 |
| 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!
