Coopernicus Lee

The other night, I had the worst dream for a dog-owner. Cooper died. I woke up hysterically crying in the middle of the night. Of course Cooper was peacefully sleeping in his bed next to me, but I couldn't be consoled. Even after dragging him into my bed, it took me a good 20 minutes to stop crying. Anyway, this traumatic incident got me thinking. Cooper may be very poorly behaved at times, but he is a FANTASTIC dog, and I would never wish for another. Furthermore, a lot of people tell me that he's such a stupid dog because he never listens. Well let me tell you something, Cooper is a freaking genius. So let me explain.

Cooper mad because he wasn't allowed in the bed, so to make himself feel like he was still in it, he rested his head on the side...

Number 1: I can't tell you how many times I have done a recall command to Cooper where he is supposed to run to me, sit and look up. Coop is actually very good at this, with one major caveat. He wanders over when he is ready. For example, this was a common occurrence at the dog park (before I banned us for his bad behavior). Usually, he'd look up at me from where he was standing, sniff, pee, eat dirt, trot around, and 5 minutes later wander over and sit (and expect a treat). Why is this amazing? Because the average short-term memory for dogs only lasts 10-20 SECONDS! I am baffled at how my dog can remember the command I gave him minutes after I said it, and after he's done 10 other activities. He forgets NOTHING.

Number 2: Cooper decides what he wants to do. He understands everything I tell him. However, he weighs the pros and cons before deciding how to act. Don't believe me. Ask Cooper to do something. He gives you a funny look for about 5 seconds and then either does it or wanders away. His trainer said this is one of the biggest problems with him. From her experience, she's noticed that the smartest dogs are the ones that are hardest to train. Seriously, when you ask Cooper to sit and he doesn't feel like it, he literally rolls his eyes and sighs. You can just hear him saying "this is so stupid". Let's think about it. You can train almost any animal to do tricks. But how many animals can learn tricks, and then decide when they feel like actually doing them based on what's in their best interest. Many people think Cooper doesn't listen because he is too dumb to understand. Nope. Cooper doesn't listen because, Cooper doesn't feel like it.

Cooper LOVES to watch TV

Number 3: He knows whether we are going on a run or a walk based on my clothes. When it's time for a run, I try to trick him into thinking we are going on a walk. Why? Because runs get Cooper super excited and he starts uncontrollably barking. He barks for the entire first block of our trip. It is usually not appreciated, especially at 7 am Saturday morning. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to outsmart my own dog, and he always knows when we are going for a jog.

Number 4: Cooper knows the difference in dog breeds. I have never seen a dog more afraid of German Shepherds in his life. If he can't convince me to cross the street, he hides behind me the entire time we walk by one.  Oh, and it's not just Shepherds. Cooper decided he doesn't like Chows, Shibas, or really any other large long-haired dog. I am not sure what his reasons are, but it's pretty impressive that he can categorize things. 

Cooper sleeping with "Ducky" (yes I know its not a duck). He won't destroy toys I get him, just the ones everyone else does

Number 5: Cooper gets bored. No seriously. When ever we are at my parents' house and he wants to go home, he starts walking around sighing. He does this at my house. He will even start crying if it's really bad. He can only chew on his toys for about 20 seconds before he needs to be entertained again.

And finally Number 6: This is probably, the biggest one. Cooper has me whipped. We'd all like to think that we are the owners, but seriously, who owns who.

Giving me "the face"

So maybe Cooper is a secret dog genius, or maybe I'm just attributing human traits to him. Either way, I don't care. To me, he's the best dog in the world, and no matter how smart, he's taught me more about the world than most people can.
So finally, to quote John Grogan:

"A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water logged stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. It was really quite simple, and yet we humans, so much wiser and more sophisticated, have always had trouble figuring out what really counts and what does not. As I wrote that farewell column to Marley, I realized it was all right there in front of us, if only we opened our eyes. Sometimes it took a dog with bad breath, worse manners, and pure intentions to help us see."

Training Day

Cooper's last full day of freedom

So after numerous incidents and a whole lot of embarrassment, I decided to bring in a professional trainer for Cooper. I knew he needed more than your standard Petco trainer. A lot of those companies use positive reinforcement only, and considering Cooper could care less about treats when he's lunging for dogs or chasing squirrels, I knew this wouldn't work. Instead I decided to contact a trainer who was at the Mutt Strut who starts off with some pretty intense changes and also uses a training collar to introduce a negative (a pinch in this case).

