Cooper is a special kind of something.
He really is a unique little snowflake. A skinny unique little snowflake.
He loves his siblings more than anything. He’s only happy if he’s next to or on top of or smooshed up against Emmett, Lucas, or Newt. Preferably all.
He’s a love bug who wants nothing but to snuggle and be cozy and just be. with. you. Or on your lap. Or on his brothers’ laps.
But, man, is he a weirdo.
There’s a lot of research to suggest that stomach issues and stress are integrally related. Makes sense. It really does. But it also makes our life stressful. We *might* have a food solution to simplify things, but we’re still in the testing phase. More on that later.
In the meantime, here’s what makes it challenging with this guy:
Today, he barks his face off at every person we pass on the street. Yesterday, though, he wagged and wanted to befriend them.
Today, he shakes like a little leaf, whining and crying his face off, at doggy day care dropoff. Last week? Dashed in and straight back, ready to romp!
Today, he’s totally fine with the fountain in the living room. For months, in fact, he’s been totally fine with the fountain in the living room. He’s been drinking from it. Knocking into it. Jumping over it. Last night?
Sigh. What a weirdo. It must be hard being him. Truly.
{Incidentally, so no one thinks I’m cruel and just laughed at his distress… well, okay, I laughed a little because c’mon! But after the video, I went over and encouraged him to sniff and check it out, and he was fine and sipping from it again not five minutes later. Who knows…}
I mean, you have to take a video or a picture first or no one would believe you. That is par for the course with weirdo dogs!
YES!! It’s not mean. It’s necessary. 😉
I agree – you gotta laugh at the video at first – I mean, if it’s been months and he’s barely noticed it. 🙂 What a funny boy. If only we knew what goes on in their heads!
So many times I’ve had that thought… what could possibly be going on up there??
Cooper reminds me of Zoey. We’ve now added the clicker to the list of random fears. Not sure how they start, but it’s there and I respect it. She’s now taking an herbal supplement created by a holistic veterinarian for anxiety and I’ve started added FullBucket to her diet (for digestion). She’s doing really well. A neighbor came by and she only barked a couple times.
She cracks me up. And I’ve had videos to capture her behavior, because it’s so bizarre when something she’s never had an issue with becomes a terrifying monster.
Zoey is the second dog I’ve heard of to be afraid of the clicker! Who knows what prompts a new fear like that? Don’t you wish you could sit down and have a chat… “Look, this thing that you’re afraid of right now? It’s been there for ages. You’ve been fine. You ARE fine. Promise.” 🙂
Cooper is soooo cute! (ok they all are) I wonder if there is some underlying health issue since often times reactivity on walks can be a sign of a dog in pain. Just curious, how does he do with just a regular water bowl?
Oh, Cooper has about half a dozen underlying health issues! But I truly don’t think he’s in pain! He does just fine with a regular bowl–we have two downstairs–and he does just fine with a fountain we have upstairs. This was just a screw-loose moment for him, I think, because he’s back to drinking from that fountain again! Who knows with this guy!
It makes you wonder what suddenly made him fearful of something he’s seen for months. And yes, I’ll admit I did laugh when I watched the video – but I’m glad to hear that he drinking out of the fountain again.
I feel like “he’s just a weirdo” has become an acceptable explanation for this guy!
You know that those of us who also have weird dogs probably chuckled the most at the video! So far luckily Luke’s stress hasn’t caused stomach problems, though he does eat an unusual amount of grass. I mean a lot. When we go on walks he wants to eat grass (I don’t mind him stopping to sniff stuff, but I tell him now – no grass, keep moving!). I’m not sure if that’s to settle his stomach or if just really likes it (he doesn’t throw up after eating it like some dogs do).
It also seems like fearful dogs can be the most loving with their families, at least I seem to see that a lot on other blogs. And I think their idiosyncrasies tend to just endear them to us more. 🙂
YES! I know you know! 🙂
That is so interesting about the grass. Seriously, Cooper is obsessed with eating grass. He will graze in the yard nonstop unless we remove him, and as we’re walking, he just bites at the grass along the way. Wonder if there’s some kind of correlation there? Fascinating…