Cooper

Cooper is a six year old male Yellow Lab. The following is from his current family. Our family adopted a 4 month old Cooper in May of 2004. We had lost our old yellow lab Abbey in January of that year and we were very happy to find Cooper and make him part of our family. Our family is passionate about reaching out to those in need and it is reflected by the number of shelter or abandoned animals who live in our home. We have a second lab named Bo who is handicapped (only by the human sense of the word), another rescued dog, Jack, and three rescued cats. We love all of our animals and learn from them daily. Cooper is a very loyal, loving dog. He is very food oriented and loves his Kong with peanut butter. He is happy-go-lucky and is always ready to bound after a squirrel or go for a run. He gets along well with other animals, both cats and dogs. However, we been told by both trainers & behaviorist, that Cooper would likely do much better as the only dog in the household. He thrives on a lot of attention, calm and patience. Some of his issues could simply be competitiveness with our other dogs as well as so much activity in our home. With Cooper’s loving nature, also comes “intenseness”. Cooper does not have separation anxiety and is not destructive (as in chewing up couches, woodwork, etc.) ... He is just full-speed and energetic. His reactions to normal activity are like any other dog except intensified. He's always happy and never aggressive to people, although “proper introductions” to people and other animals, like with so many dogs, is important. He does get “wound up” which makes our other dogs follow suit. Once introduction passes, he settles down. We've used the "Gentle Leader" face harness since he was very young. This does help control him and make him more comfortable. We have worked with Bark Busters and Cooper does respond to training. Unfortunately, due to our ongoing battle with health issues, we are no longer able to give Cooper the full attention he requires to train him. After prayerful conversations, my husband and I have come to the conclusion that it is important for us to find someone more capable of caring for Cooper so we can better serve our son and other animals. This decision has taken months to get to because it goes against everything that we believe. As I said earlier though, we learn from all of our animals. Cooper has taught us patience and has helped us learn that we are not infallible in our choices or abilities. We pray there is someone willing to invest their time and love in Cooper. A trainer from Bark Busters of Iowa City has worked with Cooper in the past and will continue to work with Cooper’s new adoptive family. We have no doubt he will reward them with loyalty and love. Cooper has been neutered, and has been updated on all routine shots. Each dog adopted from PAWS & More comes with a free class with our dog trainer: Lisa Dohlman, Professional Dog Trainer and Canine Good Citizen Evaluator. Call Lisa at 319-217-1190.