A big lesson learnt…

I learnt a big lesson yesterday and I need to share it with you guys…

I took Cooper to go and visit my Aunty and Uncle’s dog, Ollie the Groodle. Ollie is only 1 so between he and Cooper, their energy is pretty crazy and hyper.

Anyway, when I got to my Aunty and Uncle’s house I made, in retrospect, a very dumb decision. I let Cooper off the lead before entering the house. At this time, Cooper’s energy was at extreme excitement. The second my Aunty opened the front door, Cooper went full pelt to what he thought was outside – but actually it was straight into the glass window, head first!!!

Thank goodness he didn’t actually break through the glass and he was ok. It was a loud scary bang and I think it shocked everyone besides Cooper. He is a tough dog. Straight after he was ready and rearing to go and see Ollie. They played and played for the next hour and had an absolute ball together!

Come to think of it, Cooper behaves like that quite often. He enters my parents house in this excited state. We let him off the lead in the park in this excited state. When we go to my other Aunty and Uncle’s house, he get’s just as excited to see Diesel – but thankfully there is a back way to get straight into the garden so he can’t destroy their house! It’s also situations like people entering our house. Realistically, whilst Coop is young and in training, we should make people wait outside until Coop is calm. Then they should enter the house with no touch, talk or eye contact with the dog. And once Coop is quiet, then they can greet him.

The big lesson I have learnt is that Cooper shouldn’t get his way when his energy levels are so heightened. It just creates havoc. Jase and I are going to need to spend the time making him sit, drop and calm down before entering other peoples homes, before going to the park or the beach and the list of places goes on. We will need to be very patient and wait for his body language to tell us that he is in a calm relaxed state before we do any of these things.

I have watched many Dog Whisperer episodes by Cesar Millan and he is all about the energy of the person and the dog. If I am calm, the dog should read my energy. It will take time and patience but after this incident, it will definitely be worthwhile. Coop could have seriously hurt himself!

Cooper and his sister Emma in a relaxed state

Cooper has been getting away with it but now it is time to buckle down and be tough! I will be sure to keep you all posted on our progress.

Cooper's mum and two sisters at our visit to the breeder last week

Cooper and his mum,  Lara

Post Holiday Blues...

Do you have post Easter Holiday blues?....

Cooper certainly does!

Whilst Jase and I were holidaying with my family over the Easter Break in the Gold Coast, Cooper was having a holiday of his own. For the first time since we’ve had Coop, we left him for more than one night. We took him to stay with Jacqui, Steve and their one-year-old golden retriever, JJ. I met Jacqui through our breeders and she is just like me – obsessed with dogs! So I knew Cooper would be in good hands.

When I dropped Cooper at Jacqui and Steve’s place, I felt like a mother dropping my child off to his first day at school – Cooper wasn’t interested in saying goodbye, he was too preoccupied with his new best friend JJ!! I have to admit, I felt a bit sad but at the same time I knew he was going to have the best time. And I was right!

Jacqui and her family took all the dogs (JJ, Cooper and her parent’s Golden – Busta) to their family holiday house down the coast of Victoria to spend their Easter break by the beach.

Jacqui and Steve kept Jase and I up to date the whole time. She sent us photos and text messages everyday.

Busta is quite a bit older than Cooper and JJ so he wasn’t as interested in playing as roughly as those two. By the sounds of it, Cooper and JJ were go go go most of the time. Jacqui mentioned there were a couple of times where Busta put Cooper in his place and told him off. She warned me that Coop got a few little battle wounds from his encounters with Busta. I actually think it is a good thing because as I mentioned in my previous post Cooper sometimes gets over excited with other dogs. There is nothing better then a dog learning from its pack. Cooper knew pretty fast that he was at the bottom of this pack and he didn't try it again with Busta. Being a part of the pack was a really good thing for Coop – according to Jacqui, he was also more trustworthy off lead because he just followed JJ and Busta.

It was late at night when Jase and I picked Cooper up from Jacqui and Steve’s house but Cooper and JJ were still wrestling around. 

When we got home, it was seriously as though Cooper was depressed. He was not very excited to us at all!

The next morning, once the exhaustion wore off, we got our big Cooper cuddles and kisses and we couldn’t be happier to have him home!

Thanks Jacqui, Steve and JJ for giving Cooper such an awesome holiday!!

We are so lucky that we have found people like Jacqui and Steve to look after Cooper when we go away. It sure beats sending him to a kennel. Do you have someone like Jacqui and Steve to look after your dog when you go on holidays?