to do with him and he did not know what to do with us. The weeks passed and we got to know each other better. By Christmas he was helping us open our presents (tearing them open without us even knowing). I even taught him to sit, stay, paw, and roll over at age 5, who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

        We took him every where with us, to the park, to the store, for a walk, and he enjoyed every minute of it. The only things he did not like were baths, rain, and big loud machines. He loved chewing on rawhide, and squeaky toys. He also loved eating acorns, which was also the cause of his death.

        On February 4, 1999 he ate an acorn without us knowing. A few hours later he started vomiting and was not comfortable lying down. We took him to an emergency hospital and they took x-rays. The next day my dad took him to our local vet who had the x-rays. He had an object stuck in his intestines. We got a referral to go to an animal hospital where he had surgery. They found out that the object was an acorn, and sewed up the intestines, his recovery was optimistic. A few hours later he had a second operation to make sure everything was O.K. but it was not. His intestines were pink, which were not supposed to be. The doctors found out that his liver was damaged (from the Phenobarbital he was taking because he had seizures and that helped control it) and was not helping the recovery. The vet's office called and said he had to be put to sleep or he would suffer and die anyway. He passed away with dignity and honor on February 6, 1999.

Boomer  (A.K.A. Boom-Boom or Goober)

        We adopted Boomer in April '99. We got him from a Cocker rescue organization in Somerville, NJ --- Cocker Adoption Center. He was about 11 months old. He was sent in from a breeder who could not take care of her dogs and more because she developed MS. No one was adopting him because he got a gene of a chocolate Cocker Spaniel and was born with a brown nose, instead of black and green eyes instead of dark brown, so we adopted him! He is still very much a puppy, full of energy (he literally never gets tired) and very playful. He knows how to play fetch and was taught simple commands like sit, stay, and paw very quickly and even gives high-fives! He takes peoples socks and runs around with them.  He also loves squeaky toys, he pounces on them (I think he is half cat!). Now how could anyone resist such a cutie?

Click to view my other "Cocker Spaniel", Olga