Super Not So Mini Cooper

Rally Fun Match!

2010-05-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

Cooper and I participated in a Rally Fun Match on Tuesday. We had a great time! It was held outdoors, which isn't very common in this part of the states. I thought this would be a great opportunity to see how he would perform in an outdoor competition. We were entered in Advanced Rally. He did awesome! I couldn't believe how undistracted he was out there. Here is the kicker...we get to our last sign and he wanders way out to the side of me and sniffs around a bit...I call him back and he comes over and does the sit part of the exercise...then I hear the judge go "ohhh nooo"...there he was siting just and inch or two off the ground POOPING! Right in the ring! So we were disqualified:(
I guess I should have tried harder to potty him before. I'm usually not that concerned because we are normally in doors and he would never had done that if we were indoors. Lesson learned! At least it happened at a fun match and not at a real trial.
I asked the judge for our score sheet and she went over it with me. She said we did great! We would have had a 94! I know that if he wouldn't have pooped, we would have done that last sign without a problem. It was a sit-stand-walk around dog, and he is solid at that one.
So now I am left wondering if he did so well due to the extra training we have been doing, or if he was less stressed and distracted out doors? It was crazy good, he didn't hesitate or wander or sniff at all, he was just right there doing his thing the whole time. Now I wish we had an outdoor show to enter :)

Cooper turns 2!

2010-05-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

Happy 2nd Birthday Cooper!

Cooper qualified in Rally Advanced!

2010-05-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

This time we did much better in our Rally Avanced trial. We didnt get a high score, but we did qualify! Woohoo! I was very inpressed with how we did considering all we had going against us. The trail was held at the fairgrounds in Waterloo IA. It was in a big non heated or air conditioned metal building. Good thing it was cool that day :) We started off with a thunderstorm and heavy rain right away in the morning. Good thing Cooper is not afraid of thunder! I did have a heck of a time getting him to go potty in the rain though..lol. The building was very busy with 4 conformation rings, an obedience ring, and the rally ring all together in one open space. The grooming area was also right across from the Rally ring. The building was very noisy. Cooper was pretty distracted once we got in the ring, but he stayed with me and responded to my commands. He did kinda wander from me a few times, but I was able to get him back to heel position. The most difficult station for us was the 90 degree left pivot. Because he was so distracted he ended up too far in front of me on his sit to be able to pivot correctly. We tried 2x and the same thing happeded where he would end up turning around and facing me. I know we lost 10 points right there for not completeing the station properly. Its a bummer because he does this so well in training. He often does the backwards jump to get himself into place and its so fun to watch. Other than that I am guessing we lost points for hesitation and not heeling all the time. I would have liked a higher score, but all things considered I am happy that we did as well as we did. We ended up with a score of 82. Cooper's brother Falkor was there too and did awesome by scoring a 94! This was his first try at advanced. It was so fun to watch him perform and see how he stays so connected with his mom (Jen). I think Cooper and I need to go way back to the beginning of our training and work in some attention exercises :).

Rally Setback

2010-03-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

So last time I posted it was about our upcoming debut in Advanced Rally. I know I am a bit late posting the update on how it went, but I have been dragging my feet on it because it is definitely not something to brag about. Our training in preparation for being off leash in a Rally course had gone so well. I wasn't super confident, but I had high hopes.
We entered the ring and handed our leash off. The very first sign was figure 8 with toys and treats as a distraction. Cooper has a very good "leave it" so I wasn't worried about the distraction. For some reason he gets excited when we do weaves,serpentines,and figure 8's around cones. He had been lagging a bit off leash during our training, so I had planned on extra encouragement to keep him up beside me. Well, I think it was the combination of the figure 8 and all the clapping I did and he went nuts after we went around our first cone. He was all excited and thought it was time to play and do zoomies. I was able to settle him down enough to redo the station. This time I didn't encourage him as much and we made it through. The next station I made a mistake on because I was so flustered from trying to settle him down. When I went to redo it I got him really confused and he was just lost. We ended up not finishing that station and just went on to the next one. The next station went well...but he was still very excited and not very in tune with me. I ended up completely losing his attention on the next station as he decided to wander over to the edge of the ring and check out what was going on next to us. I ended up excusing us from the ring because I was really frustrated and the harder I tried the worse it got.

