I remember tucking puppy Cooper into my sweater because he’d get cold and start squeaking. He weighed six pounds. That’s how much Ripley weighs now.
Cooper used to curl up against my stomach while I worked. He’d nestle his tiny face under my arm, I’d scoot in my desk chair, and type away while he dozed like a little kangaroo.
If he thought he could fit, he’d try the same today.
I remember waking up at all hours of the night because puppy Cooper needed to go out or had already had an accident.
I remember falling asleep while listening for the tiniest signs from the crate next to my bed. Poor puppy Cooper. That first year of his life spent in a cone, itching himself to pieces, and ill a lot of the time. And, yet, he played with his brothers, tore up the house playing solo, played in the yard and the kiddie pool, walked and ran and did all the puppy things, despite it all.
We nailed down his health issues, have him on the right food and the right medication, we manage his supplements well, and now he’s squarely a healthy “grown up” at 7. But he does the same today: runs and jumps and plays, skitters, tears up the house (though that’s more metaphorical than literal these days)… and then he cuddles in bed with me and the kitties when it’s time to settle, thankfully without all the overnight waking.
I remember thinking puppy Cooper can learn anything!
He stretched my training abilities to the limit back then because he learned everything immediately. What took Lucas a couple days and Emmett (sweet Emmett) a few weeks to learn, Cooper mastered in a session. He picked up a ton of stuff–some manners, household routines–from watching his brothers. It turned me into a lazy trainer with him because I took it for granted that he’d just figure stuff out.
Now? He picks and chooses. I know this is a controversial topic in the dog training world: Can a dog truly be obstinate? In other words, can a dog know the command, know what you want exactly, but choose to do something differently? Most argue that, well, the dog doesn’t really know the command that well. This is a complex discussion I’m distilling for simplicity, but here’s what I know about Cooper:
He listens with perfect, crystal-clear hearing. He executes with varying degrees of creativity. And if you say in a mock-horrified tone, “Cooper! I’m shocked!” or something similar to express disbelief, he will gaze up into your face, spend a second figuring out if you’re serious or not, and if you can pull off the serious expression, he quickly does the thing exactly as you asked him to do in the first place.
Drives me nuts. (But at the same time I love and adore him for it!)
All this is coming full circle now that Violet is eating solid food. (I totally had a point!! It just took me this long to get to it!!)
He always went to his bed in the corner of the kitchen when we were eating, more as a matter of good manners than anything else.
Now? With his food allergies it’s becoming imperative that he parks his bum on that bed during meal times, but…
He waits until I go to the fridge to get something. He pops up out of his bed, gobbles all the tiny bits of food she drops, then dashes back to his bed before (he thinks) I notice.
Or, Violet snatches up a handful of something–yesterday it was peas–and leans all the way under the table to hand him pieces while giggling her face off. And dear Cooper pops up, goes under the table, and ever so gently takes the proffered peas out of her chubby little fingers.
I really, really, really don’t want him to have any of those flare-ups from all those years ago that kept us up at night, kept him in a cone all day every day, and–most importantly–kept him from enjoying life at top speed.
So, back to the drawing board.
Clearly the bed in the corner is no good because it’s a mere three feet from where Violet sits in her Bumbo graciously doling out food to the animals. (The other day I went to fill her sippy cup, and I turned back to see her hand feeding Newt fistfuls of tofu…)
Obviously we’re going to work with Violet on not feeding the animals. That’s of course part of the plan, but at this point in her development, training Cooper is the faster solution.
I’m torn, too, because part of me thinks… well, it’s just peas. She’s mobile and handsy and falls on him a million times a day no matter how closely I keep an eye on them, so if she feeds him maybe it’ll solidify his positive feelings towards her. But then I can’t change the rules on them both when she’s eating, say, chicken. It would feel so arbitrary to them. Neither Violet nor Cooper would understand.