Our first lesson was a couple of weeks ago, and I remember not being able to wait! Cooper's bad behaviors had been snowballing and he was strutting around like he owned the place. He really needed to be knocked off his pedestal. Anyway, as soon as the trainer came Coop and I met her in the parking lot to work on him walking on a leash. She fit him with his training collar and showed me how she wanted me to hold his leash as we walked. She then took control of him and started walking. When she stopped he was supposed to sit. When he didn't she gave a slight tug of the prong collar and said "No...Sit". Cooper wasn't phased. She tried again, but this time a little harder. Still nothing. She gave him one more gentle shot before she needed to give him a much harder pinch. Of course Cooper still would not sit. So with a swift movement she pulled his leash hard and said "NO...SIT". Well nothing like this had ever happened to King Cooper. He instantly yelped and started jumping and twisting on his leash. With another tug and command, he stopped the tantrum and finally sat. He then looked at me with the saddest eyes I've ever seen, and of course I started crying. Nonetheless, we kept going, and after an hour of Cooper not sitting when he was supposed to, followed by huge yelps and lots of stares from neighbors, the trainer decided this was something I could work on after she left, and we went inside to set up the house.

Cooper sitting like a good boy on a walk

Once inside, she explained to me that Cooper could not roam freely at all until our next session which was in 3-4 weeks. What did this mean? Well when someone is in the home he has to be in his crate 1/3 of the time, walking around on a leash following commands 1/3 of the time, and laying in his place 1/3 of the time. What's his place you say? Well we made it a little bed in the corner of the living room. While here he must be chained to the radiator so he can't leave, and he must be laying. If he gets up, he must be corrected with the prong collar and told to stay. This includes if someone enters the house, if the mail slot (Cooper's mortal enemy) is used, or if anything exciting is happening in the house. Overall, he cannot do anything unless given permission to do so.

Cooper unhappily laying in his place (Note the toy he is not enjoying)

Now I know many of you may be thinking this is crazy. And I agree, it is. But he was out of control. He was a danger to other dogs and children, and my fear was that if I couldn't control him he would hurt someone and face the possibility of being put down. I just wanted to give him the best shot available. In addition, as hard as this seemed for him, it was extremely mentally challenging for me as well. It broke/breaks my heart to hear him yelp. The night after our first training session I barely slept because my dreams were all nightmares of me hurting my pup. Therefore, to get through this I just remind myself this was for his own good.

So how has training been since our first lesson. Well, I took Coop on a walk as soon as the trainer left. Of course this time he sat the second I stopped without needing any correction. I couldn't believe it. Maybe it was his pride when the trainer was around, or maybe he just finally got it; either way, I was thrilled.

As the days go by, Cooper continues to do extremely well on walks. For the most part he sits when I stop, and he walks right with me. Multiple people have told me how good he is when they walk by and of course I brag. There have been a couple of times he's gotten himself into trouble. For example, the first time a skateboard went by he lunged for it and pinched the heck out of himself. Of course yelping ensued and everyone around was looking at us. Needless to say, he hasn't done that again.

When other dogs are going by, and I can tell Cooper is uncomfortable I just stop and let him sit. He seems much calmer and even wags his tail a little. Of course, some humans are not very bright and let their dogs run up to him despite me removing him from their path. Some even fight with me when I ask them not to approach because he's not good with other dogs. I usually get "he seems fine" or "then why isn't he barking". Seriously? After a couple minutes of a dog sniffing Cooper's face he usually starts to growl and the owner then gets it. However, in the past he would have lunged at these dogs, so I am extremely proud of him that he remains calm by my side. There have even been a few times where he sits happily and wags his tail without any growls while other dogs sniff him. We do have some setbacks, like the other day we were on a run and a dog actually jumped and nipped Coop in the butt as we went by. After this, he was a little puffed up around other dogs, but he has since calmed down again.

Enjoying some play time

Now for as good as he's doing on walks, he's a pain in my ass at home. If he's not tired when he's in his place, instead of chewing the dozen toys around him, he sits there and cries. I get it, I wouldn't want to be tied up either. But the thing is, he would happily chew these toys elsewhere. He just doesn't want to be there chewing them. He also cannot stand when we are making food while he's in his place. He would prefer to be up our butts getting the scraps. In addition, his biggest fear is that the cats are getting food and he's not. Of course that's not true and in reality, I give him a lot more scraps because I feel bad for him. Needless to say, he's doing better, and is starting to really like his place since it is a calm area where no one bothers him.

