We all have a morning routine. Cooper recognizes the type of day we will have by the morning routine. If the day starts with an alarm to wake us up, he knows I get into the shower and Daddy will feed him. Cooper quickly runs outside to pee, then comes in for his breakfast. Jesse always puts something special into his dog food so Cooper always has something different to look forward to.
When Jesse emerges from the shower, Cooper opens one eye to look at him, just to notice him but not to interact. By this time I'm looking at my banking on line and taking care of anything else. By the time Jesse is done getting dressed, Cooper is usually fully awake with his head up and eyes on Jesse. Once Jesse is completely dressed he will be ready to go outside to start the cars to get them warmed up. Cooper goes out then to do his 'business'. Jesse usually will say something like, "Lets go start Mama's car." Cooper jumps up like a shot and launches off the bed to run out the door in front of Jesse.They go outside to do what ever needs to be done. Start my car, take Jesse's bike out if he's riding to work, or start Jesse's truck. Cooper takes care of himself out there and comes back in with Jesse for a treat and some play time. Jesse leaves later than me so when I leave Cooper comes to the door to watch me walk out before he goes back to his routine with Daddy.
When I get home from my job at the school, Cooper is always in the window upstairs to watch for my arrival. You may or may not believe this, but when I get in and say 'Hi' to Cooper, he jumps up on me to burry his head in my legs and he repeats "Mama, Mama..." over and over again. Yes, I have this on video as you see. You have to listen carefully for now until I get a better clip since in this one he wasn't as clear as he usually is. I give him good scratches that he loves so much, and then we get ready to go to work with Andy.
Cooper helps me gather the things we need for the afternoon with Andy. I get my things and send him to get his. (yes I have this on video too) Sometimes we may need a leash, so I tell him to get that. He comes running back to me and hands it to me. I put that in the bag, then I tell him to go get his Jug. This is a toy to put treats in that he has to manipulate to get the treats out. He gets a small lunch of his regular dog food in this toy. He will go get it, hand it to me, I put his lunch in it and put that in my bag too. Once everything is gathered, we go to the car. Cooper will pee on the way. He gets in, and I give him his Jug to occupy him for the ride to Andy's. He can be a bit of a whiner in the car, so this is a good diversion.
Arrival at Andy's is always the same. He gets out of the car and visits two trees that other dogs visit also. I call them his 'News Trees'. He also visits the bushes in front of Andy's house. If the news paper is on the ground I have him get it and hand it to me before we go in to wait for Andy to get home. I put Cooper's sleeping bag on the chair by the window for him to lay on where he waits for Andy's bus.
When Andy gets home, I open the door for Andy's driver Jim to bring Andy in the house. Cooper waits at the threshold to smell Jim and Andy as soon as they are in reach. He gets greeted by Jim with a pat on the head or a scrub behind the ears. When Jim leaves, Andy has a snack, so Cooper goes back to his chair.
We hang out with Andy usually until about dinner time. Cooper will get in my lap to visit with Andy sometimes. During cold weather we stay in most of the time, so Andy will nap, Cooper will nap, we watch tv or what ever Andy wants to do. Cooper is just there to create a better environment, which he does very well.
When it's time to go home, Cooper has another quick visit to his 'News Trees' and then gets in the car.
When we get home, Jesse is usually there. Cooper goes running in to greet him. We eat dinner, then Cooper gets his dinner with something we had or dinner in his dog food. We hang out together for the night playing or practicing new tricks and skills. Cooper will bring his leash to one of us if he needs to go outside to do his business again.
At the end of the night after we've settled in, Jesse and I will usually read or talk or research something on the internet. We do this in bed because that is where Cooper gets to lay with both of us at the same time. He will stay with us until he's content and ready to go to bed himself. When he's ready, he will jump down and get into his crate. If we're ready for bed before he is, we just say, "Cooper, go to bed." If he's not ready to go he may object while he goes reluctantly. Before too long, we hear a big 'sigh' from him as he tucks in for the night. His day is over and he'll be in his crate till the alarm goes off again tomorrow morning.
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