Cooper's Weekend with Otto

Cooper's friend Otto spent last weekend with us. The weekend was filled with lots of fun for them -- and early mornings for Jeff and me!


Cooper and Otto spent time chasing each other around.

And they spent time playing tug with toys.

And one or twice a day, they took a break from all the playing.

Cooper's New Hobby

This fall, Cooper is trying his nose at tracking! We had a private lesson Labor Day weekend and since then we've been practicing on our own a few days per week at a park near our house. 


Cooper's sense of smell was awakened after the first lesson! We now routinely find him tracking around the house and during our walks. Cooper still prefers tracking in the park though because he gets treats at the end of each path!


Here are a few photos of Cooper tracking. 

Cooper's Summer Vacation

In August, Cooper took a summer vacation to Asheville, North Carolina. 


Cooper swam A LOT during the trip! The house we rented was on a lake and had an indoor pool, so Cooper spent most of his vacation wet. First, in the lake.

And in the indoor pool:

Then Cooper hiked to the top of the Chimney Rock State Park (he would have reached the top twice as fast if Jeff and I weren't with him!) -- elevation 2280 feet.

View of the top from the parking lot.

Cooper at the top of Chimney Rock!

Cooper and Jeff at the top of Chimney Rock.

Taking a break at the top of Chimney Rock.

At Chimney Rock State Park, we also hiked to the waterfall.

Taking a break with the waterfall in the background.

Cooper and Jeff set out to reach the bottom of the waterfall.

Almost there.

Playing in the bottom of the waterfall.

Playing in the waterfall.

Posing at the bottom of the waterfall.

Thanks to Grandma Vogel, Cooper had a new towel to dry off with after all the swimming he did!  SuperCooper!

And then after all the swimming and hiking, Cooper was worn out!

Cooper passed out on the couch.

Alan relaxing with Wee, Smooch and Cooper.

...except when there was food involved. (Notice who the well-behaved pup is.)

  

Summer vacation? Did you say summer vacation? Cooper's at the door ready to go again!

Cooper's New Headdress

Cooper would like the loyal readers of his blog to know that he is not living the posh life right now. Rather, he's living a painful life with a cone on his head after being neutered yesterday. 

He did receive a new bed though, which he's happy about. And his mom and dad missed him terribly, so they're happy he's home and are giving him lots of treats. But if you'll excuse him, Cooper would like to figure out how to take a nap with this thing on his head. He'll let you know if he's back to living the posh life in 10 days.

Cooper's Road Trip to Maryland

After my grandmother passed away last week, Cooper was treated to an impromptu road trip to Maryland for the funeral. For him, the trip was filled with fun times -- except for the 24+ hours he spent in the car.

Cooper loves visiting my parents! He gets homemade treats and there's always someone around ready to walk him -- what's not to love?


On Friday, my brother took Jeff, Cooper and me to Gilbert Run Park. We walked the two-mile hiking trail and Cooper swam a little bit in the 60-acre freshwater lake. We also tried to get Cooper to fetch a ball at the park, but he's definitely not the retriever type (more on that later). Here is a photo of Brian and Cooper relaxing after the long day.

On Saturday, Cooper spent the day with my aunt Lisa, uncle Alan, cousin Jennifer, and their springers, Smooch and Wee. Here are a couple great pictures of Cooper that Alan took.

Not only did Alan groom Cooper, but we also took all the pups swimming! Here's a video of Cooper following Smooch around the pond.

We learned that Cooper would not retrieve the water dummy, but he would retrieve any stick we threw in the water! Here are some photos from our swimming adventure.

Lisa and Jennifer

Alan and Jennifer with Wee

Smooch

Cooper with a stick

Jeff throwing a stick for Cooper

Cooper was sad to leave Maryland, but he gets to see everyone again next month. And we'll be vacationing in a cabin on a lake, so I guess we'll need to stock up on big sticks for Cooper!

Cooper: The Agility All-Star

Cooper completed the Introduction to Performance Sports class tonight and he loved every minute of it!  Here are a couple video snippets to show some of the feats Cooper accomplished during the six-week class.

Cooper's 1st Birthday Bash!

We celebrated Cooper's 1st birthday in style with a yummy dinner, dessert and a present -- all while wearing birthday party hats (a perfect Strauss-style doggy birthday party).

Cooper's evening started out with a steak dinner. Here's Cooper waiting patiently for his meat.

Cooper scarfing the steak.

Moving on to dessert. Cooper waiting patiently for his birthday cake.

Getting a little closer to his birthday cake with a little sniffing and licking.

 Cooper staring at the cake in his food dish, but not yet allowed to eat it.

Cooper's allowed to eat it...finally!

But he wouldn't eat the birthday cake in the bowl (even though I put it back in there more than once), he ate it outside of the bowl so that he could make a mess!

Then Cooper received a gator for his birthday present. He's already trying to figure out how to rip it apart!

Happy 1st Birthday Cooper!!

Happy 1st Birthday to Cooper!

Happy 1st Birthday to my baby boy Cooper!

Cooper sure has grown a lot during the past year. Look how cute and stuffed animal-like he was at 5 and 8 weeks old!

Here are photos of Cooper at 9 weeks old and 1 year old. He looks almost the same, just a lot more hair now!
 

And his understanding of English has certainly improved. Check out these videos of his latest English comprehension accomplishments -- not only does he know what words mean, he knows how they're spelled too!

But after a year, Cooper still loves Jeff best.

We are so lucky and blessed that Cooper came into our lives last year! Happy Birthday Cooper!