Cooper- Australian Shepherd

Anneke

Honored Member
Name: Cooper
Breed: Australian Shepherd
Colour: Black-Tri
Sex: Male(neutered)
D.O.B.: april 17 2006
Character: Cooper is a little reserved with strangers. He is not a typical aussie, meaning he will only work when HE wants to:D
He is a sweet boy, but does need clear rules.

Favorite toys: squeeky sheep, tennisball.
Favorite activity: Swimming
Problems: off leash recall, other dogs

Cooper's tale:
It went pretty fast actually. On Thursday I started the hunt for an available aussie pup and on saturday we took him home at the age of 10 weeks. He was the last one of the litter, all his brothers and sisters had already gone to their new homes.
I must say, I was in doubt wheather to take him or not. I found, he was a little too calm for an aussie pup, but since it was a hot day, and I really wanted a pup NOW, we took him home. (Yes, I know, not the right way to go about getting a dog:oops:)
After two weeks our trainer took me aside and told me she was worried about the way he moved. She couldn't tell if it was his back or his hind legs, but she thought it wise to take him to a specialist. So we did and he was diagnosed with severe growing pains. His hip x-ray came back perfect, so that was a relieve.
Cooper was put on a strict exercise plan of 5 15 minute walks. No playing with other dogs, no playing with ball, not anything that a normal puppy should be able to do. And a change of diet. He was put on a homeopathic painkiller.
He was growing so terribly fast and completely out of proportion. Which caused the next problem, his back.
I felt it was wrong to keep him away of everything, I think a puppy needs, so we( the vet, my trainer and I) agreed to continue puppyclass and later obedience. And controlled play with carefully chosen dogs, so there would be as little ruff and tumble as possible.
Unfortunately his back keeps giving him trouble, even after he fully grew up.
I quit doing obedience, because Cooper simply didn't like it. But we found something he LOVES doing: Agility
We did that for about two years, but we had to stop, because of his back.
So now he is a couch potato and he loves it. Doing things when he wants to;)
Cooper wasn't an easy dog to train. He has always had a mind of his own, displayed dominance(growling at me when I wanted him to get off the sofa) He was not what I had in mind, when we took him home, but over the years we have found the right way, through trial and error and I love him to bits.
He has taught me so much about dogbehaviour, things I probably would have never known, had he been an easy dog.

Trick list:
1 Sit
2 down
3 stand
4 stay
5 come
6 heel
7 twist
8 turn
9 figure eight
10 weave between legs
11 bow
12 shake paw
13 high five
14 high ten(both paws)
15 back up
16 back up through legs
17 Jump over leg
18 Jump over arm
19 circle(around me)
20 Come by(circle an object clock-wise)
21 Away(circle an object counter-clockwise)
22 sit up
23 peek a boo
24 go to mat
25 paws up(front paws on object)
26 touch(hand or target)
27 take my socks off
28 sit in the box
29 stand in the box
30 at ease(cross left paw over right paw)
31 relax(cross right paw over left paw)
32 Tunnel
33 dogwalk
34 teeter
35 jump over something
36 weavepoles
37 go to pilon
38 retrieve ball/toy
39 rock 'n roll (roll over to the left and back to the right)
40 read a book
41 help me up(grab my arm and pull me up, while I am lying down)
42 pollonaise(walking on hindlegs, while frontpaws are against my back

10 weeks old, first day at home

6 years old

And a little vid of his quirky thing... digging a hole, putting a ball/stick in it and digging it out... He can do this forever!!:rolleyes::)
 

MaryK

Honored Member
Same here, who could resist that lovely baby face:love: Loved the vid of him burying his ball, so cute!:love:
 
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