Cooper gives Chica a Valentine ~

Cooper gives a Valentine...........

Both Cooper and Chica received a little extra treat on Valentine's Day……two walks to the beach on the same day instead of just one!  

Although Chica's paw continues to heal from her barnacle experience at Piper's Lagoon, her mood had been somewhat somber over the past few days. The discomfort of the cut in her pad took it's toll in terms of tempering her energy. She often looked so sad and disheartened, knowing that she wasn't up to her full capabilities on her daily walks, getting her exercise or playing on the beach. 

She slept more than usual and, when she wasn't sleeping, she'd lay on her bed and look at me through those deep black eyes with a questioning look...... Mom when can I go out again?  Cooper decided to follow suit. 

Typically my mornings begin with him standing quietly beside the bed, patiently wagging his tail to greet me as I wake up and to remind me that he's ready for his first pee. 

When I open my eyes, my first actions are to say ‘thank you’ for the new day, turn the light on and cuddle/pet the pups good morning from the edge of my bed. I give kisses on their noses, ask how they slept and tell them I love them.

Usually Cooper leads me towards the back door at which point I say to him 'go pee, come right back and stay in the yard'.

This week however, when I turned on the light there were no wagging tails alongside my bed, or Cooper’s piercing golden eyes staring back at me. There was nothing!  No pups and no greetings at all, which told me right away something was up.

I looked around and discovered Cooper sound asleep, curled up close to Chica with no sign of being ready to get up at all. 

Strange, I thought as I carried on with my morning rituals.  After my shower I was sure Cooper would be up and ready to go out. It's rare for him to wait past 6:00 a.m. to get on with things, yet here it was, well after 6 with still no sign of him stirring.  Two hours later, finally! some signs of life.  They were now ready to greet the day so we got ready for our reduced walk as Chica's paw is still not quite ready for our usual power walking pace.

I commented last blog about how impressed I was when Cooper set his walking pace to be in stride with hers.  Now I was observing that his entire demeanor matched hers throughout the day with all of her activities. Her appetite was reduced and his appetite then became reduced. She slept more than usual and Cooper began sleeping more. 

He laid alongside of her a number of times sharing a corner of her bed instead of curling up on his own.  His compassionate support and empathy for her was evident throughout the days that she wasn't quite herself.  
 
It was really quite something to observe. 

Valentine’s Day is all about the focus of love. Celebrating romance, being smitten by the one you're in love with. It's a day that is about showing the lovers, friends, and family members how much you love them by sharing extra-special kindness, loving hugs, tender kisses, and warm embraces.  

Cooper didn't offer Chica any tender kisses or smooches that I was aware of, however he did offer the utmost in special kindness, support, understanding and empathy. He was completely and totally in tune with her energy, her need to kick back, heal and lay low. 

 I've heard it said that it's a dog's world....... if Cooper’s actions are an indication of the values dogs embrace in their world, then I most definitely want to be a part of it.

The lessons continue..................

Cooper sets the pace.................

This morning while walking the pups, I told Cooper how much I love him. It's something he's used to hearing because every day I make a point of sharing with him just how much I do.  In fact, I always include my pups when I do my daily ‘gratitude list’.

Today however, the love and gratitude was specifically about the kindness, consideration and compassion Cooper shared for Chica, his partner in crime.

This past weekend we spent an hour and a half at the beach. What a blessing that was! A mild winter day in BC with overcast skies and mild temperature, the sun peeked out occasionally and the raindrops appeared only in the morning for a short period.

Pipers Lagoon is one of the most beautiful places on Vancouver Island. It's a rocky beach with sandy shores that attract all sorts on any given day.  The diehards, including myself, are the ones that hang out at the beach, regardless of how brisk or breezy the days are in the winter time.

Dogs are welcome to be off leash during the off-season which allows them the freedom to streak along the shore line, jump in the water, climb over the jagged rocks and hills and run through the forested trails on the knoll. It's an incredible place.

I prefer to not be like most everybody. With that in mind Chica, Cooper and I migrated to the right-side path to the beach and decided to forge along the shore to see how far we could go before we ran out of beach to walk on. 

 The pups were in their glory:  running, jumping, climbing and walking up and down over the rocks and the tree trunks. Occasionally they'd run up the cliffs as far as they could go checking out all the scents of the wildlife.  They were enjoying the sense of adventure, being in nature and exploring parts of the beach they'd never been to before.

At the furthest point we could travel, we lucked into a beautiful oasis: a hidden cove surrounded by boulders and large pieces of driftwood that had floated in from a log boom.