I do have to mention the cats now, because they are out of control. I guess Coop used to keep them in check. Blue is ripping apart trashcans looking for Q tips. I actually feel bad, because I always assumed it was Cooper doing this, and I would get upset with him. Now that he's always being watched, I finally found the real culprit.
The cats also are running around the house like crazy. I literally was walking around upstairs the other day and Tangie was running on the wall eye level with me. I have no idea how she did it, but it was insane.
Another thing Coop used to control, was the fighting between the cats. Friday night, they broke out in some intense face-off probably because Tangie ate Blue's food again, or because she's just a pain in the ass. All you could hear was hissing and running throughout the house. Both were puffed up to max capacity, and when I finally found them to break it up, Blue had Tangie pinned behind the washing machine. I guess Cooper really kept some order in the house (although he added a lot of disorder too).

Coop getting some pumpkin pie!

So there's the update after the first training session. The second should be coming soon, and Coop will finally be regaining some freedom! I am proud of how well he is doing, and have been spoiling him with lots of treats, like doggie waffles this morning (which he threw up 2 hours later) and some pumpkin pie!
At this point, I remain cautiously optimistic about Cooper's future success.

Cooper eating the waffles he would later throw-up

Evolution Says It's Ok...

So I realized some/most people think I am weird for being so crazy about Cooper. Well guess what! I'm not alone. According to a 2011 article published by the New York Times, people spend about $55 BILLION on their pets per year (1)! That's a crazy amount of money for 4-legged fur balls that live only 10-15 years on average. But why are we so in love with our animals? And why are Americans spending fortunes on animals that in other countries are considered dangerous and dirty creatures? Well my goal today is to examine some of the reasons why this may be out of our control.

Cave Art of human and dog. http://www.africanis.co.za/history.htm

Lets start with evolution. According to current data, it seems that dogs and humans actually evolved together! Perhaps we couldn't have gotten to where we are without the help of man's best friend.  Although there is a huge debate on the exact timing when wolves started to become domesticated (between 6000 and 120000 years ago!), many people are starting to believe that dogs made a huge impact on the success of the human species. New research even suggests that humans and canines share similar genes due to thousands of years of living together. Some of these include the ability to digest carbs (dogs can do this more easily than wolves), the presence of diseases such as OCD and obesity, and even the release of certain neurotransmitters in distinct situations (4).

Cooper protecting his family from the feline beasts

So why did we like to hang out with these scary carnivores? First, canines offered protection (2). This is pretty much a no brainer. With this kind of security, humans were able to thrive, and even remain in one place. This could have been the beginning of agriculture. With a steady supply of food comes time. With time comes thought. And with thought, humans were able to build things, trade goods, etc.

Cooper hunting ducks

So what else? Having wolves around also improved hunting. Same story as above. More food=more time=more opportunity.

Another huge thing that dogs offered...companionship. We are social animals, and having another species around may have helped us to broaden the ability of humans to interact and form long lasting relationships. Again, this is something that improves survival. A strong pact will stick together and protect, help, and feed others.


This brings me to a much studied, and extremely important point. Communication. There is no other animal that can communicate with humans the way dogs do. (Again, this is most likely because we evolved together) In fact, dogs perform better then chimpanzees in reading human gestures (2). A study performed at Central European University states, " dogs performed as well as human infants at following the gaze of a speaker in tests in which the speaker's head is held still (3)." This is extremely impressive feat that is pretty unique to humans and dogs. It has also been noted in many studies that dogs are the only species that understand what a human pointing at something means. Ever try pointing at something for a cat? a horse? a fish? Well in case you haven't..it doesn't work. (I tried this with my cats after I first read about it, and they stared at me for about 2 seconds like I was an idiot and then walked away). Why is this so important? Well, it gave us another member of the team. With humans and dogs working together, a lot more could be accomplished in a shorter amount of time. In addition, dogs offered us what we perceive as a friendship. This is important for the psyche of people. Going through difficult situations with a friend always makes things easier.