I decided that it all went wrong from the beginning when I over encouraged him by clapping and got him too psyched up. He gets very excited when I clap, but seems fine if I just pat my leg. I guess we were just not ready for off leash yet.

We are entered both days in advanced Rally in a show the end of April in Waterloo IA. I took a small break from all the training, and this week we are getting back into the swing to get ready for Waterloo.
I hope that our next Advanced Rally trial goes much better.

Advanced Rally debut

2010-03-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

Cooper and I have our first Advanced Rally trial this Saturday. We have been practicing hard on our off leash work. He does seem a bit stressed off leash, but I am hoping that he can get past that while we are in the ring. Wish us luck!

Itty Bitty Baby Cooper

2010-03-05T10:08:00.000-08:00

I came across these pictures of Cooper from before I ever even met him. I didn't have them when I originally started this blog so I thought with his 2nd birthday coming up I would share them now. So cute!

Cooper with his new title ribbon

2010-02-28T07:29:00.000-08:00

Cooper got his RN!

2010-02-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

I am a little late posting this, but 2 weeks ago Cooper earned his RN! We needed one last qualifying leg, so I entered both days (sat and sun) just in case we did really bad Sat, then I would have Sun to get it. Saturday went really well. Much better than the trials we were in at the Land O Lakes show. I didn't feel like I was dragging him around the ring this time. He connected with me much better and was eager to perform. It almost felt too easy :) We walked away with a score of 96 and 4th place. Cooper was beat out by his Dad(Ryu) who also received his RN at the same time! We had a lot of fun!
So then I was left with what to do on Sunday. Since I had paid for the entry, I thought I may as well compete. I had 2 options; I could change my entry to Rally Advanced, or just compete for fun in Rally Novice again. I though about it overnight and had finally decided we would just fly right into Advanced. I was really nervous about this since we have not really practiced off leash anywhere but at home. Unfortunately, we did not get to the show in time to change our entry, so we were stuck doing Novice.
Boy was I glad we titled on Sat. The judge on Sunday set up an impossible course. He totally tricked almost all of us. He set the course up in only half the ring, so it was really cramped and there was a lot going on in such a small area. There was a weave twice and when coming out of the weave, you naturally went to the right. But here is where the trick was. Straight ahead from the weave there was a 270 turn. It was back to back with another sign and unfortunately we almost all missed it during our walk through. So we missed a sign and got DQ'd. So did 4 other people. Out of 7 of us only 3 qualified! What a bummer! It was fun anyhow and I learned a valuable lesson not matter how comfortable or confident I am with the course, I need to watch the sign numbers as I walk the course.
I looked at what our score would have been if we wouldn't have missed that sign, and we had a 97! I talked to other people that do Rally, one of them being a judge, and they said that this judge is known for having difficult courses and many of them do not enter if he is the judge.
We are now working on our Rally Advanced. I think we are going to do our first Advanced trial at a small obedience show that is the second weekend in March. The judge that DQ'd us a couple of weeks ago is the Sunday judge at this show. How fun would it be to perform for him again and do well!
I will post pictures soon of Cooper on his big day :)

A Sleep Over

2010-01-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

Cooper gets to spend a few days with his brother Poet while we dog sit.

As you can imagine it has been non-stop play! They dont even stop to eat!

They did spend some quiet time chewing their bones....

Coop has ribbons!

2010-01-11T14:59:00.001-08:00

Cooper's qualifying score and 4th place ribbons from the Rally trials Jan 9th & 10th.

A weekend FULL of Rally :)