Chica scampered on the beach with a stick in her mouth, eyes wide open and excited to have fun. Cooper was dashing back and forth to the ocean, jumping into the waves as they crashed against the shore and then running back to the beach.  He rolled on his back with his feet in the air, barking to share his excitement.

Once in a while, Chica would dash off from playing on the beach and climb up onto the boulders in an attempt to get closer to the water where the sea-lions were playing. We couldn’t see them, however I could hear them and so could she. Although determined to jump in and play with them, she would retreat every time I called her back for her safety.

The next day Chica started limping and favoring her right paw. I examined it and discovered that she had cut her pad on the barnacles. Ouch, poor girl!  What an impact that has had on our daily morning walk, usually a minimum of an hour.  Chica in particular, is insistent on the morning routine as part of doing her 'business'. Without at least a half hour of movement the only thing she has is a quick pee!

Yesterday’s walk was shortened by 50 minutes as she very gingerly stepped on her right paw until she could pee and go home.  Both Cooper and Chica are high energy, as am I. We walk daily as part of our regular routine and we all love it. We have often walked for hours and a morning without our walk is like a morning without coffee for the caffeine addict.


Cooper endeared himself to me yet again as I noticed how he paced his ten minute walk to support and suit Chica's limp.  Generally, they are both eager to move quickly and get on with things. Cooper is always on the move, quite often walking ahead of Chica, eager to be the first to sniff all the fascinating discoveries along the way.


Today, Cooper’s enthusiasm was tempered, as he slowed down to match Chica's level of mobility. He walked calmly alongside her -- almost in step with her during the entire walk. It became about what was best for Chica, not about Cooper’s wants or needs.  Usually he seeks only to satisfy his anticipation, interest or curiosity in the world.  Today it was about offering support, understanding and patience for Chica’s level of activity.


Cooper shared his love, respect and compassion for Chica as he walked alongside her at a calm, matching pace and I thought to myself, ‘Cooper, what a beautiful gift you've given to Chica.’  His gifts of kindness and understanding, along with love, respect and compassion are the key elements that embody the very essence of our own humanity.


I AM so grateful to have witnessed the unspoken love I saw today.




The lessons continue...................................

The commitment of Cooper

The commitment of Cooper

Cooper and Chica patiently waiting for their walk~

Cooper is one of the many commitments in my life. A priority really. Daily regardless of the weather I walk him every morning generally fairly early on depending on the time of year.

Most mornings he stands along my bedside silently wagging his tail patiently waiting for me to open my eyes and greet the day between 5 - 5:30 a.m. He’s ready for his morning pee, which means I open my eyes give thanks for the day after I’ve completed my meditation and quietly walk him to the back door, ask him to go pee and stay in the yard and come right back.

He does exactly that and then patiently waits as I get up, showered and dressed the for the day in preparation for daily walk.

Each morning begins with an hour long walk for both him and Chica as I listen and am inspired by Tony Robbins Get the Edge audio program I’ve got loaded up on my phone. 

As in Tony’s words rain, snow, sun it doesn’t matter what the weather I am up daily walking both of the pups as part  of my morning routine. In the summer when the weathers nice we walk again in the afternoon for another hour and even through the winter months quite often we get out for at least one other walk which may be just up to half an hour or forty minutes depending on the day.

Coopers commitment to me is his unconditional love which he expresses to me in a variety of ways. Some of them annoying and others not so much. The others are typically far more endearing. Each and every day he’s excited, anxious and happy to see me. He wags his tail, he climbs on my lap, he pushes up against me, he climbs up on to the bed with me and lands on top of me. He cuddles up and curls up alongside of me, all 80 lbs of him. Any chance he gets he makes sure he’s the closest to me so that I can pay him the most amount of attention.

The rule in the household is to always say ” Cooper we love you the most!” ( And of course we all love both the pups equally as much)

Cooper is very expressive and very needy. Each time I either reach for my jacket or my socks which is his indicator we’re getting close to walk time he starts to pace around me. He begins to get vocal and he follows me as if he were my shadow.

Chica will patiently sit quietly in front of me knowing full well we’ll be heading off soon. Cooper circles around me, circles around Chica, paces, drops open his mouth, looks up at me with those beautiful golden eyes that almost pierce through me and begins to pant in anticipation of our departure.
 

Some times I’m quite effective at getting him to lay down calmly and wait. Other times I’ have to show him the ‘lemon’. The little plastic lemon filled with lemon juice that I bought at the dollar store to remind him that if he continues to be rude that he’ll get a sour squirt in the side of his mouth to encourage him to stop his disrespectful behavior.

