Update

At 7 months old, Cooper is now 31-1/2 inches and weighs 102lbs! And he is a big, sweet, cuddly baby.

Dane Rescue

This post doesn't really pertain to Cooper, but involves Danes. We recently became involved with a Dane rescue group that was just formed 2 weeks ago. The rescue will serve Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northern Iowa and the Eastern Dakotas. We have been busy helping with the website and setting things up. In two weeks of being active, we have already placed 3 Danes and have another that is being surrendered on Saturday, we are involved in her transport from Mankato to Siren Wisconsin where she will be fostered.

These dogs deserve happy forever homes! I am so glad to be part of this rescue for this very special breed. If anyone wants to help, we can always use donations, both monetary and items for fostering, as well as more volunteers. Our website is up and working, you can check it out with the link on the left.

Another Graduation

Cooper graduated from level I obedience last night. I was worried because since he turned 6months old, he has been terrible at heeling, which is part of the exam. But thanks to Jennifer (our breeder), who spent some time with us last weekend and worked on heeling, he did great! He actually passed all parts with fling colors receiving many pass+'s! I am so proud of my baby, and myself, since this is my first dog I've done this much training with. Cooper is very food motivated and he managed to do his exam with no treats. I can't believe my baby is 7 months old! Ans very interested in female dogs. There are a few unfixed females in our class that are over 6 months old, and he definitely knows it! Hopefully we can get through the next 5 months without any problems due to him being intact, since we are waiting until he is 12 months to do his neutering.

Snow Romp

Here is Cooper in the fresh snow with his jacket on that he just loves!

Sock Thief!

Cooper has an incredible obsession with socks! Out of a pile of laundry (clean or dirty) he can always find a sock. The only problem is that by the time you see that he has it he is already swallowing it. He does this thing where he knows you are going to take it from him, so he holds off chewing until he is out of sight so that you don't know he has something. He has thrown up socks twice already. Thankfully they came up!
So we get a recommendation from a friend to tie a few old socks in a large knot and let him play with them, assuming that they will become boring to play with like all his other toys. Good idea right...not so much..last night he swallowed both socks with the big knot in them. I panicked, because I was worried that it was going to be too big to come back up. I called Jennifer (our breeder) and asked if she had ever made a dog throw up. She said "yep, get the hydrogen peroxide out and give him 1/4 cup using a syringe or turkey baster." So I did and sure enough about 15 min later he started vomiting. 3 cups of food, two of Steve's socks with knots in them, and one of my black socks! What a little sh*t! Happy Thanksgiving!

Just resting

Apparently our attempt to keep Cooper off the furniture has begun to fail. He never jumps up on the couch but often rests his rear, as you can see in the picture.

6 Months

Cooper is now 6 months old. We took a trip to the vet just to say hi and step on the scale. He weighs 94.7lbs and measures 29" at the shoulder. It's hard to believe that he has done so much growing in the 4 months that we have had him! He has gained about 70lbs and grown probably about 19 inches.

The Coop in action!

Whats that look for?

Snow Day

Cooper experienced our first 'real' snow this morning. I was surprised that he actually didn't seem to mind it much..I think he actually liked it a bit. He ran around a little, stuck his nose in it, ate some of it, and dug at it. Here are a few pics, not very good since he wouldn't stand still for me.

Dog Dayz

Cooper at the dog park

Another Graduation, and Another New Class.

Last week Cooper graduated from Advanced Puppy Obedience, and the next day we started Level 1 Obedience. I was a little worried because he is the youngest dog in our class. There is a 7 month old lab mix, and the rest are a year and older. There was even another Dane, Sophie a 16 month old fawn that is used for show. Cooper did great his first night. He pretty much aced everything, except his sit-stay by my side. The instructor required that while she was talking and giving instruction, all dogs needed to be sitting by our side, Cooper would always sit, but he would only stay that way for a minute or two and then he would stand up. He actually seems to do his sit-stay better when I sit him and then walk away, as long as he can see me he stays for quite awhile. He has a pretty solid wait, we ask him to wait before going through a door, he will sit outside on the step for quite some time, even several minutes until I tell him "all done" to release him from the wait. Hopefully his training will continue to go well, as our plans for him include getting his Canine Good Citizen and using him as a Therapy Dog. I would also be interested in doing Rally Obedience.

My Giant Baby!

Cooper had a vet visit today to get his Rabies shot. Of course he was the center of attention at the vet hospital. He was very excited to be there and was a very good boy. He now weighs 81lbs and is 28" at the shoulder. Last night we decided that he is so well behaved that he doesn't need to sleep in his kennel anymore. So we took his bed from down stairs and laid it next to our bed. He plopped down on it, and I turned the lights off....he laid there and wined, so I went over and opened his kennel, and in he went..I left the door open and he stayed there all night. I guess he really loves his kennel :) We have noticed that when we are home and he is tired and wants to get cozy, he will often go upstairs and lay in his kennel???

MARMADUKE

Gumby!

Yes, it's Gumby and he is meant to be a dog toy! Remember him from your childhood? When I saw him I had to get him for Cooper, and now it is his favorite toy. Cooper has hardly put Gumby down since we got him, and yet he still looks almost brand new!

GDCA Nationals 2008

Some of Cooper's brothers are at the GDCA Nationals this week. Wish them all luck!

Dogtoberfest

Today Copper and I ventured to UrbanAnimal in Minneapolis to join in on the festivities of their annual Dogtoberfest. He received plenty of attention there and met a new buddy, a 3 month old fawn Dane.
They had a beer garden set up where you could get doggy beer. We didn't try it and I'm not sure as to what it actually was. They also had a dog/human brat eating contest. I told Steve that him and Cooper would have been the perfect team since Cooper doesn't even chew his food (he would probably swallow them whole), but Steve didn't come with us :( It was fun to watch though.

