My First Blog Post

I'm Paula and this is my dog Cooper.  We're a team.  

Everyone who meets Cooper is deeply touched by him.  The words "Everyone knows Cooper" are spoken often.  He goes through life making people smile and laugh.  I'm the lucky one who gets to go along for the ride.  I'm his Mommy, his trainer and his story teller.  I have a hundred stories to tell about Cooper that will warm your heart, draw a tear to your eye, cause you to laugh and shake your head in disbelief that a dog can have such a personality.  He truly is a unique and amazing dog. 

 We belong to Women On Wheels®, a national organization for women motorcycle enthusiasts.  I have been a member for eight years.  Cooper is my passenger.  He has ridden 20,000 motorcycle miles in his four years of life.  He's a great rider and he loves the excitement.  He can hardly contain himself when we pull into a parking lot or a meeting place where there are a lot of other bikes.  He announces us with his unmistakable excited barking.  His voice is full of energy and his barks are such that you can't tell where one woof ends and the next one begins.  He sits back on his bum on the back seat of my Gold Wing and makes a clapping motion with his front paws while he barks and barks and barks non-stop until I park the bike and people come to see him.  His curled tail wagging in true 'Cooper style'.  He has a pause in his wag, so his tail makes more of a tick-tock beat than a real wag.  We call it his 'tick-tock-tail'.  I unhook his harness so he can walk freely all over the bike, unconstrained while he visits and socializes.  He knows not to get off the bike until I say it's ok, so no need for a leash while he turns circles and greets all his Aunties and Uncles and Fans.  He is so very well loved by everyone.

Here he is sleeping in my arms after a long day at the end of a big event.  We were at the 24th Annual 2010 Women On Wheels® National Ride-In for three days in Stratton, Vermont.  This was our first Ride-In, but I'm sure it won't be our last!  We had such a great time!  Cooper became known by many of the Women On Wheels® members in attendance who now want him to come to every Ride-In from now on.  We'll see.  I think we have to take it one year at a time.  Our plan is to make it to the 2011 Ride-In that will be held in San Jose, California in July.  I'm not sure yet if we can go by bike or not.  Time constraints could be a factor that will make it impossible. We may have to go by car so we can cover more miles and travel longer days.  Either way, we fully intend to go.  We'll start out with our feet in the water at the Plymouth Rock in Plymouth MA (click - a pic for the scrap book) and when we make it to CA we will put our feet in the water there too (click - there's another one).  Many stories will be told about that. But for now, I can tell endless stories of Cooper's life in his first four years.