Playtime for Cooper!

Muddy winters and no puppy class make for a bored and ramped up Cooper!  In all seriousness, he’s been as good as gold throughout Christmas, I couldn’t have dreamt he’d behave so well!  Since the weather was nice and toasty and my yard was full of mud I decided to take him to the park to let him run the tennis court.  When we had BB our greyhound that was what we did with him, he’d do 3 laps and he was done.  The day I took Cooper over I found a tennis ball on the outside of the fence and tossed it to him.  His reaction surprised me, he loved it!  I told Randy who was skeptical, but when we took him the next day and Randy got to see it first hand!  Cooper is willing to chase and return that ball as many times as you throw it and he loves running on the baseball field.
He has been bouncing all over the place the last few days, so we took him over to the park to run on the baseball field today and this time I remembered to take my camera.  I put my zoom lens on and put the camera in action mode and just started shooting! 






One thing is for sure…We are going to need a bigger ball!

It’s Christmas Time at Logs End..

Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Blessed Solstice to one and all!
This year things are a little different, quieter and less hectic.  With the addition of Cooper, going out, going away and going all over the place have come to almost a complete halt.  To be honest, I’m not complaining one bit about that, it’s nice to be home more.  I’ve enjoyed baking cookies with Randy on the weekends and watching the snow fall.
The decorations are up though not as many (or as fragile) as years past.  Since we didn’t know how Cooper would be with the tree and decorations we were careful about what we put up.  He’s done really, really well considering this is his first Christmas and how big he is!

I’m happy to report that my Santa’s have remained in one piece (so far).

The garland is still up on the rails, the villages haven’t been broken and the stockings are still hanging by the fire.  I’ve been careful to not put anything that smells tasty into those stockings so that he would continue to ignore them   I can hardly wait till Christmas morning when he gets to dive into his stocking and play with the toys we got him.  Though if his past has been any indication of his future, I suspect the wrapping paper and boxes will be his favorite gifts of all!

A Taste of Winter…

Now it feels like winter!  I am really happy to see the snow, I was so excited to take Cooper out to see his first ever snow!  I’d hoped Cooper would love it the way I do and did he ever!

He ran around like a maniac in the first little bit that came down.  He chased it, he rooted in it and he did his best to catch the snowflakes in his mouth.  It was so funny to see him just running, leaping and just enjoying something new. 

Zoe came out with us, she wanted to see what was going on and why he was leaving divots in the driveway!  She loves the snow too, that’s why she’s Snowy Zoe, but she’s much too refined now to behave so insanely.

Or maybe not! They played a little, some hopping, pawing and that lovely mouthy thing dogs do. Everyone was tired and wet so we came in to get warm and dry.  What better way to spend an afternoon than decorating the Christmas tree!

After we had a little more snow on the ground back out we all went and more play ensued.

Here is Cooper testing out his flying ability.  He and Zoe were romping around like two puppies together.  She finally tired and just stood and watched as he ran laps around her.  I don’t blame her, he tires me out when he gets the zoomies like that!

Even Zoe got in on the running act, though maybe she was running to get away from her crazy baby brother!
Once inside it was time for a winter’s nap by the fire!

It was a great winter day and we are looking for many more snowy days, hopefully some with some deeper snow for Cooper to really play in.  Now let’s hope that the ice doesn’t cause too many problems tonight and tomorrow morning!
Happy Snow Day!

Calling On My Compassionate Caring Friends!

My sister in law is trying to raise money to get medical treatments for some feral cats that live around her house.  For years now she’s been paying for it out of her pocket but anyone with a pet knows those fees can add up!

She’s working with a vet that gives her a break but still when facing major surgery she needs help, so please take a look here and if you can help please do!  Also, it’d be great if you could share the link the more people that know, the better chance there is that she can at least raise some funds to help with the cost. 

Her ultimate goal is to get all the cats fixed so that she can put an end to the vicious cycle of breeding that has been going unchecked in her neighborhood. 

Thanks, I know how wonderful the crafting community is and I know how much many of you love animals!

Legs Broken Needs Help!

Cooper update..

He’s growing so fast!  He’s taller than Zoe now but she still doesn’t hesitate to put him in his place! 

Cooper has no idea how big he is and he still wants to cuddle and be as close as possible, I can’t imagine ever getting tired of that! 

Randy keeps telling him, “You’re too big” and yet he’s happy to let Cooper sit in his lap and sleep! 

Now I’ve never seen another puppy do this but Cooper loves to stick his back feet into his mouth at chew on them.  He gets into this wild positions and the next thing you know he’s gnawing away on his foot.  It’s the funniest thing to see, that great big foot half way into his mouth.  He has calmed down a lot but he still has his bursts of puppy insanity.  We try to take him outside and let him run it off or to the basement where he can run laps.  It’s been so cold here though that outside time has been limited.  We need to get him a coat to keep him warm this winter, but with him growing as fast as he is, it needs to be adjustable!

Growing like a weed…

And so he grows.  It’s noticeable some days, others not so much.  Like today he and Zoe were playing and I noticed that he’s as tall or almost as tall as she is.  But he’s still a big puppy, a big sweet, sensitive puppy at that!  He’s nearing the 50 pound mark, though he’s more leg than anything else.

He loves to snuggle, he loves the cats but still hasn’t gotten the ‘why’ he isn’t supposed to chase them. He doesn’t like to be yelled at one bit and will run and hide if he thinks you are mad at him.  Zoe gave him the what for because he was really pestering her and she’d had enough.  You would have thought that he was being killed, he came running to me, hiding behind me looking at her and whimpering.  Zoe just looked at him like ‘oh please’.  Just a little bit later and they were pals again, if only everyone could get along like dogs!   

Cooper, Matters…

I know I’m different when it comes to my animals.  I know that my dedication to making them happy and healthy is more than a lot of people.  To me they aren’t just “a dog” or “a cat”.  They are my responsibility, they are in my care and as such sometimes I have to change things in my life and I don’t mind that at all.   

I get it, not everyone understands why I say I can’t go out right now for 4 or 5 hours at a time and they don’t understand why I’m spending time and money on puppy training.  The time (and money) that we invest now in Cooper will help him to be an amazing dog, they will teach him manners, not to be afraid of other dogs, kids, guys in hats or the vets.  They will make sure that when he is full grown and weighs more than I do (and maybe Randy too) that he will be nothing more than a big dog with great social and listening skills!  That’s really, really important to us. 

So it’s important for us to do right by him now and if that means us going out less and limiting the amount of people, excitement and stress in our home we are willing to do that.  We know it won’t always be this way, but we also know that it’s really easy to stress a puppy out.  Sometimes that can lead to future behavior issues and that’s something we want to avoid as much as we can.  The training window for a puppy is short and exposing them to as much positive as you can while they are young is so important.  

Right now he’s our goofy puppy and we love him to death.  He’s got a lot to learn but we are more than willing to teach him because in the end what’s best for Cooper, really is best for us too!