One Smart Cookie!

Cooper started his advanced puppy obedience class tonight. He was by far the best behaved puppy there. He did all his commands with flying colors. We do have to work on the lay down command, he tends to want to lay down and pop back up right away. But he is definitely ready for Level 1 obedience, which we start in 4 weeks. Yeah Cooper! Apparently it was quite tiring, above is a picture of him after obedience class-snoring away.

What a cutie :)

Cooper waiting for his food, he always sits on this rug on the other side of the kitchen.

Our Beautiful Show Dog!

Wait a second, that's right, he's the wrong color. Jennifer keeps saying that Cooper has so many great characteristics that would make him a great show dog, except he came out the wrong color..can we dye his hair? (Only kidding, I love my baby the way he is!) Jennifer wanted to get some pictures if him stacked, so here is our attempt.







And of course, the brothers had to see what was going on and get in on the action!

Family

Cooper spent Sunday playing with his brothers. Barry, Zen, and Poet were all there to add to the fun. There were a few adult Dane friends as well.

Dog Park

Cooper having a blast with a few of his Dane buddies (Vinnie and Oscar) at the Airport Dog Park .

Growing like a weed!

At 4 months old, Cooper is 25" at the shoulder and weighs 64 lbs.

The tooth fairy has come!

Cooper has started to lose his puppy teeth! I found one on his bed and looked in his mouth, he was missing quite a few.

Great Danes galore!

We joined a Twin Cities Great Dane meet-up that gathers at the various dog parks in the cities. We attended one of the meet-ups on Saturday, and there were about 15 Danes. All different ages, colors and sizes.

Cooper was the youngest, but there was another mantle-merel there names "Merle" that was 8 months old. It's hard to believe that Cooper will be that big in a few months.

It's scary when all the other Dane owners comment on how big his paws are and say that their Dane's paws were never that big and that he is going to be such a big boy. I think Cooper will definitely be a big boy like Ryu (his daddy).

Just A Good Picture

Still Growing!

We measured Cooper today and he is 25 inches at the shoulder. He can almost reach the counter when he stretches his neck. It's a good thing that he hasn't really figured out how to jump up or get his two front feet up on things. He must be close to 60 lbs by now, I weighed him last week and he was around 57 lbs. It is getting hard for me to hold him while standing on a scale.

Playtime!

And the basket after playtime........

The living Room after Cooper entertains himself for the morning

Cooper's toy basket before playtime

Kids,Kids, and more Kids!

Cooper had an exciting playtime with our 5yr old nephews, a fun time was had by all. Cooper is so good around the kids.

It's Official

Cooper's registered kennel name is: CHRMA CLRWKS Roll Out The Barrel-call name Cooper.
We decided on this after finding out that a "Copper" is a barrel maker. We thought that was pretty cool!

Such a hard life!

This is how I found Cooper sleeping this morning!

What? I dont have anything in my mouth!

Oops, it slipped out!
Cooper's mouth is now so big that he can hide an entire tennis ball in it. Yes, he does have the ball in his mouth in the top picture!

Is this thing connected to me?

Cooper often entertains himself by chasing his tail. He goes round and round until he falls down and then continues to bite on his tail.

Cooper's Hotel Stay

We took a little road trip with Cooper and he stayed in a hotel for the first time. He did really well. While we were there, he discovered how much fun it is to play with ice cubes. It was pretty funny to watch!

A boy and his toys-can't decide which one he wants

Tonight we took Cooper to the North St.Paul classic car show. He was the hit of the show. I dont think people were even interested in the cars once we got there. People even stopped to take his picture. There wasn't one person that walked by us that didn't either stop and ask to pet him, or made some comment to us in passing.

We heard "Oh my look at the size of those feet!" 800 times. Of course no one knew what breed he was, and when we told them Great Dane, some said "oh that's what I thought", while others were like " he doesn't look like a Dane".

I think we are going to get T-shirts made that say-"Yes, he is a Great Dane..Yes he has big feet..No he's not a horse and we don't have a saddle for him."

One lady said-"That looks like a horse in dogs clothing"..that was probably the funniest comment.

Many people commented on how gorgeous he is and how beautiful his markings are. One guy was convinced that he was a "piebald", obviously he doesn't know his great Dane markings. Then when we told him he is a Merle, he was sure that they are one in the same. Anyway, I gave up on that conversation.

Well, we had a good time and Cooper go lots of attention, which he loved!

Kindergarten Graduation!

Cooper has officially graduated from puppy obedience kindergarten! Some days he was the best behaved puppy in the class, other days he seemed to want nothing to do with obedience, and just wanted to play. Everyone in the class laughed hysterically at him when we did the "come" command and he would bolt across the room to me, usually tripping over his own feet and face planting it.

In puppy kindergarten he has learned to sit, lay, stand, roll over, shake, walk nice on a leash and come when called. He definitely has the sit, lay, shake, and roll over down to a tee, even when a treat isn't present. He will come when called if he feels like it, maybe 60% of the time, so we need to work on this. He walks pretty well on the leash, staying with his walker and not pulling, but if he does see something he really wants, he goes for it. We have also taught him "leave it" which he does really well. We have taught him to sit and wait for his food, as well as sit and wait when going out the door and coming back in. Over all I feel he is doing well. We will hopefully be starting his next obedience class soon.

He has recently had a bit of a personality change. He has had an increase in energy and has become more daring and persistent with things. He has decided that it is is fun to run from me when he has something he's not supposed to, he used to drop it when told to :(

Cooper's floppy lips

Cooper rides in the back of our SUV. He likes it when we roll the windows in the back seat down so he can stick his head out over the seats and catch the breeze.

Playtime