Cooper is Blue

Whenever we go away from the house, or to bed at night, Cooper goes to his crate…

Well, we stuck Cooper in his crate, ran errands, and when we came back we noticed his front paws, mouth, and one side of his rear he sits on was blue. Apparently one of the kids must have put a marker either in his crate or near it (to be pulled in).

I laughed while talking to my husband… figured if anyone asks, I’ll just say he was eating Smurfs! ~*Giggles*~

Bit me in the butt/box

I have a bad habit, of giving Cooper a box, to play with and break apart (it gets him from under my feet for a few moments)… so when today’s events happened, hubby was right, it was all my fault.

The teacher asked me if I could stamp the inside of each book, wrap it, and keep it a secret from my son (her student).

It didn’t take me long to do the task at hand, and I was happy, and got through it pretty quick!

When I came home, I had set the diaper bag and box on the couch, grabbed the contents, and went to work in the other room (up and away from Cooper who is 5 months old). I walked into the living room after I was done, something looked off and it took me a moment to realize… he ate the box!

~*Sorry*~

On a positive note, the portion (books, stamp, ink, wrapping) that was important, remained safer than my child’s home work (he only ate his homework once, thank God).

I joked with hubby, over the phone, as he reminded me I am the one that allowed the bad behavior (the box the two gallons of milk come in, hubby’s soda boxes, etc.)… is why it “came back to bite me in the box (rear)”…

Baby Tooth

This is NOT his first tooth, but it is the only baby tooth I have!!! I was extremely excited today to actually catch it hanging to the gum. I was playing with him, Kong Stick, fetch. I literally pinned the puppy down, and tried my best to grip the tiny tooth (his right, bottom, canine tooth).

At one point I was trying to get Cooper to stay still, to tie a piece of string, it was barely hanging on and his drool was preventing me from using my finger. That of course didn’t work, because the tooth would go back into the hole it created while coming out, and it is so tiny the string kept slipping back off. So much for the approach I’ve seen some parents do on TV with normal kids…

When that stopped working, I tried my best to grip the bottom of the tooth (where it used to hang into the gums), I figured it was jagged… IT WORKED!!! Now I have a baby tooth to add to his baby book!!! I am pretty sure previous baby teeth have either been vacuumed up or swallowed.

This means a lot to me because Cooper is like one of my children, and he’s the boys’ first dog… but thankfully, even if I wasn’t afforded this small blessing, he is in enough family photos that he’ll be remembered and talked about with my future grandchildren.

(small note: I can’t wait for his next set of classes to start! The trainer is amazing and gifted with her profession, and I look forward to a dog that can be loved by others. Right now his biggest issue is that he gets hyper and jumps on people, and I think it is “naughty/rude”.)

Alligator Baby Momma

This past month, Cooper has picked up a new hobby/habit, which can only be described as “Alligator Baby Momma”…

He picks up a snail, and gently holds the poor creature in his mouth, careful to never hurt it. The snail in the mean time is trying to act like a turtle and go back into its shell, and he is please with simply carrying his new baby.

I now find myself when taking him out trying to throw the snails back into the bushes before he realizes it is there. I feel bad for the poor snails, but I also don’t want to find them slithering through my home.

~*Cooper’s First Easter*~

Cooper is a part of our family, which means we had to as a family… do things that he enjoys! He got a ducky that says “My First Easter”, all we could find.

We made our way to a dog park by the end of the day, to give Cooper something he enjoys. He ended up for the first time being attacked, a Doberman had him pinned down (didn’t actually hurt him), but the owner freaked out (hitting his own dog). He yipped, ran and hid over my legs, and was clearly scared to death! He wasn’t actually hurt; he was getting his rear chewed for trying to get a bigger dog to play… Cooper hasn’t quite figured out the “dog language”. And he has run from a Yorkie in the past that was tugging at its leash and acting very aggressive. Cooper is not hostile or violent in any way shape or form (he runs the opposite direction, he is the gentle giant).

Cooper seems to think that everyone, and everything, is a friend… he up until Easter Sunday, never met anyone that he didn’t like. He spent the remainder of his time at the dog park avoiding the Doberman that pinned him down. The owner was amazing, and responsible. He even re-checked Cooper after all calmed down… made sure there were no marks, not hurt, and let us know he was “sorry”.

Apparently when his dog was little, it was attacked at the dog park, and it has had issues with dogs that continually get into its personal space. My husband stated to me after we got home that if a dog has known issues it should be integrated with other dogs, and I can see his point, thank God nothing horrible happened (Cooper is the kids’ first dog, and they witnessed it all). My side is this, if the dog has issues with personal space, and the man was constantly with/near his dog, what better way to help it face fears and become a better dog than to be there? I am just grateful Cooper is well adjusted, for the most part behaved, and on his way to being the perfect family member for our family.

Every dog is different, much like human kids, and each one gives us different lessons in life and challenges to face!

~*Excited*~

Once the chaos of the holidays have passed, Cooper will start his new classes... I have hoping he is as well behaved as the neighbor's dog. Might need an added set of classes, he is after all young (and shorter attention span). You can tell when he remembers or really likes someone, he gets really excited, and hyper!!! Thankfully I can still count those on my one hand, otherwise I'd have more of a handful...

I tried having him "sit", learn to control himself, and keeping him "calm"... he is a gentleman in the making! ~*Cheers*~

Furr-tography at DogPark

~*Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012*~

Apparently my husband thought it would be a good idea if I took the puppy to the dog park today. His thinking was that after a few days the ground shouldn’t be too wet and before the next round of rain hits… Mud puddles we all over!

It wasn’t long before Cooper pounced in the puddles, rooted with almost half his face, and plopped down in the middle of a few… had to keep hosing him off while there.

Cooper ignored the bubbles that his kids were blowing, and found a pair of hounds, and they all barked at squirrels.

Before long, Cooper was going from dog to dog, and having the time of his life! He was roughhousing, chasing, and mainly being chased. He ran after long forgotten balls and frisbees… and once home he got a bath (now smells like a coconut)!!!