2010-01-11T14:43:00.000-08:00

We made it through our first show and competition experience! We competed in Rally Novice A both days at the Land O Lakes Dog Show. Here is how it went:
Saturday: Our first time competing in Rally! I was really nervous not knowing what to expect. Cooper did well but I was the one that made the mistakes. I had two re-dos because I rushed a bit too much. I ended up doing a redo on a call to forward finish left and a 360 left turn. On both of these I didn't give myself enough room to complete the task. Those redo's cost me 6 points. I had a couple of tight leash marks and a mark for not getting to a fast pace and then to a normal in time (but come on they hardly give enough room to do this with a giant breed dog) and Coop had a slow to respond on the Down and and out of position since he laid sideways. We ended up with a qualifying score of 83 and took 4th place. I was proud but wanted to try for a higher score on Sunday.
Sunday: I had high hopes for us today. Since I was more relaxed and Cooper did so well the day before, I thought that with out my mistakes we would get a higher score. WRONG! This judge was much more picky. But Cooper was also very distracted. Watching the video that a friend took of us, I think that it looks like I am almost dragging him through the course. He was so busy looking around at everything but me that he was all over the place. We had great difficulty with our left turns since he was not paying attention I had a hard time moving because I was knocking into him. After watching the video I can see points where he seemed a bit worried about the judge following us around the course, something that he didn't do the day before. I was really bummed! In the end we ended up with the same score 83 and 4th place again. We had a lot of marks for Cooper crowding me on the turns one tight leash and a bad hesitation on the Down.
We at least walked away with two qualifying scores. We are entering in another trail at the end of the month and hope to get our RN! I am hoping for a score in the 90's this time :)

Rally Update

2010-01-06T07:49:00.001-08:00

Last night in preparation for our upcoming Rally trials, we attended a drop in Rally class. After seeing all of the signs that looked like a foreign language to me, I became a little nervous for myself. We watched 4 other people with varying experience move through the course before we attempted it ourselves. I moved through it slowly and still got lost! There sure wasn't much room to perform some of those tasks with a Dane. We attempted it a second time and I felt much more comfortable and Cooper performed a bit better. So here are the problems that I can foresee us having:
1. Cooper was very nervous there when we first went in because it was a new busy building that he had never been to. We are going to go to the show extra early so that he has time to settle in and become bored with the whole place.
2. I am so used to correcting him with the chain collar that I have to be very aware of that during the trials. I have to remember to encourage him by patting my leg and getting him excited about following me. This is hard for me since after all the obedience we have done those exact things are discouraged! I just need to remember to take my time and be patient with him to allow him to follow my commands on his own without a harsh correction.
I am hoping that it is at least a good experience and a fun time if nothing else. There are only 7 dogs entered Saturday and 6 on Sunday. 4 of those both days are us and 3 other Danes whom we know!

Rally Obedience Here We Come!

2009-12-24T05:59:00.000-08:00

Cooper and I have been working hard on our obedience skills lately and I feel that we have made much progress. After some encouragement from our breeder, we have decided to enter the Rally Obedience Novice A trial at the Land O'Lakes Kennel Club Dog Show here in St.Paul Jan 9th and 10th. I know that we can do all of the required stations, but I am not sure how we will perform in that environment under that pressure. I just need to remember that no matter what it is fun! Wish us luck :)

It's here!

2009-10-26T14:10:00.000-07:00

I was very excited to order Cooper a new winter jacket for this year and it came in the mail today! I ordered it from a company that I came across last year, Horsecreations, but I waited until this year when he is closer to full grown before investing in such a nice jacket. I am very pleased with the quality and how it fits. Now I kinda wish that it was colder out :)

I Wuv my Brother!

2009-10-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been a while since I have updated Coop's blog! I guess nothing good has been going on around here lately. We have been working through some obedience problems, nothing major, just some typical teenage antics. I would still like to keep working towards getting Cooper into some Rally Obedience, but I do not feel that we or I am ready quite yet.

We did take a little trip down to Des Moines 2 weeks ago, and Cooper got to reunite with his brother Falkor. They loved each other! You sure can see the resemblance between the two even thought they are very different in color. Cooper can't wait to see him again!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-07T17:57:00.000-07:00

Cooper had a fun filled 4th of July! He went on an 8hr road trip to South Dakota to go fishing. Boy was it hot there! Cooper is not a fan of the heat, he basically laid like a dead dog on the grass the whole day. We did play in the water a bit, he wasn't too fond of swimming but enjoyed running and splashing in the water. The fireworks made him a little nervous, but he got through it just fine. He got plenty of attention on the camp ground, as people would come to our camp site and say that they had heard we had a Great Dane and just had to see him. Of course there were plenty of people that yelled things like: Do you have a saddle for him? How much are the pony rides? He is bigger than my Donkey! How much does that thing eat and how can you afford to feed him?.....and the list goes on. As you can see in the picture Cooper did meet some friends that he had a good time with, including a Jack Russel that had a shaved hair do!?!

