❤ Cosmo

Cosmo and Ellie

Cosmo, Sunny and Ellie - Ellie spent about 4 months with us before she went with Chad and Kathleen.

In April of 1991, Sunny and Solo produced their second litter of 12 Golden pups. As owner of the stud, we took two females. I wanted to keep one and my sister wanted the other one. During the selection process, we went to visit the puppies many time. One particular female would always come over and crawl on my lap. It was Cosmo and she went home with us to be our third dog and first Sunny puppy. Andi picked out Ellie as the chosen one to be sent to my sister.

Ellie and Cosmo 6 weeks old

They were also know as Spike and Snowball before they had their real names

The only photo of both girls with their Papa dog when they were puppies

We kept the girls together until they were 16 weeks old. It was very emotional for Andi to send Ellie away, even though we always knew that was her fate. Cosmo settled in with us and became Sadie #2's worst nightmare and Sunny's lifetime companion. Even though all puppies are bratty (Cosmo was no exception), she was amazingly easy to train and break of any undesirable behavior. She loved all humans and went out of her way to greet everyone with a kiss and those big brown eyes. (More about Cosmo on the "Remembering Devo" blog.

Ellie and Cosmo 10 years old

We eventually got Ellie back after a year. Since Sadie#2 was now with Andi's Mom, Ellie became our third Golden. As much as we adored Ellie, I’m here to tell you that 3 dogs in the city are many magnitudes more work than 2 (especially since they were related to Sunny!). We were thrilled to death when our friends Chad and Kathleen asked about adopting Ellie. We quickly agreed and Ellie lived out the rest of her wonderful life with Chad and Kathleen and received just as much unconditional love as she gave.


Cosmo and Sunny

The first six years of our life as owners of a pair of Goldens (1991 to 1997) .... Sunny and his (our) baby girl Cosmo. They were a terrific team, Sunny as the protector and guiding light, Cosmo as the child prodigy and ying to his yang. Sadie#2 was now living with Grambo (Andi's Mom) and Ellie had been adopted by Chad and Kathleen, so Ken, Andi and the two Goldies found their way to perfect pack harmony over the next six years. We lived in Bellevue, had a nice backyard, the best dog sitter in the world (our neighbor Walta) and took the dogs EVERYWHERE.

Little Cosmo and PaPa dog Sunny - KT, his bald spot and funky socks!

So many stories, far too many to tell them all, but here are a few of my favorites:

-- The off-leash park at Luther Burbank on Mercer Island was one of our favorite spots. It had a large lakefront access for the dogs to swim. Cosmo was a retrieving machine, swimming out as far as I could throw the dummy and bringing it back no matter what was in the way. Sunny would swim in circles about 20 yards out, biting the waves and sharking anything thrown by other owners for their dogs. After awhile he would decide he wanted to chase the long ones, so I'd have to hold Cosmo so he could retrieve. If I didn't, she would leave him in the dust. I never saw another dog of any breed out swim her.

Scanned proof from a formal portrait session - 1992

-- They loved to hang out in the back of the pick-up no matter where we would go. We'd NEVER have to worry about them jumping out and running off. If we were in sight, the whole back would be open, close by, the top window would be open and if we were gone inside for something, we'd lock them in. We used to test them once in awhile by having a friendly stranger try to coax them out. They never succeeded in prying them loose. Sunny was so friendly, he would lean forward and his momentum would take him out, but he always turned around and immediately jumped back in. They just knew where they belonged.

We love our truck!

-- As the day got longer our walks would take us down to a large grade school/middle school complex. As the two Goldies went sniffing and exploring, I would steal off and hide. Andi would alert the dogs I was missing and send them to look for me. Oh they loved this game. We called it "ditch-em" and it really taught them that when they were off-leash they were always to keep an eye on Dad. It would eventually save their lives.


How Cosmo got her name -- She was Cosmo before Kramer - this is where I got her name in 1991. From the Patricia Clarkson character on an old TV sitcom called Davis Rules