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!

Cooper's New Trick!

Cooper learned a new trick this week -- CATCH! Jeff started practicing catch with him last weekend and by Friday, it just clicked and he figured it out! Here's a video from yesterday, when Cooper caught 7 of 8 frozen green beans! We're hoping this will transition into catching balls and frisbees, but he's off to a great start for now!

* And for anyone wondering why he's wearing a towel in this video, he played in a mud puddle at the dog park and had just been bathed. I think Cooper should get a few bonus points for catching all those green beans with limited mobility!

Cooper's Trip to the Doctor

Today we took Cooper to a veterinary cardiologist to get his heart checked. A couple months ago, one of his litter mates was diagnosed with a hole in the heart. After that, the breeders wanted to make sure none of the other puppies had cardiac issues and asked us all to take our puppies to a cardiologist. We were happy to report to them today that Cooper's heart is normal!


And just like kids get a toy after a doctor visit, Cooper got a present after his doctor visit too! Here he is with his new deer antler (and an old fox).

That's Cooper's second new deer antler this week too, because his cousins Smooch and Wee in Maryland sent one home with me last weekend for him! (Cooper says thanks!)

Get ready, tomorrow starts the month-long countdown to Cooper's 1st birthday!!

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

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!

Happy Holidays!

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