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 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!!

What's Cooper Been Doing in 2011?

I've been a bit lazy lately on blogging about all of Cooper's adventures, so I thought I'd just show some photos to let you know what he's been up to.

It snowed in Georgia in January and everything shut down for a week. Cooper enjoyed the snow!

Cooper got a new bed for the office:

 Before

After

After a few weeks, Cooper decided he preferred his bed near the window in the office so that he could perch on the bed and look out the window. He definitely plays the guard dog role well.

We got a Roomba for Christmas and Cooper likes to follow it around the house:

Grandma Vogel made Cooper homemade dog toys and he LOVES them! She also sends him homemade dog treats, which he also LOVES! (By the way, Grandma, he's eaten the last batch of treats, please send more ASAP!)

 

Cooper took out some aggression (or boredom) on a stair rail. It was the first and only thing he's chewed up in the house. (Knock on wood.)

It was probably my fault though. I decided to give Cooper freedom in 2011 and let him hang out wherever he wanted in the house when I was working from home. This was his favorite spot (I say *was* because he doesn't have this freedom anymore).

And sometimes Cooper jumps up on the couch when he thinks no one's looking:

Here Cooper's saying "Feed me!"

He barely fits in Jeff's lap anymore:

He loves getting his belly brushed:

And we groomed Cooper for the first time by ourselves two weekends ago! He doesn't look too bad (well, except for his tail) and it'll all grow back anyway!

Before

After

Happy Holidays!

Cooper wishes everyone Happy Holidays! We'll have a recap of his holiday road trip soon!

Cooper’s Weekend with Mommy

Jeff headed to Las Vegas for Columbus Day weekend to celebrate his 30th birthday with his brothers, so Cooper and I had the house to ourselves. Woo hoo, party time!

Saturday evening we went to our neighborhood block party. The kids there loved playing with Cooper and he was very well-behaved even with so much food around! Here’s a photo of a girl giving lovin’ him up at the party.


For part of Jeff’s birthday present, I bought him Star Wars cookie cutters and pancake molds. So on Sunday afternoon, I decided I’d make a batch or two of the cookies in anticipation of Jeff's return home on Monday. They were more work than I was anticipating (not to mention that they required a two-hour dough refrigeration time), so to keep Cooper busy while I was in the kitchen I gave him a new Kong toy. You put dog food inside and he has to topple it over just right to get the food out of the keyhole. This toy definitely kept Cooper busy for at least a half hour while I was baking!


And here’s a photo of the cookies Cooper and I made -- a plate full of Yodas, storm troopers, Darth Vaders, and Boba Fetts. There were a lot of cookies, so Jeff took them to work and his coworkers ate most of them.

Cooper's First Week in Georgia

We survived our first week with a puppy! And last night Cooper FINALLY slept through the night!! This was unlike most nights this week...when we had to take him out twice in the middle of the night. We hope he keeps up this good behavior!

Here's a brief overview of a day in the posh life of Cooper during his first week in Georgia. First up, breakfast. Cooper gets very excited about food -- watch this video to see what I mean.

After breakfast, Cooper plays and sleeps until lunch. Sometimes he sleeps next to his water bowl.

And sometimes he goes into his crate all by himself to chill.

This eat, play, sleep routine is repeated until after dinner. When Jeff gets home, Cooper knows it's play time. And he loves to play with his fox!

Once Cooper tires out from all the playing, he likes to nap (yes, more napping). Who said Springers aren't lap dogs?

Somehow with all this eating, playing and napping, we fit in a walk or two around the neighborhood and obedience practice (he knows the commands for sit and down!) each day.

Cooper's Favorite Toys

During his first week in Georgia, Cooper's favorite toys are a cardboard box, a fox with a plastic water bottle insert, and squeaky rings. Here are a few videos of Cooper playing with his favorite toys.

Watch out neighborhood foxes now that Cooper's in town!

Cooper says screw the $10 toy, I like the freebie cardboard box!