I am a few days late with this posting, but Copley's 5 year adoption day was also my 4 year wedding anniversary so I tend to get a little busy. He doesn't mind sharing his big day with our anniversary though, he likes the visitors we get in town, the trips we take and the general fact that he is not the center of attention. Better late than never here is a little look back at the last five years with my best buddy, Copley.
That is our very first road trip and vacation together. It was only about 3 weeks after we adopted him from Henderson Animal Control where he had been for 29 days. Was it a great idea to take a dog on vacation who had not even been out of the shelter for as long as he was in it? Maybe not, but we travel a LOT and we figured our dog needed to get used to it. He loved everything about that trip except maybe two border collies at the friends house we stayed at.
Copley tolerates other polite dogs and often will play with them, but there are a very few out there that he really loves. Two of them are our other dogs Kerri and Nova. Kerri won him over as a puppy by pulling maneuvers like this. Nova he just loves, she could get away with anything when it comes to Copley.
Copley loves being outside, as long as he doesn't have to get his feet wet...
Over the years as the blog has grown and as we started our own business dealing in dog stuff Copley has done a lot of product reviews. From the treats he gets for good sit-stays with the camera to the toys he gets to pull out of the box he is pretty happy with the job.
Copley is a very serious dog. Most other people don't see that, because the moments of glee in his life mostly happen when he sees other people. His favorite thing in the world is meeting new people and having guests come over to the house. The rest of the time he is very on task. When we are on walks he is dedicated to getting from point "a" to point "b." When we are eating he sits nearby in his serious pose until we are done. From other dogs he demands manners; a paw to his face, a rambunctious puppy knocking into him or any other less than polite activity results in a curled lip. Strangely enough this seriousness is why I didn't try to compete in any obedience with him. At class he was so happy, his butt always wiggled and he gleefully jumped at the idea of doing anything for me. That kind of ruined his sits and his heels, but I just wasn't willing to fix that. For a dog like him I never have felt like stopping the little moments of happiness he has, even if they are occasionally inappropriate for the setting, and I wasn't about to train it out of him. Here is a picture that really captures his goofy side.
That is my Copley! He is the best dog a person like us could ask for. He lived through so much of our learning and being brand new dog owners in those early days. With his tolerant, people-loving attitude he took our mistakes in stride. The different training methods, the different crates, the many foods we struggled with before we went for the good stuff, the roller coaster of vets and those few times I thought dog parks were a good idea for him. He took all the growing pains of a first dog so that one day when we get that basenji puppy I've always wanted I will have a chance of training it right.* We love you Copley!
*That was kind of a joke. I love basenji but I don't think even I am crazy enough to get one.
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Congratulations!
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