Hi Ronda,
I just wanted to send a quick note (belatedly, I know) and let you know how ‘Cooper’ (yes, it stayed Cooper) is doing.
Cooper is just fabulous. He was so laid back immediately, almost like he knew as soon as he left his kennel there that we were ‘Mom and Dad’. We love him so much. At first we thought that Bailey was so pissed off about the puppy that he might never forgive us…….but time has turned them into great playmates. We haven’t seen Bailey play like this for over 3 or 4 years. He even is the instigator of the play at least 50% of the time. They play tug of war with toys every evening in the house. Outdoors we started by throwing the Frisbee and eventually Bailey joined in and then they had a blast. Now, we throw the Frisbee once or twice and they totally forget about it and just chase each other and roll in the grass and wrestle all around. It is so much fun.
Cooper is a bit bigger than Bailey now. But I don’t think either of them knows that. Cooper has outgrown 2 of the kennels we have and is now in the big one, but only at bedtime. He doesn’t sleep enough hours at a time for me but sometimes it is 6 or 7 hours. Once or twice it was 8 hours and that is my goal. He isn’t silent about not getting out. He totally seems to have it figured out that you don’t poop in the house, but he still will pee if the urge hits him. As long as we don’t get side tracked and not watch him closely or keep him leashed to us (which we don’t do so much anymore) we can go days without an accident. But then we get lazy or tired and we have one or 2 in one day. Ugh!!
He gets his last shot this next Tuesday and then we will be starting training. I think he is so smart that he will learn very quickly. He learned to sit so quickly. Again, we love him and pretty much sit and watch him and think how beautiful and sweet he is most of the time. Of course when he gets his really hyper times we don’t admire him so much. Ha! I went to bed early the other night and Tim lost control of him---he ran behind the sofa and ran out, caught the lamp cord and tumbled it over, cleared the end table of everything and scared himself so much he ran into the pantry (peeing all the way) and hid in the corner until Tim could rescue him. I felt bad for Cooper but Tim obviously felt bad for Tim. Ha!
Anyway, keep in touch and when I figure out how to I will send pictures. I will have questions on grooming, etc. I am such a coward and know I am supposed to cut his nails weekly but am afraid of it. I wish I could learn how to touch up the face and feet but am afraid of that also. Is there any hope?
Thanks for our baby,
Penny