Dog and owner at agility show. http://blog.stowaway2.com/2011/09/agility-dog-competitions/

    Now there's a lot of debate about whether our pets really love us, or if they just show us affection as a means to get what they want. Kind of like a survival of the cutest. Well here's the thing, until dogs can start talking human, or people start understanding bark, we aren't going to know. However, there have been some scientific studies indicating that humans and dogs have some changes in the brain going on when they are together. For example, multiple studies have found that both dogs and humans release the bonding hormone oxytocin when in each others presence (5). This is the same hormone that moms release when bonding with their babies while breastfeeding. Other studies have shown that just seeing your pet can cause an increase in oxytocin in the brain. What is interesting is these studies often only showed the increase in women, and not men. Researchers are not sure why there is a difference, but I think it's because dogs know it's more important to bond with the real boss of the pack ;). Another example:

"In dogs, we found that activity in the caudate increased in response to hand signals indicating food. The caudate also activated to the smells of familiar humans. And in preliminary tests, it activated to the return of an owner who had momentarily stepped out of view. Do these findings prove that dogs love us? Not quite. But many of the same things that activate the human caudate, which are associated with positive emotions, also activate the dog caudate. Neuroscientists call this a functional homology, and it may be an indication of canine emotions.(6)"

Furthermore, you can look at the thousands of examples of dogs who have risked their lives to save their humans.  Here is just one of the many stories you can find. It is about a dog who saved her young owner from a cougar.
http://www.today.com/id/34701355/ns/today-today_news/t/hero-dog-saves-boy-cougar-attack/#.UlsLlCSE454   (warning this one is a tear jerker!)

Angel the Golden who saved her 11 year old owner. http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/04/boy.cougar.attack/index.html

So no matter whether you believe your dog worships you, or if it's just a relationship we humans imagine to make us feel better for being crazy about our pets, there is at least some proof that something is going on in our heads that may be making us think we are loved. 

Cooper laying with his human (aka me)

I could go on about this for hours. After all, it is one of my favorite subjects. However, I'm not trying to bore you more than I already have. Nevertheless, next time you see someone running down the street with their dog, think of them hunting thousands of years ago (sometimes I pretend this is what Coop and I are doing on our runs). Or when a dog is growling at someone who comes too close to their house, think how important of a trait this was thousands of years ago when we lived without electricity or homes, and were subject to many predators. How about when people cry more in a movie over a dog dying then a human? Maybe it's because time and again, dogs have proven just how good of friends they can be. When you think it's weird that someone is pointing something out to their dog, just remember, this is another form of communication just between two different species. And most importantly, when we are fussing over our pooches, and spending thousands on them, remember that to we are showing our best friends how much we care and appreciate them.
So don't judge the dog lovers! Remember that we are the ones who are doing what evolutionarily makes sense!

Coop and I getting ready to run/hunt together

If you are interested more in this topic, one of my favorite books on the subject is "The Dog Who Couldn't Stop Loving: How Dogs Have Captured Our Hearts for Thousands of Years", by  Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson.



*Note: this blog is not meant to be a research article, and only offers some insight into the topic, and some of my own personal opinion


1. Andrew, Martin. "'For the Dogs' Has a Whole New Meaning." New York Times. N.p., 4 June 2011. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/business/05pets.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.

2.  Hare, Brian, and Vanessa Woods. "Opinion: We Didn’t Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us." National Geographic. N.p., 3 Mar. 2013. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. <Opinion: We Didn’t Domesticate Dogs. They Domesticated Us.>.

3.  Garber, Megan. "Humanity's Best Friend: How Dogs May Have Helped Humans Beat the Neanderthals." The Atlantic. N.p., 14 May 2011. Web. 01 Oct. 2013. <http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/humanitys-best-friend-how-dogs-may-have-helped-humans-beat-the-neanderthals/257145/>.

4.  Lee, Jane J. "Dog and Human Genomes Evolved Together." National Geographic. N.p., 14 May 2013. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130514-dogs-domestication-humans-genome-science/>.

5. Daley Olmert, Meg. "DOG GOOD." Psychology Today. N.p., 5 May 2010. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/made-each-other/201005/dog-good>.

6.  Berns, Gregory. "Dogs Are People, Too." New York Times. N.p., 5 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/opinion/sunday/dogs-are-people-too.html?pagewanted=all&_r=3&http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/opinion/sunday/dogs-are-people-too.html?pagewanted=all&>.

Cooper as a one-year-old...

Cooper playing at the farm

So I know I haven't updated this blog as promised, but sometimes there's just no time between being a student, a girlfriend, and a pet mommy. So what has happened with Cooper since the last post? Well a lot. He turned one, is full grown, his brother moved away, he had a vet visit, experienced his first real summer, learned how to swim, etc. But if there's one word to describe Cooper as a new 1 year old, it's asshole. Now don't get me wrong, he a fantastic dog in so many ways, but he's such a jerk with certain things.