I remember worrying in those first few months about Cooper with Violet. I remember hoping that he’d take to her (he did) and that he wouldn’t feel neglected or pushed aside (we’ve tried to keep everything the same for him). I remember worrying about him adjusting to all of it.
I couldn’t even fathom–nearly a year ago–that I’d be worrying about Violet feeding Cooper something that would send his body into a tailspin because I honestly couldn’t imagine her sitting in a chair feeding herself!! Just like way back when I tucked Cooper into my sweater to work each day I couldn’t imagine him being healthy and well and training for a half marathon with John.
I remember facing each of Cooper’s challenges along the way and thinking… when will we solve this one?
And we’ve solved them all (mostly…), so I know this will be solved, too.
In the meantime, what is your dinnertime routine with your pup? Do they go to a specific place? Do you all eat together on the couch? Any best practices that work for you and your family?
It’s definitely a challenge, considering how many times a day she eats. At least she’s giving him veggies (mostly) for now!
True… although, I think her palate is far more adventurous than his anyway! 😀
Now that Charlie is 7 years old, her training has kind of fallen to the wayside. I guess I’d rather just enjoy life and let it unfold rather than needing complete control of everything. I know she knows her commands, and yes, she chooses to follow them or not depending on her mood. Some days she’ll “give me five” for a treat, other days she just looks away with disinterest because she knows she’ll get the biscuit whether she gives me five or not. I love her. I’ll do anything for her. And she definitely uses that to her advantage. When her mealtime begging gets out of control because I’ve been giving her pizza crusts or blueberries out of my oatmeal, I vow to only feed her in her bowl. But then I find myself throwing her pieces of popcorn to keep her occupied while I’m watching t.v. Oh well. Just going with the flow! 🙂
YES! I love this. I think it’s so true about letting them enjoy life instead of controlling everything. They’re so much funnier and more creative when they have lots of freedom. Thanks for sharing!!
Btw, Lucas used to immediately start drooling the second he heard the first pop of the popcorn bag in the microwave. Hilarious! And, of course, he got his own bowl. 🙂
Our mealtime routine is ever changing. Julius is becoming a touch guard-y which has been quite fun to manage. He never (to date) resource guards things he has or things Ray has, but he guards the anticipation of things, e.g. “a tasty treat might be coming so I need to make sure no one else is near.” He does have a dog bed on one side of the dining room he normally stays on during meals and Ray usually lies on the other side of the table so we don’t usually have an issue. If they seem more “engaged” in what we have and we want to have a more peaceful meal we rotate them and they get to take turns staying in the dining room and the other one is gated in the bedroom.
Resource guarding is definitely a challenge, but it sounds like you’re already several steps ahead by knowing what/when his triggers are!! The rotations are such a great idea to ensure peace. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Those are really great tips!
Although you don’t want Cooper to ever feel pushed aside, it sounds like this could seriously be a health issue down the road. Baby gates or crates with REALLY GREAT frozen Kongs might keep mealtime more manageable and a Special Time for the sweet guy.
But I know what you mean – that sweet “obstinate” face…! And snacktime – all bets are off.
Good luck!
THANK YOU! You just sparked such an awesome idea… Now my wheels are turning… We always feed them a couple hours earlier then we eat, just because that’s been our habit and for convenience, but I’m wondering if freezing his dinner or feeding him in puzzles at the same time on the other side of the kitchen won’t just nip this problem…. I’m going to give it a whirl! Thank you so much, Chris!!!
I laughed and my heart grew a bit bigger thinking of sweet Violet feeding her furry friends! Is there any treat you can give Cooper during meal times – I’m thinking something that takes a bit longer to eat? Maybe The Honest Kitchen Beams (the dried fish skins – those take most dogs some time to eat) or a Zukes dental bone or a stuffed Kong (THK, pb or pumpkin)? Or maybe a puzzle with treats that will take him some time? Good luck!
