Cooper's Weekend with Grandparents Vogel

This week’s entry is courtesy of Grandma Joan and Grandpa Doug who puppysat while Cooper’s parents went to Stephanie and Eric’s wedding in New York.

What do they say the best thing about being a grandparent is (even if it’s a granddog)? Giving him back to his parents!!!

Things we have learned this visit:

1. We love dogs (and have always).

2. Dogs love you as long as you love them, feed them, walk them and play with them (not necessarily in that order).

3. Our decision to NOT have a dog was and still is the right decision!

We arrived Thursday afternoon to a great greeting from Cooper – really happy to meet us. Little did we know that the little puppy weighs more than 23 pounds and can jump really high. He is always very happy to play with us and leads with his teeth - puppy teeth – very sharp!!

While Cooper’s parents think he does not jump on the furniture – we (Cooper and us) know better, don’t we? In one leap, he was over the recliner (while reclining) and into my lap. And, when Doug was snacking in another recliner and got up, Cooper jumped up and proceeded to smell and lick the entire chair.

First night, at bedtime, no problem going into the crate with the treats enticing him. Second night, no go. He just sat, smelled the treats in my hand, turned his face away, looked at me pathetically, and decided it was not bedtime yet. He just needed a gentle nudge and then no problems the rest of the night. The next night, he retrieved Jeff’s t-shirt from the crate and proceeded to wage war with it, with growls, grunts, etc. So, when the shirt went into the crate, so did Cooper.

Very lucky for me, Cooper mostly does his ‘business’ when Doug is walking him – yeah! In actuality, Doug does most of the walking. I do most of the kitchen stuff and having a dog underfoot or staring at you the whole time is a little unnerving but we survived that too. Here's a photo of Cooper waiting patiently for Doug to come back inside from watering the plants on the deck.

Yesterday, we had our first ‘accident’ – guess we somehow missed the message – luckily, only pee on the small rug pictured above and not on the carpet but we caught him and minimized the effect.

Today, we give him back and while we will miss him, we won’t miss the early morning wake-up whines and we will certainly embrace and covet the quiet of our house.

So, Cooper – see you at Thanksgiving!

Four Weeks Already!

As we get set to celebrate our four-week anniversary with Cooper this weekend, I thought I'd take the time to tell you what an awesome family Cooper has! Not only does he have the coolest parents in the world, but he also has awesome grandparents and a fabulous great-uncle, great-aunt and cousin too!

Cooper's Grandma Joan and Grandpa Doug sent him a "Welcome to the Family" card and then Grandma Joan sewed (with love) three snoods for him! Here are two photos of Cooper wearing his snood for the first time.

For those of you who are still asking yourselves "What the heck is a snood?", it keeps the dog's ears from falling into the food bowl and getting yucky. You can buy snoods, but they wouldn't have the personal handmade touch that Cooper's have. Cooper's snoods are made of fabrics with dogs, Terps logos and oranges on them (apparently there aren't Syracuse University logoed fabrics in Maryland, so oranges had to do!). Here's a shot of the other two snoods.

Cooper also got a fourth snood in the mail from his Great-Uncle Alan, Great-Aunt Lisa and his cousin Jennifer. They also sent Cooper a bag of rawhides, which he loves, and a couple bully sticks, which he REALLY loves! Here's a photo of Cooper with his first bully stick (don't ask me what it's made of because I have no idea...I just know they smell awful when they're being chewed!).

Cooper thanks his extended family for all of the wonderful gifts -- and says he can't wait for Grandma Joan and Grandpa Doug's visit next week so he can get some more presents! :)