Cooper in the lake

So let me start out with his growing of balls (not literally, they took those when he was only 6 weeks old). But seriously, where he used to be afraid of other dogs, now he just goes up growls and lunges at every dog who crosses his path. When we walk out the door, if there's a dog within 10 feet of our property, he puffs right up. If another dog tries to get mommy's attention, he runs up and barks right in his/her face. When we are on a run and another dog barks at him, he cuts right across me almost taking out my legs and starts frantically barking. If this isn't bad enough, when we are walking down the street, if another dog wants to sniff him, he gets all kinds of awkward and starts looking at the dog outside the corner of his eye and is still like a statue. If this continues too long, he begins to puff and starts barking aggressively towards the other pooch. Other owners can see his discomfort and go to great lengths to avoid him. Needless to say, we don't say hi to other pups anymore.
Now this is where the whole thing gets weird. Cooper has become fantastic in the dog park. Although from time to time he still barks at other dogs when he wants attention, for the most part he just plays ball and happily wrestles other dogs. People have even been telling me they are surprised how good he is for his age (I came close to fainting the first time I heard this)! I cannot fathom how a dog who feels the need to protect his mom from other puppies kisses, at times is one of the best dogs in the dog park (I'm trying not to jinx myself too much). Oh well, I'll take it.

Begging everyone at a party

Cooper's next asshole move? His destruction of his bed. Now I take the blame a lot for this one. Cooper has needed to be in his crate for long periods of time during the past couple of weeks. One day, I came home around 3:30. I went upstairs to let Cooper out of his crate and I see him sitting there in a pile his bed's innards. I let him out of his crate and tried to yell at him, but it was pointless because he was just so happy to see me he could care less that I was mad. So I decided to suck this one up, and just fix the bed. So after 1 hour of suturing the bed (I use this word because I literally used sutures and did an instrument tie to fix it), the bed looked almost as good as new. So the next day, my mom promised to check in on Cooper around 2pm. Sure enough, I'm busy on my rotation the following day, and get a text from my mom "Cooper ripped up his bed". Gahhh!!! I was so mad, but then again, he is a one year old who has a ton of energy. Anyway, moral of this story, Cooper now has 2 beds that are completely torn up. One bed is basically a piece of cloth, and the other one I put the stuffing back in, but it still has a humongous hole in the middle. Oh well, guess he will just have to deal.

Passed out in his destroyed beds

Squirrels. Sadly, Cooper has finally discovered them. And I don't mean he just sees them and gets excited. No Cooper tries to chase them and causes huge scenes of crying and baying. He jumps to my eye level just screaming. For the most part this amuses those around me, but when I'm on a run with him, I do not find this very funny. 

If you think all of this is bad. Cooper's habit of eating everything he finds has gotten worse. He finally discovered all of the fun things in trashcans and in closets in the bathroom. It is very common for me to go upstairs and see trash all over the floor. Well one day, I noticed my cats playing with tampon wrappers. When I went upstairs, I noticed that Cooper had gotten into a (clean) box of those feminine products. I panicked. I was sure he was going to have an obstruction and I'd be at the vet paying thousands of dollars for an emergency surgery. However, Cooper seemed happy so I decided to wait and see if he could pass the stuff on his own. Sure enough, every day, multiple times a day for the next week, Cooper was shitting out tampons. As grossed out as I was, I was also relieved that I wasn't running to Penn Vet in the middle of the night.

With all of this being said, Cooper has become a fantastic dog. He is so loyal, he actually listens, he's become a great running partner, and he's my best friend. I love every minute I spend with him, and as my friends and family can attest to, that's a lot of time! I am so lucky to have him, and will continue to update you all on his antics (and progress) as he grows!

