A New Friend - a "Mini" Cooper!

Recently, my dear friends Suzie & Kirk lost their beloved 15 year old pup, "Red." After a few months of being without a dog in their lives, their search began for a new addition. It didn't take long for them to find a sweet, very deprived pup at a local shelter. They were told the little pup had been dropped off in the middle of the night at the shelter with two other dogs. The note accompanying them had said that the owner could no longer afford to feed them. It showed. Suzie looked into the eyes of the little sweetheart and knew that this little dog needed her.

After a few bumps in the road, and an overnight (very expensive) hospital stay for pneumonia, they brought a newly named "Cooper" home. Before adopting the dog, they were told that it was a Golden Retriever mix. They were told that the dog was about a year old. They were told that is was healthy. They were told the dog's name was Harley, and they were told that it was a female!....Needless to say, there were a few misunderstandings! Things are getting squared away now though, and everyone is settling in, and getting used to each other.

Suzie has been working on training with Cooper as it seems as though he has had very little, if any formal training. He is learning the proper place to potty, learning his manners, how to sit when told, and come when called. As we all know, it's not an easy process.

Part of the process of growing into a healthy, well rounded dog is becoming socialized. That's where we come in. Today Kona and I met up with Suzie and Cooper at a near by dog park. I picked a place that I knew would be pretty quite, and only brought Kona with me, so as not to overwhelm Cooper. Kona is very mellow at dog parks, and doesn't get too excited or amped up around dogs he doesn't know.

The introduction to Cooper went very well. Cooper looks like a mini version of a Golden! A Mini Cooper!
He is beautiful, and has a sweet, loving face! He is SO petite! He only weighs 27 lbs. Suzie figures that he is more like 7 or 8 months old, rather than a year old like she was told.

It didn't take long for him to shed some of his nervousness and start cruising around the park.
He sniffed around like an old pro....and hung out with the bigger boys...

...and Kona...well, in the end, Kona wound up doing what he does best. He found some folks he thought might need a little furry TLC and sat down to give them some.

We had a very successful first meeting with Cooper and we look forward to many more fun play dates with more of our pack. We'll help Cooper gain his confidence and hopefully eventually introduce him to even more of our extended family in the Golden meetup group. After all, we're all "cousins" in the long run, right? And family takes care of family.