Happy Birthday, Cooper!

Anderson Cooper is 4 or 28, depending on how you look at it.  It’s been a big year for our first child.

 

Last fall Coop spent 10 days at ‘puppy college’, ‘doggy boarding school’, or ‘bad dog school.’ Our feisty girl had gotten a little too feisty when on her leash. What did we learn from the trainer? Nothing we didn’t already know. She’s super, super smart. Duh, she’s our kid. She’s a total alpha female. She’s a crazy, Mariah Carey level, diva. No huge surprises to us. Coop got some great tools to ease her fear of other dogs when she’s on leash and we learned the best ways to help her. I’d forgotten what it was like to go on a walk and not have your arms be sore later from the crazy pulling. Nice job, Coop.  She's still has some work to do, but what "kid" doesn't have their quirks.

Cooper continues to be awesome with kids and is so patient with Sloane.  I think the fact that one of Sloane’s favorite things to do is to feed her endless treats doesn’t hurt.  Every morning as we are heading out the door, Sloane stops, turns around, and walks back into the living room to give Coop a pet and say goodbye.  Every day.  It never gets old.   Unfortunately, Sloane is now starting to involve Coop in her dress up.

She occasionally sniffs Hazel but largely ignores her.  I think that will continue until Hazy can start doling out the treats like her sister.

Coop loves her romps with her buddies on our street.   There are a bunch of dogs who love to chase each other and wrestle up and down our dead-end street.  It is awesome.  I love the huge smile on her face when she comes in exhausted.  It’s also allowed us to get to know our neighbors better than we ever would have.

We love our "first kid" and were happy to celebrate her 28th birthday with a pig ear covered in peanut butter.  Yum!  Happy birthday, Cooper!