Training Day

So as I've already mentioned in a previous post, Cooper is a nightmare at the dog park. Well this Wednesday, Cooper pushed me over the edge. The trip started out well with him happily playing with other dogs. Then, a 3-legged dog walked in... I don't know if it was because the dog was hopping and Cooper thought it was playing, or because my puppy is just a huge bully, but he barked and barked at the poor dog. I mean, he would go off for 10 minutes with me and multiple other people chasing him. As soon as we would get him, he would go in time out for 5 minutes, and then continue the bark session when he was released. Now I know I should have probably left the park, but Cooper would never get any exercise if we left every time he went into one of these barking fits. I really needed to fix this. I know you may be thinking, what is wrong with a dog barking? It's natural behavior. Well, if you were in the dog park for more then 2 minutes with Cooper you would realize that this is not normal barking. It is a failed attempt at initiation of play. (kind of like kids who go, "mom, mom, mom, mom, etc until they are attended too) Sadly for him, the dogs never except this annoying invitation (because who wants to play with such a loud mouth?) and Cooper just tries harder. So anyway, at this point I had tried calling Cooper over whenever he started barking and giving him a treat for coming. However, this only works if I can catch Cooper right before he starts (which is like 10% of the time). Once he starts, its hopeless. So out of frustration I began yelling. Well that's a bad idea, it just gets dogs more excited. On this particular Wednesday, I got so mad at one point, I threw one of my cotton mittens in Cooper's face. This was enough to startle him and for me to grab him and leash him up and get him out of there. When I got home, I was going to consult the expert.

Now I know that Cesar Millan's techniques are often considered controversial, but animals listen to him, so I'd give it a try. I don't really believe in the whole dominance thing, and pack leader thing. I am more of, you take care of me and protect me, and I'll do the same. (aka just be my best friend!) However, Cooper is still a puppy and needs someone to teach him what is ok and what isn't. (I try to tell him that I do this for him because the better he is, the more places and fun things he can do!- he doesn't get it) Sadly, he isn't learning from the dogs at the park who ignore his barking. So I needed a way to show him that scaring the bejesus out of dogs, and annoying their parents is not good doggy manners. Also, Cesar stressed that a pack leader (or in my case, a friend a dog will listen to) is calm and collected- opposite of the way I am when I'm screaming at him. So after reading a Cesar article I modified some of his directions and went out and bought a little spray bottle. This bottle was to be my version of a spraying bark collar. When Cooper barked, he was going to get misted with water by mommy.

Cooper happily playing with another puppy

So the next day I couldn't wait to try it out. We get to the dog park on Thursday afternoon, and Cooper, still hyped up from the previous day's activities, commenced barking as soon as he got in the gates. I happily pranced over and gave the sap a chance to come over when called. Cooper gave me that fresh look like "yeh ok, when I'm done with what I'm doing". I happily took the bottle out of my pocket and sprayed Cooper in the face. He was stunned! He looked at me confused, and a little hurt. He tried to go back to barking, and I sprayed him again. Defeated, he walked away. I was thrilled. It worked. Well this continued throughout the trip. Cooper would start barking, but there I was, spray bottle in hand. Gosh, I was starting to get joy out of my success. I started giggling and saying things like "You don't like that do you" and "that shut you up!".  Everyone was staring at me like look at that weirdo. But I didn't care. I was winning. Soon, as people caught on they were giving me admirable looks. I had conquered the beast (at least for now). I felt like tebowing, or flexing my muscles, but I realized that was a bit excessive, and people at the park already knew me as "the girl who always makes a scene". It didn't take long for me to just say "Cooper" in an authoritative way and to take out the bottle for him to stop. No spraying required. I do worry that Cooper will soon get used to the spray. I am hoping not, but I do have some back up plans. First, is to add a little bit of cayenne to the water since dogs don't like the smell. If that fails, then I will do the whole rocks or coins in a can trick. The problem with that is it will also startle every dog in the park, and since Cooper doesn't bark at home I can't start that training there.

Anyway, for now, the spray bottle is working. We were at the park for 2 hours Friday, and for the first time, Cooper was the puppy that every owner wanted their dog to play with. I'm not sure if he noticed the difference in amount of playmates he had, but I did (plus a lot more people talked to me too). He was so good that we even stopped and got him some dog treats from DoggieStyle on the way home.

Cooper playing with his new friend Perdi, who only came up to him after I stopped his barking (they played for about 20 minutes!)

On a side note. Another funny event that happened this week was Tangerine's defense of her dad. Cooper and Dylan were playing, and I guess Tangerine thought Cooper was hurting her human. She is terrified of Cooper, but sure enough, she puffed up and risked her life (in her mind) to run over and scratch the crap out of Cooper. The poor dog didn't know what hit him. I can't tell you how proud I am of her. Mostly because now Cooper doesn't mess with her, but also because now I feel safer if someone tries to hurt me or Dylan and Cooper is too dumb to understand it (Blue is too busy sleeping to notice).

Tangie tapping Cooper on the head as he tries to bite her feet

Blue sleeping. Great defender of the house

 

 

As another add on, Cooper continues to eat things.

