Happy Christmas

To all a Happy Christmas! I've been remiss in keeping this up to date- but it was insanely busy in those last few days leading up to Christmas.


Cooper has become a family favorite at home. Unfortunately for Cooper, home is a 5 hour drive away. It also means that Cooper must have a bath and a brushing before he we journey home. My stepdad is allergic to pet dander, so although Cooper is loveable, it's best if he has as much hair removed as humanly possible.


The 5 hour drive is boring and awful for me. Ohio does not offer much to look at, but it does supply you with ticket-hungry state officers. When I leave after work, the majority of the drive is done in the dark, which makes it even more terrible because I just feel like I should be sleeping, not driving. For Cooper though, these drives are much worse. He has not mastered the "bracing" skill. Anytime I touch my brakes, he flies forward into my center console. He drools on everything. He pants and breathes in my ear like a stalker on a phone call. His back legs shake unless he finally decides he must sit down. He also gets carsick. He has only thrown up once in the car, but he also refuses to eat after the ride. 5 hours of this is exhausting for both of us.


I have bathed Cooper before a few times since I've gotten him. He has never seemed to hate it, but he certainly doesn't love it. He just accepts it and looks at me with a somewhat sullen face as I pour warm bathwater over him. He even lets me blow-dry him a little after I towel-dry him. I think it is his sweet nature that allows me to do this without him flipping out, but he no longer will go into the bathroom to get his toy should it roll into that room. He wiggles anxiously at me until I go to fetch it (very much defeating the purpose of the game).

This time though, I didn't have to suffer through nearly as much of either.

Cooper went to Camp Bow Wow the morning before I left to get groomed and professionally tackle the hair problem. He sheds so much in the middle of the winter that no matter how often I brush or sweep, his hair is still everywhere! Camp Bow Wow is one of Cooper's all time favorite places to go. I feel like a Mom with a child in school for the first time. The child is independent and saying, "Ok, bye already!" without even looking back. I'm the one who suffers from separation anxiety when I leave him there.

If you've never taken your pet to Camp Bow Wow, and your dog is considered social and fun, you really need to. It's an all day play center for dogs. As a bonus, they offer kenneling and grooming services as well. So before our big drive home that night, Cooper got to play all day, and then he had to take a bath and get...furminated.

It worked- like a dream! Cooper was soft and clean and for the first time in months when I pet him, he didn't shed. Plus, he was all worn out from all day play. By the time we were an hour into the drive, Cooper was taking 20 minute naps in the car, which he never does, and sat a lot more than he ever has. It was a great blessing as the drive this year was full of freezing rain and icy roads. If Cooper is nervous to ride on a good day, how would he have been feeling at full energy on a bad day?

On Christmas, Cooper and his little sister Molly (my parents 8mo old Cockapoo) opened presents for the first time. Cooper got Molly puppy cookies for Christmas, and Molly got Cooper some new toys. Cooper also got a new toy and bone from "Santa". In the midst of opening, as all siblings do, Cooper was jealous of Molly's cookies and Molly was jealous of Cooper's new toy. They normally will do a little aggravated growl at each other when they are just tired of each other or don't want the other to touch what they have. For Cooper, this usually pertains only to bones or kong toys, but on this Christmas, he gave a big growl to Molly when she went after his Christmas toy. Molly usually backs off, but not this time. She grabbed his ear and growled right back. For being 1/3 of his size, this was a brave, but foolhardy move. I've never seen Cooper be truly aggressive with anyone, so this was an interesting situation. They both had to be corrected and unfortunately because of his size, he had to be corrected a little harder, but I was shocked to see the two of them really get so frustrated with each other.

The lucky puppy was also granted permission to sleep on my bed over Christmas. I never let him do this, but I thought, eh, it's Christmas, why not? When I got home on Sunday, I remembered exactly why not. Because then he wants to do it everytime. I've spent the majority of this week shooing him off my bed.

I've also had to spend the last two days coaxing him to eat. I think he is sad because he misses Molly and doesn't like being left alone all day. He wouldn't even eat out of my hand. Once he finally did, he perked back up a little. However, he's got me thinking about how lonely he must be all day. I can't get another dog now while I'm still figuring out the dog I have here, but I fear that one day I will have two little puppies to drive me crazy all day long.