Dog Park

Cooper and Bear made their first trip to the dog park a few days ago. We were a little nervous about the trip as they have only been around two other dogs in their short life, so we weren't sure how they would react to stranger dogs. I've wanted to go to the Dog Park for a while since I've heard good things about the local parks. We live in a city that supports dog parks and has several in the area- there is even a dedicated organization to the preservation of our dog parks (Houston dog parks). The park that is close to our house is really nice, it has separate fenced areas for big dogs and little dogs, with exercise equipment and a pond at each.

We took the little boys to the side for little dogs and walked them around the three acre lot on their leash first so they could get the lay of the land (and also be able to protect them if an aggressive dog showed up) then let them off the leash - Cooper immediately started sprinting and pretty much didn't stop sprinting until we left the park an hour and a half later. Bear would run too (mainly after Cooper) but he stuck closer to us. The puppies even got a crude introduction to swimming by accidentally jumping into the middle of the pond. I'm pretty sure they didn't realize what they were jumping into before they hit the water, but they sure figured out how to swim pretty fast.

My sister and her boyfriend joined us and we all enjoyed the beautiful afternoon, in the mid 60's, by chasing the boys and playing some Frisbee. We even got the boys to jump on the doggy exercise equipment which I figured they love (as much as they love the couch at our house). They didn't like it at first, but with a little help, they eventually warmed up to the equipment.

The dogs did have a few low points- we met a fellow Australian Shepherd named Pepper right before we left. After talking with her owners, we learned she is 8 months old and about thirty pounds and crazy hyper. She is much bigger than Cooper and Bear but really wanted to be their friend... the boys weren't having it. Cooper did not get along with her at all and actually showed his teeth several times and tried to attack. To Coop's defense, that dog was much bigger than him (too big for the "small dog" area if you ask me) and just all up in his business. We separated them and Pepper's owner put her back on the leash. Pepper's owners were very understanding with the little confrontation, and ended up leaving shortly after. Even though the dogs didn't get off to a good start, it was nice to meet another fellow Aussie. I'm glad we ended up getting Mini Aussies as the regular breed is soo much bigger than these guys.

Other than that, the boys did really good and made a lot of doggie friends. We plan to go back as often as we can to let the boys run. It was good to see them stretch their legs so much and get the type of exercise they really require. As you might have expected, the pups were exhausted and pretty much slept for most of the afternoon... as did everyone else :)

Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas from Cooper and Bear! The boys had a good Christmas with several new squeak toys (a carrot and hot dog) a new bone and new rope. We had Christmas at my mom's house, so the puppies also got to meet Uncle Snickers. Snickers is a 14 year old Miniature American Eskimo and has never really been properly socialized, so he doesn't really appreciate other dogs... especially puppies. All the dogs got along surprisingly well. The puppies knew it was Snickers house, so they didn't really try to mess with him and Snickers tolerated the puppies pretty well. I was proud of all of them.

We actually got Snickers the hot dog toy, but Cooper loved it so much that Grandma let Cooper have it.

Hope you and your doggies had a great Christmas!

Bath Time

One of the first tricks the puppies learned was "go to the bath". As puppies under the age of four months, and owners having to leave the house everyday for over ten hours, our poor little guys had to learn to hold their bladders for a pretty long time. Unfortunately, that was not always the case and we came home to many a "surprise" when they were really little.

Our normal routine after arriving home to discover a mess was carrying them outside to finish the job, then it was "bath time". Usually they would both need to be carried through the house to our bath tub to avoid messing up the carpet, but occasionally one of them would be dry. In that case, I'd always say "okay puppies, let's go take a bath" and they would run for the tub. Best trick ever.

Even though our need for a daily bath is almost non-existant (thank goodness) they still do love bath time.

Introductions

Hi and welcome to "A Bear Named Cooper" blog. I have two little Miniature Australian Shepherd Puppies named Cooper and Bear, and have deicded to dedicate a blog to their active lifestyle and daily adventures. . Cooper is a black tri with brown eyes and Bear is a red merle with blue eyes. They are very sweet and active puppies, with tons of personality.

I figured I should start by giving you a run down of their day to day life. First, they like give a wake-up call to the house around 5am. We've learned to ignore this when we realized they did not have to necessarily go "outside" they just wanted to play with their brother. After getting up at 6am, running and biting their brother, they eat their breakfast, bite their brother, go run around outside, bite their brother, come inside, bite their brother, and go back into their kennel for their afternoon nap while we're at work. After their beauty rest, they get to come back out at 5:30pm when they preceed to bite their brother until their food bowl is full or the leash is out.

They eventually do get tired at night after hours of playing and that is when we all rest. Although a puppy's rest is never long and we do it all again a few short hours later. They are smart boys and love to keep us running after them and laughing, so I woudln't change a thing. This blog is dedicated to their life and the joy that is brings to our lives. Hope you enjoy.