What Cooper did to his bed the other day in the minute it took me to go to the bathroom

Get in my belly!

Cooper has to be dragged out of bed in the morning

So this week with Cooper has been pretty quiet (thank goodness). However, he did have a couple of "moments", like when he dropped his ball (his most favorite toy!) in the fireplace. Luckily for him, his dad made a daring rescue and unfortunately for us, the fire didn't even destroy the squeaker.

What was interesting this week, were the things Cooper ate. Now he is one of those puppies who walks down the street looking adorable with a giant stick I'm his mouth. What most people don't see is that Cooper picks up a stick, drops it 2 feet later, then drags mom to another branch. This cycle continues for the entirety of our walk; broken up only by drinking from delicious city puddles, eating even better things like rocks, or the occasional growl and freeze at dangerous animals like construction tools and bags blowing in the wind. What I'm getting at is that Cooper loves to eat things he's not supposed to. I realize that many puppies do this, but Cooper takes it to the extreme. People at the dog park are always remarking about how much mulch he can devour per trip. He can out eat any dog there, and if they happen to have a bigger bite, Cooper has been known to eat the dirt right out of their mouth (Cooper once even ate medication out of another dog's mouth; luckily I was there to pry the pill out).

Cooper also very much enjoys chewing on skin of all kinds. He doesn't do this hard at all, in fact it tickles a lot; but Cooper is the #1 nibbler of ears. And you better watch out if you are wearing earrings. More than once I've had to rescue someone's diamond studs from his jaws. Cooper also enjoys hands, and he really really loves chewing his own legs.

Cooper enjoying his leg

And all of this is the beginning. Cooper loves to grab the mail right out of the mailman's hands. I can't tell you the last time the mail touched the ground in my house. In fact, the mailman is so afraid sometimes, our stuff doesn't even make it through the mail slot and instead is dropped in front of the door.

Other things in the house that Cooper enjoys? Well the other day he enjoyed a contact lens I dropped on the floor. He also LOVES to devour lotion off limbs. I usually have to do a dance while I'm putting it on so Cooper can't catch up to my legs. If not, the lotion is gone in approximately 5 seconds. Another delicacy? The bleach infused sponge I use to clean my tub. I can't tell you how many times I've hid that sponge in a place I think Cooper can't reach, just to see him prance on over with blue foam around his lips. I also removed a toothbrush and razor from Cooper's mouth. Somehow he managed to get into his dad's travel bag. Oops.

And if you drop anything remotely edible on the floor, forget about it. My poor cats. I try to give them treats, but Cooper swipes them before they have a chance. And even if I hold Cooper, Blue is "too good" for anything "a dog" would be interested in. I've even tried putting treats in places I thought he'd never be able to reach. Once again, I was wrong. When it comes to food, there's no keeping Cooper away. And the floor isn't the only danger zone. Earlier this week we lost a sausage that was on our counter. It was there one second, and completely gone the next. Although we never actually caught Cooper in the act, his lip-licking gave it away.

Cooper also likes to chew on his own things. The other day while I was getting dressed to take him to the dog park, he entered the bathroom with a piece of foam hanging out of his mouth. I ran over to his giant bed. All looked good on the surface, but when I picked it up I noticed that the entire foam bottom had been torn to shreds. I am still wondering how he managed to do this without picking up his bed since it was still securely set in his crate. And speaking of crates. He likes to chew on them too. Neither the canvas or the metal one are safe from my mutt.

Cooper eating his crate

Now what is most amazing, is what Cooper doesn't eat. You would think he would be ultra destructive in the house. Nope, he doesn't chew on furniture (knock on wood), and unless a toy is stuffed, he doesn't rip it apart. I figured (and hoped) that he would tear apart all of his plastic squeaky toys in minutes. Nope, they are still intact, squeaking happily around the house.

I fear that one day Cooper will eat the wrong thing and I'll end up in the doggy ER getting emergency obstruction surgery. But for now, I'll continue to follow Cooper around ripping everything out if his mouth and trying not to laugh at the obscure things he enjoys.

Sunday mornings with Cooper

The face Cooper loves to give you when he is at his worst

I like to dedicate a lot of my weekend time to Cooper. On Saturday, however, the weather was pretty crappy so I decided to stay inside; meaning Cooper too was cooped up (like my play on words) in the house all day. To make it up to him, on Sunday I decided to take him all the way to the dog park on the schuylkill (about 1.3 miles from our house). This place is the Paris of dog parks. The entire place is made of turf and is surrounded by beautiful benches and landscaping. Cooper loves this park because it is bigger and he gets to play with a lot of dogs (since he isn't preoccupied with eating mulch). Anyway, we don't normally go here because it is pretty far and because it is filled with snoody people. But for Cooper, I swallow my pride and take a few dirty looks so he can have a good time.

