Cooper 2

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For a boy not much more than a pup, Cooper hasn’t been lucky finding the right family. He was picked up last January as a stray by a Pennsylvania shelter, adopted out and then returned after five months because he had issues with submissive urination around the owner’s loud, guitar playing friends. He is now living happily in a foster home with resident dogs and children.

Cooper is a very sweet youngster who is neither shy nor timid around his foster family. He had one episode of submissive urination when his foster mom reached for his collar on his first day and another when the foster family made a little too much of Cooper after returning from an outing. Since then, Cooper isn’t sensitive about collar holding and the family basically ignores Cooper when they return so as to prevent the conditions that bring on his submissive urination. No one looks at him. No one talks to him. He approaches people on his own when he’s ready. Every stranger that comes into the house is told to ignore Cooper and this seems to be working. As part of this behavior modification plan, if some loud activity would need to occur in the house, Cooper would be put in a quiet place to wait out the commotion. The loud electric guitar playing in Cooper’s past house was too much for him, so now the plan of behavior modification being implemented with him in his foster home seems to be working.

Cooper is a very handsome, tricolored, field Springer with beautiful ticking. He weighs 40 pounds and could stand to gain a few. Cooper has a short field coat that won’t require too much grooming. Presently, some of his feathers on his front legs look like someone without any grooming skills cut them and the hind ones are just starting to come in. The feathering will return, though.

Cooper was an excellent boy at the vet and got a clean bill of health. He is just being treated for a common intestinal parasite. He was also a great boy for his bath and ear cleaning. He has no problem being handled on any part of his body. When it comes to food, Cooper is not fed lamb kibble. It gives him gas.

Cooper really likes to play with the resident female Springer. They have similar play styles which can get quite spirited – lots of boxing, wrestling and running around. He attempted play with a visiting nine-year-old Lab and was given a growl for his efforts and backed off. Good boy! He isn’t too interested in chewing or chasing balls. He will carry a toy around in his mouth and sometimes empties the whole toy basket. He attempted to mount both the Lab and resident Springer and backed off with their growls. If Cooper’s forever home didn’t have a resident dog to play with, he would need an outlet for some of that youngster energy.

Cooper has a very nice personality. He’s not aggressive to other dogs and isn’t possessive of food or toys. His foster mom can take his food away without any problem. He doesn’t dig, doesn’t bark much, isn’t a chewer, and hasn’t shown any separation anxiety. He has no problem with thunderstorms. Cooper is 100% housebroken and doesn’t mark. He actually doesn’t mark outdoors either. Cooper doesn’t counter-surf, isn’t trash picking and doesn’t jump up on people or furniture. He sleeps quietly on his dog bed which is located close by his foster mom’s bed. He rides very well in the car. He does pull some on leash, but more practice should eliminate that. Cooper doesn’t really like the crate; it makes him uncomfortable. He’ll go in, but isn’t even comfortable enough to eat the treat given to him. Since he is trustworthy, he isn’t placed in the crate often.

Cooper has a little training under his belt. He knows sit, lie down, and give a paw. He comes fairly well indoors when called and not so well outdoors. Cooper does need to learn not to be puppy-mouthy. His foster mom is working on this, but it will take some time for him to learn. Cooper can also get too excited indoors and prances about, so his foster mom is having Cooper do a lot of sits o help him calm himself. She keeps a cup of his kibble in the kitchen to use throughout the day as rewards. She also uses the sit when visitors come to help him keep calm.

Cooper’s biggest request for his forever family is that they use only calm, positive training methods. A training class would be a great thing to do together. He would probably also like a calmer environment with no loud musical instruments. The right family is going to get a major wiggle butt and many years of puppy kisses.