Great Dane Rescue

2009-06-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hello Fellow Dog Lovers:
Give Me 5!

As you may know I am a volunteer with the Upper Midwest Great Dane Rescue. The Upper Midwest Great Dane Rescue was started in 2008 by a group of Dane lovers who desire to help Danes in need. We serve the Danes of Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and the Eastern Dakotas. The rescue is made up of all volunteers who lovingly give of their time and money to help these wonderful dogs. Volunteers include people from every walk of life, all with one thing in common, love of Great Danes.
I recently accepted the challenge to participate and raise funds for our organization. I am asking for your help to support my fundraising efforts and a cause that is close to my heart. Your tax-deductible gift will make a difference in helping to ensure the health and welfare of another Great Dane. The pets in our lives give us a lot. Help me help to give back. You can make your donation online by simply by going to this link: http://thegreatdanerescue.com/donate. If you would rather give us a donation by mail, make payable to Upper Midwest Great Dane Rescue and send to:

Upper Midwest Great Dane Rescue

3296 70th St E

Inver Grove Heights, MN55076

Give Me Five!

Medical expenses are much higher than the adoption fees. I am asking you to donate just $5.00 to our organization. Your $5.00 helps pay for: vaccinations, physicals, fecal exams, x-rays, blood tests, spay/neuter, screening for heartworm, ehrlichia canis, lyme disease, anaplasma phagocytophilum, mange treatments, teeth cleaning, and so much more. Here are some of the common costs each Great Dane coming into our rescue incurs:$25.00=Physical$50.00=Annual Vaccines$50.00=Microchip$200-300=Sterilization$50.00=SNAP Test

Thanks,
Janelle Tierney
Upper Midwest Great Dane Rescue

http://thegreatdanerescue.com/

One Proud Momma!

2009-06-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

I am so proud of my grown baby as he finished his advanced obedience class tonight. For this class we have taken him to a public place each week and practiced his manners and obedience. We visited a park, the Dairy Queen, Hardware store, Ice cream parlor, outdoor music venue, and tonight for his finale we ate at a wonderful little fish cafe called the Seasalt at Minnehaha Falls. He did awesome from having good manners while waiting in line to not touching the counter while ordering, to down staying for the whole hour while we sat and ate and drank a few beers. And not to mention that the food was awesome! So what do we do next as far as obedience? I need to sign him up for his CGC which I know he will pass with flying colors, and we want to do his Therapy Dog. I think we may take a class for Rally obedience to try it out.

Happy Birthday Cooper

2009-05-20T20:15:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it has been a whole year already!

Entertainment

2009-05-04T19:46:00.000-07:00

This is Cooper's new past time since being in the new house. He could stand and watch the birds and squirrels all day long and doesn't make a peep.

They Look A Little Suspicious!

2009-04-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

What a handsome boy!

2009-03-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

Long,Long Month

2009-02-25T12:40:00.000-08:00

Boy has is been a busy month for Cooper. We sold our old house and bought a new one..a brand new one! Only problem was that our new house wasn't ready for 2 weeks after we had to move out of the old house. So we were homeless for 2 weeks. Thank god for Jennifer (our breeder) as she gave Cooper a loving home for 10 days. I'm sure he loved being there playing round the clock with his brother. I heard they were naughty together and destroyed one of her trees in the back yard (I'm sure that Coop had a lot to do with it since he jumps up at branches at the park, and Poet has never touched her trees before). Boy do I owe her!

Anyway, we are settled into our new home now and Cooper is enjoying all the extra space to do zoomies and run around like a crazy wild boy.

As is that wasn't enough for the month, we also just got Cooper neutered. He did great, they said he handled the anesthesia (this is the part I was nervous about) like a pro. He handled it so well that they called me 3 hrs early to come get him because he had recovered so well! That was 6 days ago and as of Saturday, you would never know that boy had surgery.

Cooper is now 9 months old and weighs 120lbs and is 33.5 inches at the shoulder.

Here is a picture of our new house, and a picture of Cooper laying in his favorite bed in his favorite place in the house (in front of the fireplace).