I’ve only actually squirted a touch of lemon juice in the side of his mouth less than a handful of times. Just showing him the lemon is enough to make him pay attention and heed my request.

It’s a bit of a routine, a practice or ritual I suppose that we go through each and everyday as part our of morning paces. My commitment to Cooper is the full responsibility that I take very seriously with the decision to become a time pet owner.
 

Regardless of my schedule, my other duties, responsibilities, commitments or deadlines for my day, my commitment is to walk both Cooper and Chica first thing in the morning before I get on with anything else.
 

The commitment to Cooper and Chica really becomes a commitment to myself as well.

Each and every morning I spend time outside in the fresh air, appreciating the day, giving gratitude, moving my body, exercising, and maintaining a discipline of self care that inspires and supports the rest of my day.

It’s really the foundation of what occurs through the rest of my day. It doesn’t matter what is planned for the day, if I feel perhaps like sleeping in a little later than usual, the first commitment of the day is to make sure that Cooper’s needs are met and from there I create my life deliberately and intentionally to include what’s important to me and what’s necessary to him so that we both can fully live and experience great joy and happiness in our life. 

The lessons continue…….

www.nanseysinclaire.com

#pets#dogs#pet owners#love#unconditional love#happiness#joy#affection

 n

Introducing Cooper

Introducing Cooper

Now that you’ve seen the title of the blog Conversations with Cooper, more than likely your next thought might be, well who the heck is Cooper?

You might also be wondering why is this woman posting lessons she’s learned about her dog and why is her dog so smart anyway? You may also be wondering many other questions equally as valid and my quest is to share some wonderful insights that I really have learned from my dog Cooper over the past six and half years that we’ve been connected as pet owner and pet.

To describe Cooper will take some time and it’s time that I’ll share over a number of posts. He’s just far too unique to encapsulate in one sitting. Cooper is without a doubt a character if ever I’ve known one.

Deeper than that, for those of you who can related to the spiritual side of life, I really honestly truly believe he is an ex lover from a previous life. The reason I make such an outlandish claim is because I’ve never before in all my years of pet lover and pet owner ever come across a more jealous, demanding and insecure dog.

Cooper picked our family not the other way around. My daughter Christine and I had actually had claimed a different puppy in the litter as ours from a phone call we made while setting sail for Alaska from Vancouver BC. The plan was that we’d be away a week and then when we returned we would come and pick up our bundle of joy and welcome him/her to the family and introduce them to Chica our then six month old Goldendoodle.

We’d decided that Chica needed a playmate in order to cut back my daily four hours walks with her to two hours so I could put more focus back into other things that needed my attention during the day.

From the moment we arrived this little brown bundle of energy kept coming over to me as I was crouched down on the grass and he kept gnawing on on my right arm.

He was insistent, incessant, cute, adorable, and infectious. I fell in love with him right away. “Christine” I said “he’s picking up we’ve got to take him.” ” No Mom, we said we’d take the other one and she’s been waiting all week for us to come and pick up the other puppy”. ” But Christine he’s SO cute and he want us, he’s picking us we have no choice”

Eventually I won out, or rather I guess Cooper won out and Cooper came home with us. Christine named him as she had Chica and the love affair between Cooper and Chica began.
Loving, kind, gentle, affectionate, playful and respectful they’ve been of one another right from the very start. Ii used to always say if they were human beings they’d have the best relationship ever as a couple because they so genuinely love each other so much.

Always excited to see one another even if it’s been less than five minutes that they’ve been separated, they truly deeply love one another.

From day one Cooper has insisted on being as close to me as he physically can throughout the day. He’s almost at times stuck to me like glue. He crawls underneath my desk, up on the bed alongside of me, up on the couch alongside of me when he can pull it off. Cooper follows me around the house room to room regardless of what I’m doing.

If I settle in to my desk to begin working and then decide I need to go grab a glass of water or something to munch on we both go together. There is never a sense of being alone when Cooper is around.

When he was a little pup he’d crawl under the gas pedal of the truck when we were getting settle in to go for a drive. Chica on the other hand was content to sit on the passenger seat all curled up looking as cute as could be, however for Cooper it wasn’t quite enough.

When he’s not getting all the attention he craves he’ll let it be known as loudly as he can that he’s not impressed. Mouthing off by barking at me or whining and howling at me to let me know his level of dissatisfaction and displeasure at me not giving him my complete and undivided attention.

This is a little bit of background of who Cooper is and how he fits into my life.
The lessons begin……..

Introducing Cooper