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 St. Patrick's Day Celebration

Cooper celebrated his first St. Patrick's Day in style! We started out by attending the festivities in the Smyrna Market Village. Cooper played nicely with all the other dogs and the masses of people, and even got to lick up some beer Jeff spilled!

Then Cooper spent the rest of the evening playing with his friends Otto and Ginger. Below is the only photo of Cooper and Ginger where you can see the dogs, the rest of the photos are blurs of dogs playing! Ginger was only visiting Otto for the weekend, so Cooper maximized his play time.

We did capture a short video of them playing together. Put this on repeat for hours and that's the summary of Thursday night!

Here are some photos of the last time Otto, Cooper and Ginger got together. Lots of playing, lots of love!

Cooper hopes he'll be able to play with Ginger and Otto again soon!

Cooper's Holiday Travels

Cooper traveled to four states during the holidays this year (and rode through several others). While we were worried about his carsickness issue, we learned that one bonine pill per day keeps the vomit and drool and anxiety away!

Here's a map of Cooper's 2010 holiday road trip - more than 2,600 miles total.

First stop: Ohio, to visit Jeff's mom's side of the family. Here is a photo of Cooper and his friend Sammy (Aunt Karen's dog) and a photo of Cooper galloping through the snow. Cooper definitely loved the winter weather in Ohio! Thanks to Grandpa Dillon (and his dog Mandy) for letting us stay with them.

Second stop: New Jersey, for Jeff's grandmother's 97th birthday. Here are photos of Jeff's brothers Kirt and Mike playing with Cooper. Thanks to CJ and Katie for letting us stay at their house!

Third stop: Maryland, with stops at my parents' house and my aunt and uncle's house. Here are photos of Cooper with my brother and his girlfriend Julie. Cooper was definitely smitten with Julie!

Here are photos of Cooper running around with his friends Smooch and Wee (my aunt Lisa and uncle Alan's dogs) and a photo of Lisa, Alan and their daughter Jennifer with Smooch, Cooper and Wee.

Cooper was at their house on the day of the Maryland-ECU bowl game, so he was wearing his game gear for a little while! And the Terps won, so I guess Cooper's Maryland bandanna is good luck!

Cooper also got to meet Stephanie and Eric while in Maryland, and Ashley, Lance and Luke during our last stop in North Carolina (where he got to meet three other dogs). Unfortunately we didn't get any photos of them with Cooper.

Cooper enjoyed his 2010 holiday road trip and can't wait to go on another road trip soon, now that he has doggie friends in so many places! And Jeff and I had a great trip visiting family and friends too!

Puppy Class, Playdates and a Grooming

The past two weeks have been very exciting for Cooper -- he's been going to puppy class, had a couple playdates and got a haircut!

Cooper has been to two puppy classes and he's very well-behaved in class. We missed the first class while we were in New York, but it wasn't a big deal since they just learned "sit" and Cooper already knew how to sit. During the second week of class, everyone learned "down" and "come" -- another two commands we had already taught Cooper. But Cooper's still more than willing to sit or lie down over and over again just to get a treat! Here's one photo of Cooper performing in class.

Last week the class learned to retrieve a toy, which Cooper also knew already, but he didn't perform it as well in class as he does at home...probably because of all the distractions in class with other dogs, toys and treats! This week we've been teaching him stay at home and he's unbelievably good at it without much practice!

In addition to puppy class, we've also been taking Cooper to play with other dogs. Cooper spent one afternoon playing with his friends Otto and Kaya. I didn't get any good shots of them all playing together but here's a photo of the two big dogs.

And when I say the dogs played together, it was more like Cooper would find a toy to play with and then one of the other dogs would take it away from him. Cooper definitely ranked at the bottom of the totem pole at their house!

The day after his playdate with the big dogs, Cooper got a haircut. The owner of Cooper's dad Cabot and his brother Brinkley lives nearby and she gave Cooper his first grooming since we've had him. I was surprised by how much hair she cut off! He was looking extra cute after his trim, but unfortunately I forgot to take before/after photos to see the difference.

This weekend, we went to a local agility trial so that Cooper could play with his brother Brinkley and sister Abby (her name was Apricot at birth). Abby -- the only liver and white puppy in the litter -- lives in Alabama now with four other Springers and came to Georgia so that one of them could compete in the agility trial. It was exciting to see all three pups play together -- they're all so cute! In this photo, Brinkley is on the left, Cooper in the middle and Abby on the right. (It was too hard to get a good shot of all three of them!)

Jeff and I took Brinkley and Cooper for a walk around the park while we were there. Brinkley is definitely much better walking in a group than Cooper is. Cooper always wants to be in the front of the pack and run as fast as he can to get "somewhere". After our walk, we sat and watched some of the standard and jumpers agility trials. It was a lot of fun! Maybe one day Cooper will be in the ring!

Cooper Reunites with his Brother and Dad

Cooper had an exciting Sunday afternoon! We took a road trip to Decatur so that he could play with his dad Cabot and his brother Brinkley. Here's a photo of Cooper and his dad Cabot. To give you the size differential -- Cooper is 18 pounds and Cabot is 50 pounds.


Cooper previously traveled from Indiana to Decatur when he was about 8 weeks old, at which time Brinkley stayed in Georgia and Cooper returned to Indiana. I have been wondering if they recognized each other from their early days.

Most of the time we were there, Cooper just romped around the yard with Brinkley. They were so cute together! And if it weren't for Cooper's collar or the lack of white on his back, it would have been quite difficult to tell them apart.



Click here to watch a video of Cooper and Brinkley playing. Doesn't it make you want to have two Springer puppies at the same time? They'd have so much fun! They got so dirty playing in the water bowl and in the yard that Cooper needed a bath before I would let him in the car to come home!

Unfortunately, it seems that all the playing and the bath were a bit too much for Cooper -- he got sick in the car on the way home. However, I don't think think it will stop him from wanting to play with his dad and brother again very soon! We are so thankful that they live so close!

Cooper's First Playdate

Cooper is growing up so fast! At 15 weeks old, he had his first playdate! We took him to Lesley and Rob's on Saturday to play with their lab Otto. Here's a cute pic of them during a play break.


They enjoyed chasing each other around the yard (and even switched up who the "chaser" was). When the humans went inside, Cooper decided to play in Otto's huge water bowl. When we came out less than 10 minutes later, Cooper was soaked and covered in dirt. Here's my dirty puppy zonked out after all that exciting play with Otto!


We're looking forward to many more exciting playdates with Otto!