The Cooper Chronicles

I've often thought about writing a book about the crazy things our dog does. However, I don't think anyone would buy it except our family. So I'll just share them on our blog. Here is this week in the life of Cooper "T-Martin" "Charles" Cain:

The Cooper Chronicles

Part 1: Coop the Bird Dog


We always knew that Cooper would be an excellent hunting dog because he can sniff out all of his toys, even ones that have been MIA for months. If he "loses" a toy underneath the sofa or behind something, he barks and points right to it so we can get it for him. In some ways I feel guilty that we never let him use his abilities for hunting, but we're just not hunters. So our son has taken it upon himself to use his skills....in our backyard....twice. He favors blue jays for some reason. Maybe because they're brightly colored. Cooper caught his first bird when we lived in Flower Mound. The birds were taunting him and several of them flew down towards him. Well he jumped up and grabbed one and started running around the yard with it. He proceeded to pin it down and pull all of it's feathers out of its wings. By this time Derek and I were in the backyard and he just looked at us and pointed to the bird as if to say, "Ok I got it for you! Now finish it off!"His instincts are amazing to me since he's never been in that position before! This weekend he caught his first Houston bird. We were in the house and we heard him constantly barking at something. Unfortunately that's a regular occurrence, especially at night when people are walking their dogs. All of the sudden I heard birds screeching really loudly, so I went out to see what was going on. Cooper had another poor blue jay pinned and was pulling out its feathers. He only got the feathers on one of the bird's wings before I stopped him, but the damage had been done. The other birds were dive bombing Cooper anytime he went outside, so he didn't have doggie door privileges this weekend. When he caught his first bird, I think we were both so shocked that we praised him for it. Great parenting there! So of course he was all proud this time and HE was shocked when we yelled at him. I think he really did feel bad about it....either that or he felt bad that we were yelling at him;) Our little birdy friend wedged herself between a fence post and the fence in our yard for the entire weekend. TONS of other birds stayed up in the trees to protect and feed her. (I say her because Derek said he heard her babies. :( ) Neither one of us really knew what to do because we didn't want the bird to suffer or be eaten by an animal, especially a snake. That's the last thing we need in our yard!! We also didn't want to kill the bird because let's be honest, who really wants to kill a poor scared little bird that your dog hurt? I mean really! And even if we did have the heart to kill it, it's not like we have guns or anything. It wouldn't have been pretty or quick, which added to our issue with killing the bird. Thankfully, on Sunday afternoon the bird was gone. Now I realize the most likely scenario for our little birdy, but I chose to believe that she grew strong enough to fly away:) Yes, I am a science teacher. Yes, I teach all about ecosystems and predator/prey relationships. However, I do not wish to witness or think about those relationships occurring in by backyard. Thank you!



Part 2: Cooper and the Giant Water Dish


Two years ago this weekend we got our Cooper! We wanted to do something to celebrate him joining our family. He loves to go to PetSmart and pick out toys, however, he has WAY too many now. You can't go into a room of our house without finding one of his toys. Sometimes you can convince yourself that he just carries them from room to room and it seems like he has more toys than he actually does. (Or at least that's the delusional world I had been living in.) Well that changed when I found him snuggled up with TWO Green Men! Needless to say, we didn't take him to PetSmart yesterday. The Bed and Biscuit said that he really enjoyed playing in their play pools when he stayed there, so we decided to get him a little pool for the backyard. Last summer he conquered his fear of water at Grammy and Grandpa's house. (Remember this post?!) I just knew that he would LOVE his pool and be a soaking wet mess all the time. I figured we'd have to restrict his doggie door privileges to keep our house dry. We had already decided that he'd have specific times that he would get to play in his pool for several reasons. In addition to keeping our house dry, we also don't want to kill the grass with the dog pool. As Derek filled up the pool, I got the camera ready to capture the sheer joy that we knew Cooper would feel/show when he saw his pool for the first time. Here's his reaction:

We continued to play in the pool. I think he liked the cool water, but wasn't a fan of getting his face wet when he "rescued" his toys. It has been extremely hot here, so I know that the pool will be enjoyed all summer.

We are so happy that Cooper is a part of our family! He is such a sweet and loving boy! He protects us and provides much entertainment for our family. We love you, Coopie!

You've come a long way, baby!