Growing,Growing, and still Growing!

2009-01-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

At 8 months old, Cooper is a wild little man. He now weighs 114lbs and is 32-1/2 inches at the shoulder. But yet he still seems like a little puppy to me :)

Look what Cooper got from Santa

2009-01-02T16:07:00.001-08:00

Here is Cooper in his deluxe dog bed he got from Santa (grandma) for Christmas.

Update

2008-12-23T06:49:00.001-08:00

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

Dane Rescue

2008-12-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-18T16:00:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

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

Sock Thief!

2008-11-27T17:30:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-20T13:41:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-11-15T10:47:00.000-08:00

Whats that look for?

2008-11-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

Snow Day

2008-11-12T21:19:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-08T08:49:00.001-08:00

Cooper at the dog park

Another Graduation, and Another New Class.

2008-11-02T16:57:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-10-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

Gumby!

2008-10-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

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

Dogtoberfest

2008-10-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-10-07T17:53:00.000-07:00

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 :)

2008-10-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

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

Our Beautiful Show Dog!

2008-10-06T18:47:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-05T18:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

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

Growing like a weed!

2008-09-18T06:24:00.000-07:00

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

The tooth fairy has come!

2008-09-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

Still Growing!

2008-09-12T09:24:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-11T10:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

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

2008-09-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-09-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

This is how I found Cooper sleeping this morning!

What? I dont have anything in my mouth!

2008-09-01T15:20:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-09-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-29T07:14:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-08-27T14:53:00.000-07:00

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

2008-08-25T15:58:00.001-07:00

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

2008-08-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

Gimme the camera..gimme..gimme..gimm...

2008-08-19T20:45:00.000-07:00

Cooper's new rug

2008-08-19T20:09:00.001-07:00

We have laminate flooring throughout our place, and other then the papasan mattress we bought Cooper at Cost Plus, he'd been slip sliding around the floor. After a suggestion from Jennifer, we went to Menard's and bought Cooper a rug, so he's got a bigger area of carpet to run around, and hopefully not slip slide as much!

Cooper in the car on the way to see Jennifer, mom, dad, and his brothers.

2008-08-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Cooper in the car
Originally uploaded by stevetierney

We drove an hour to go see Coopers' first human mom Jennifer, Ryu(daddy), Amour(mommy), brothers Zen, Poet, and Ryu Jr., and of course aunt Bug (Ladybug).
Jennifer said that he looked beautiful, healthy and happy.
He was so excited to see everyone. It was obvious that he remembered mom and dad (Amour and Ryu).
We all had a great time!

Cooper vs. Roomba

2008-08-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

Cooper likes to play with our Roomba, here's a video...

Cooper is 44.7 lbs at 3 months

2008-08-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

P8080004
Originally uploaded by stevetierney

We took Cooper to the vet today. He's 44.7 lbs and 21" to the shoulder.

Loud yawns

2008-08-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

Cooper usually wakes Steve up in the morning with a bunch of these consecutively.

35 LBS

2008-08-03T19:31:00.000-07:00

Cooper at 35 Lbs

Cooper goes swimming

2008-08-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

P8020031
Originally uploaded by stevetierney

We took Cooper to the lake this weekend and out for a swim. At first we tried seeing if he'd walk into the water, which he didn't like. However, we set him in the water, to see if he would swim, and he acted like a fish!

I love to chase the Roomba

2008-07-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

DSCN0952
Originally uploaded by stevetierney

Cooper loves chasing the Roomba around the living room. He tries to bite it and play with it like he would a dog, but then the roomba thinks it hit a wall and goes the other way. If Cooper only knew...

My Little Baby

2008-07-27T07:47:00.000-07:00

27 lbs at 9 weeks

2008-07-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

Cooper had his first vet appointment and weighed in at 27 lbs.

Going to meet new friends

2008-07-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

Cooper on the way to meet Morgan the German Shepard (Steve's brother's dog)

Cooper with me and Morgan

Cooper on the way home from meeting Morgan

Our baby comes home!

2008-07-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

Cooper joined our family on July 18th,2008 at 81/2 weeks old. We drove an hour to pick him up and he did great in the car. He cried a little the first night, but not since then. He is such a loving, snuggly baby.