Tuesday, May 29, 2007


Rufus learns to share the couch


...but not to like it...

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Sad Rufus

I had to fly home this weekend for a funeral, and left Rufus in Kelly's capable care. However, my absence always makes Rufus sad. Cooper did his best to comfort his big brother...

Monday, May 07, 2007

Monkeys in the Grass

Springtime has finally arrived here in the Pacific Northwest, and Rufus and Cooper took the opportunity to lounge around in the grass in Kelly's back yard last weekend.




However, Cooper quickly grew bored with this and initiated a Mouth Jousting session by trodding on Rufus's head.



Rufus retaliated a bit more quickly than Cooper anticipated, catching him off guard.



However, Cooper recovered quickly and and went on the offensive



Finally, Kelly arrived to distract Cooper and save Rufus's bacon



By this point, Cooper had gotten a bit drowsy anyway



With his nemisis otherwise occupied, Rufus seized the opportunity to crash out again

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Cooper Comes Home

Kelly has been thinking about bringing another dog into her life since Lucky was killed. She has always wanted a Great Dane, and in fact thought Luck was one when she got him (she was working at a large breed rescue at the time). She has been checking out Dane breeders in our area on the net, and came across one who had a two week old litter. She expressed an interest in paying them a visit, and this seemed like a safe thing to do. After all, it would be 6-8 weeks before they will be ready to go to their new homes, and so she would have plenty of time to think about whether she was ready.

Last Sunday, we drove up to visit the breeder in question. When we arrived and walked around the side of his house to his dog pens, the first thing I noticed was a young Dane in a pen with three females. "Uh oh," I thought, "here we go..." We met the three females (one of which is the mother of the litter we can to see), and checked out the puppies (which were little black and white peanuts whose eyes have not even opened yet). Throughout, this little guy followed Kelly around, gnawing on her ankles and generally let it be known that he thought she was pretty neat. Turns out that he was the last unplaced pup from the breeder's last litter. The breeder was anxious to place him, and offered Kelly a deal if she would take him. I personally think this was not even necessary: Kelly was smitten with him from the moment she saw him. To make a long story short, the little guy, who we eventually named Cooper, came home with us that evening to be part of our family. We have now officially crossed the line from pet owning household to menagerie...

Here is Kelly, obviously VERY happy with her decision just before we loaded up into the car to head home.
From 2007-04-30 Co...

As soon as we got home, Nikita and Rufus showed an intense interest in the little guy.

From Rufus and Cooper

Rufus (ever the gentlemen) offered Cooper his favorite play ball to try out.

From Rufus and Cooper

Cooper immediately attacked it with great enthusiasm (although, given his present size, without a lot of effectiveness).
From Rufus and Cooper

The next day, Kelly took Cooper to work with him. He was hugely excited by this, as evidenced by this photo.

From 2007-04-30 Co...

However, he soon found all the attention he got from Kelly's co-workers to be exhausting, and curled up for a nap by her desk.

From 2007-04-30 Co...

The next morning, we got up to feed all the "monkeys", and Cooper decided that Rufus's bowl looked much better than his own (even though we put the same food in both).

From Rufus and Cooper

Rufus continues to be a very gentle big brother to Cooper, and looked a bit perplexed as to what to do as Cooper proceeded to snarf down most of Rufus's breakfast.

From Rufus and Cooper

That evening, Rufus commenced to teach Cooper the fine art of "mouth jousting", a game which Rufus used to play with much gusto with Lucky.



Cooper turned out to be a quick study, and Rufus soon found himself on the receiving end of some adept moves by Cooper.

From Rufus and Cooper

After having Cooper chew on his head for a while, Rufus decided to redirect Cooper's enthusiasm towards a rope chew toy.

From Rufus and Cooper

However, Cooper quickly generalized from the rope to Rufus's tail (while is about the same size and consistency). Rufus was not amused.

From Rufus and Cooper

Rufus finally gave up and went back to mouth jousting with Cooper while Nikita observed from her perch at the end of the bed. Eventually, the little guy ran out of steam, and we were all able to get to sleep (abet only for a few hours - we are on "out to pee every three hours" puppy time for now).