After being engaged for nearly a year, Alex and I have finally made the huge step into the next stage of our lives. Not as a married couple (not quite yet, anyway), but as dog owners.
Our two rescue cats, Noodle and Bartholomew Cubbins, have been a constant presence in our lives for nearly 5 years. They are the kind of cats that make adamant cat-haters love cats. They are friendly, let you pick them up and wrestle with them, and even play fetch. They are not your average cats.
However, after a lot (LOT) of discussion, Alex and I finally made the decision to bring a dog into our lives. Not just a dog; a puppy. We wanted to have the incredibly special, extraordinarily work-intensive task of raising a baby dog from the very beginning - shaping him into the perfect companion, the perfect running/hiking/swimming partner, and the perfect family member to which we can introduce our kids one day.
We had a lot of discussion on what would be the perfect breed. Although we are extremely lucky, and as city-dwellers, do have a backyard in which a dog can run, we live in a small apartment, and knew that we couldn't go with one of the larger, most active breeds. My beloved malamute, while an incredible outdoor partner and loving companion, would not have been happy in such a small space, and even though I love big, active dogs, I knew that this is not yet the ideal location for a breed such as that. Alex, surprisingly, is enamored of the little, goofy, brachycephalic dogs like the pug or bulldog, but we both agreed that we wanted a dog that would be able to keep up on a run, which, unfortunately, their short snouts can make insurmountably difficult. So what was the perfect breed for us?
Alex had previously grown up with a Golden Retriever and a Yorkshire Terrier, while my two dogs had been an Old English Sheepdog and an Alaskan Malamute. We have two cats. We both eventually (i.e. in the lifetime of this dog) want kids. We currently have a small apartment, but will eventually want more space. We love to be outdoors and active. We regularly have guests over, including new faces.
We watched a lot of Animal Planet's Dogs 101; we read a lot of books; we both considered our own knowledge, dog experience, and aesthetic desires. Our first thought was something from the terrier group. Smart, small-ish dogs who can be active and playful, but can also hang out and relax. My pick was the larger, less terrier-like Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. Alex was more drawn to the scrappier turn-spit dog, the Glenn of Imal Terrier. In the end, we eventually decided that maybe a terrier wasn't the way to go, since we didn't want his terrier instincts causing him to terrorize the cats when we weren't in the house. We were both in love with the rare and very active gun dog, the Korthal's Griffon, and the legendary marathon runner and lion-chaser, the Rhodesian Ridgeback, but neither of these dogs would fit our current Brooklyn lifestyle. So where to? We both loved the spaniels, but the Brittany and Springer are perhaps too active for two working people... The Cocker?
Cocker spaniels are legendary with children, and are incredibly sweet, loving dogs that are very loyal to their owners. And, as gun dogs, they can be extremely active and quick, with lots of endurance in the field. But Alex wasn't sold on the aesthetics of the Cocker. Both of us wanted a real dog's dog. Alex loved the scrappy appearance of the terriers and wasn't really crazy about the silky flowing show-clip of the Cocker Spaniel, even if that was just the show-clip.
And then... THEN. We started looking at the Cockapoo. The product of a Cocker Spaniel mom and a Poodle dad, the Cockapoo has the sweet nature and loving disposition of the Cocker - along with his love of the outdoors and endurance in the field, as well as the high intelligence, low-to-no-shed coat, and love of the water from the Poodle. And he looks like a little bear to top it off! We had found our perfect breed... now to find the perfect dog.
We now had to make the extremely tough decision - shelter or breeder. We've had incredible luck with shelters in the past. Both Noodle and Cubbins were from the Humane Society, and were the perfect cats - better than any cats we had ever met. But dogs are different... While cats are resilient and independent, dogs are devoted and sensitive, and can be seriously affected by their life experiences. Though we had both had dogs in the past, this was our first dog together, and we both work, and have cats and eventually kids! We really wanted to have the head-start that a really great breeder would give us - health, temperament, and a loving human who would be around for the dog's life to help and answer questions, and even board the dog when we went away and couldn't take him with us. After reviewing a number of breeders listed on the American Cockapoo Club website, we found what looked like a perfect breeder, located nearby in West Orange, NJ. We contacted her, and there was a litter that had just been born! We were in luck. We put our names down on a waiting list, and waited for the call when they were old enough to have visitors.
On August 4, when the pups were 7 weeks old, we drove to West Orange to meet our potential new family member. The breeder had anticipated that we would take the "pick of the litter" - a high-energy, dominant, first-born male. We knew we wanted a male, but after a lot of thought, decided that his medium-energy brother was the right dog for us. True, high-energy generally means easier to train, because of higher focus, but we really thought that the middle energy level was more appropriate for our lifestyle and experience. He fell asleep on Alex's lap immediately. We had made our choice, and he had made his.
One week later, on August 12, at 8 weeks, the puppies were finally ready to leave their first home and littermates. Chewston "Chewie" Bacha comes to us as a blank slate, onto which we plan to consistently project our calm-assertive energy. Our Goal: The Perfect Dog.