She fed the cats her tuna at lunch today in the 30 seconds it took me to pour her milk, and she was giggling her head off the whole time. That girl! A natural animal lover! 🙂 I’m loving the stuffed Kong idea with his THK meals. Thank you so, so much for your encouragement!
My Noel does the same thing your Cooper does, she also can pick and choose at times what she wants to do regardless of the commands given. Only she doesn’t even look at me…she just ignores me at times especially when she is moseying around outside. I think the issue is mine rather than hers though, I don’t work on her commands like I use to when she was young, and now that she is pushing six, I really just enjoy watching her enjoy herself.
THIS: “I really just enjoy watching her enjoy herself.” So much YES! I love watching Cooper be Cooper. He has so much personality that’s all his own. I love that you share that with Noel, and it cracks me up that she just moseys on! 🙂
Yeah……Daisy used to pick and choose too and we both knew that she knew darn well what I wanted. Smart dogs are an extra trial sometimes. You’ll get it! And there are worse things than Cooper and Violet being besties with secrets.
YESSS!!!! Smart dogs! They can be so exhausting! But, with that comes so much joy and hilarity, so… it’s fair. 🙂
Not to stray off the topic but I feel we expect our dogs to listen to every command, every time but the truth is I think we all (as dog parents) also understand the concept of free-will. Knowing what the command means and feeling that they need to perform every time is always questionable to me unless of course it is life-threatening IE: drop or leave
Monty sits on a mat by the kitchen table while we eat, he is not invited to the couch when food is present. This is mostly due to the fact that I finally figured out that he is fear aggressive, when he is terrified he lashes out and anything aggressive towards him causes a reaction so for his safety he is not within grabbing distance of food in case it drops and he tries to get it before we can stop him (think bones or dog poisonous substances)
Being a responsible dog owner is hard, trying to be a responsible dog owner AND a responsible and caring parent is double duty!! You will figure this out and it will all be awesome in the end, same as you have done the best for Cooper every step of the way!!
I love that point, and it’s definitely related! Fear aggression certainly imposes/forces limits and rules that another dog might not have, but at the end of the day, safety should always be the first priority. It sounds like you have a great system in place!
Off topic but related to free will: Do you guys ever play the box game? OMG. It’s one of our favorites (maybe I should do a post about this…) where he gets to just innovate or create whatever behavior he wants with a box, and I just click and treat for fun. He LOVES it, and it lets him exercise his creativity and free will. A big fave!
It’s tough with food allergies, especially when you have a little one who clearly enjoys sharing.
And, to answer your question. The dogs are SUPPOSED to go to their ‘places’ and one of them does without question, but there is another who I KNOW knows the ‘down’ command, but refuses to do it. Until the Hubs shouts at her, then she oh so casually stretches herself out. Of course, she pops right back up, and then changes her ‘spot.’ I do acknowledge this is lazy training on my part, because I stopped using mats. Apparently, an orthopedic dog bed is not a good place to rest for 15 minutes while the humans inhale some food.
HAHAH!!! I can just imagine her and her casual stretch! That is HILARIOUS! 🙂 Sweet girl!
Our two either lay on the floor next to us while we eat, or on their beds and couches. They are so good about not begging. However, if food is left out in the kitchen, Luke will be out there trying to get to it.
“Leave it” is our biggest challenge with him, and I can only imagine trying to keep him in place with a baby dropping food would be difficult to say the least. I can see where Cooper’s allergies take your challenge to another level as well.
I can’t wait to hear how you figure this out!
“Leave it” is SO HARD because they get rewarded by ignoring the command!!! We’ve been really reinforcing his mat work since you inspired me to do so with all of Luke’s success, so I’m hoping that will have an impact! I’ll definitely share as we go! 🙂
Hey Maggie!
It would be a great challenge. The good side of it all is that you’re giving vegan food most of the time, so this allows it to stay healthier (it’s my vision at least)
How has the day-to-day been? Any news?