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Costos Roatch

Sid said he needed a dog. I said that if that was the case the criteria was that it would be small enough to be washed in the laundry trough, short haired and be female. We were advised against a Dalmatian, the fireman’s dog, as they were very active.

The advertisement said “Cocker Spaniel X” and we paid $80 for him. We’d never paid for a dog before so we called him “Costos”.

At least for a few months, he was small enough to be washed in the trough! He was short-haired, which he dropped wherever he stood, and he was never a GIRL. There was nothing genteel about this lad. He was active, demanding and demonstrative from start to finish and we laughed at his antics so very often.

I kept telling Costos “I don’t even like you” and he loved me for it, showing his love with big sloppy kisses. Sid and I agreed that the daily walks would be shared but it soon turned out that Cos and I developed quite a relationship as we checked out the neighbourhood together.

One day, while doing figure 8’s on the front lawn at his usual speed of 100 mph, he tore the Anterior Cruciate Ligament in his knee. Our wonderful vet, Gavin, from St Francis Veterinary Clinic, lovingly put him back together again. Keep him quiet, Gavin said. That was never going to happen! This was Costos we were speaking about! He did get better.

Then, sadly, Cos snapped his other ACL. Gavin returned from an overseas trip to reconstruct Costos’ other knee. I hated seeing Cos in so much pain and somewhere along the line I forgot to tell him that I didn’t even like him. He never forgot, though, to wash my face at every opportunity. He got better again.

Cos gave us so many laughs with his unending craziness. And he loved us unconditionally. He liked to think he was brave but that bravery only went as deep as his spotted skin. He didn’t have spots when he was a puppy but as he grew it seemed that the “X” in that Cocker Spaniel puppy was the active Dalmatian we were advised against!.

His walks around the block got shorter and slower. Towards the end I felt like I was going backwards while he sniffed and wee-d on every blade of grass. On his final morning, he still demanded his breakfast and his walk and although I figured that it would be his last, I couldn’t deny him his pleasure.

Where did those 12 years ago? He drove me crazy most of the time with his bounding energy but he loved us all so much and we loved him too. It was a very sad parting. Now, when we think of his smiling face, it brings smiles to ours. As Sid kept saying, “he was the comedian of the dog world.”

We are forever grateful for the care and compassion shown to Cos and to us by Gavin and all the staff at the St Francis Veterinary Clinic in Osborne Park during his many visits there.

Helen and Sid Roatch and that cat