So we get to the park and we already have one strike against us because Coop is a mutt. Only purebreds are worthy of that park in some people's minds. To make it worse, as soon as we enter the park Cooper runs up to two puppies who are playing and begins his "play with me!" bark. Now what you may not get is that Cooper will bark for 10 minutes strait if a dog won't pay attention to him. So as soon as he started barking, I ran over to him and tried to grab him. Now Cooper is very used to this and proceeded to run in circles around these dogs barking with me chasing behind him like an idiot. Of course the tight assed people of the elite dog park were snickering at the plebeian being outsmarted by a 6 month old, super annoying puppy. Luckily, Cooper made a wrong move and I was able to grab him by the collar and get him away from the action.
Things got better at this point and he found a fellow 6 month old puppy to wrestle with, and all was well for the next 10 minutes. Then, the owner of Cooper's new friend took out the leash. I wanted to cry. Cooper was about to be lonely again, and a lonely Cooper is a loud Cooper. Fortunately, another puppy was interested in my mutt. She was about double Cooper's weight, coming in at a whopping 80lbs at 7 months. Nevertheless, Coop held his own. They played for about 5 minutes, and then the worst thing happened. Another dog tried to take Cooper's new friend. Cooper broke into a barking fit. He barked his new friend right onto a bench. With his persistent "pay attention" woofs, his giant friend became more and more afraid. She backed up and right on over the back of the bench. At this point he decided she was in too much of a predicament to go anywhere with another dog,  but he still needed to chase away his competitor; a 130 pound Great Dane. He started jumping at the other dog's face nipping and barking him right into a corner. I was mortified as people were pointing at him asking "who's dog is that?". As I ran over to get him, things got worse. His super nose caught a scent and ran full speed over to a girl holding a coffee cup. Of course, Cooper jumped right up to her and knocked her coffee everywhere. To make things worse, she was the owner of the Great Dane he was tormenting.

At this point, I was so tired of chasing him that I just stopped and screamed "Cooper come!!". Of course, he came prancing over and sat down right in front of me with his tongue hanging happily out of his mouth. I put his harness on, and shamefully left the dog park.
On our way home, we walk by Doggie Style, Cooper's favorite pet store. I needed a couple of things there so I decided to stop in. Of course everyone was fussing over Cooper and his "perfect spot" on his head. "Oh he's such a good puppy!" "You are so lucky to have such a well-behaved dog at his age."Yeh ok, I thought.

Anyway, to make a long story short, we did a whole lot of shopping and trying things on. Cooper also got his dagger nails clipped since my poor legs couldn't take any more cuts from him scratching me (and of course the groomer came back telling me how he was one of the best puppies she had ever dealt with). I got him a ton of treats for being such a good puppy in the store. But my favorite item of all was his new coat. I normally don't think that dogs need coats since they naturally have their own, but Cooper tends to shake when we are outside too long, so I bought him one. Anyway, for the first few blocks he acted like he didn't even know there was anything on him. I was so pleased. I had thought he would rip it right off, but maybe this coat didn't bother him. Well it didn't... until we hit Broad Street. As we are crossing the busy 6 lane street that only gives pedestrians 15 seconds to cross, Cooper whips around and grabs his coat. He proceeds to lay down and start rolling around. I could see through windshields, motorists chuckling at my "adorable" puppy. After a few failed attempts to coax him up, I decided we were running out of time, and I dragged him on his stomach the rest of the way. Everyone around me was laughing; I'm pretty sure even William Penn on top of city hall cracked a smile at that scene. To be honest, I couldn't even be mad at him because it was just so like Cooper to do this. And honestly, it was pretty cute.

Cooper in his new coat

Anyway, of course as soon as we got onto the other side of the street Cooper forgot about his coat and started walking normally. Luckily, we made it home with no further incidents.
After giving him a treat I bought him (which he probably didn't deserve), he curled up and is now happily passed out by my side.
The saddest part of this story is that I am such a sap for Cooper that we will be back at the dog park (unless we are banned), and we will have the same experience again. Oh well, people will do anything for their dogs right??