Thursday, April 30, 2009

Dogs on Thursday

For this week's Dogs on Thursday, I'll share a little secret... Cooper isn't exactly the bravest dog in the world. In fact, he's a total wimp. One thing that absolutely terrifies him is thunder. I try telling him that it's just the angels having a good time at the bowling alley, but he isn't buying it. Poor thing, he tries to get into the smallest space he can find. What to do?

Well, longtime readers might remember an igloo doghouse in the yard that little Ducky started started using as a nest for her late-in-life eggs.

The doghouse was originally meant for the stray cats, to keep them out of the weather, but the cats decided they preferred the garage...

... and the chicken coop.
Fine...whatever... I started thinking that in Cooper's former life, he was probably tied up outside with only a doghouse, hopefully he had a doghouse, for shelter. All of the trying-to-get-into-a small-space business is probably his way of looking for a doghouse to hide in when thunderstorms come along. Poor little boy. The only logical thing would be to take Cooper outside in thunderstorms and tie him up and let him have the doghouse, right?

Gotcha! You thought I was serious, didn't you?

Nope, after a good scrubbing, I wrestled the doghouse inside. I no sooner had it in the house and turned around to close the door behind me when Cooper went in the doghouse and settled down. No blanket or pillow or anything. That poor boy has been looking for a doghouse all this time. It breaks my heart to think of what the first 9 years of his life were like.

Now Cooper has his doghouse...with blankets galore...in my knitting nook.


I guess you can take the dog out of the doghouse, but you can't take the doghouse out of the dog.

14 comments:

Knitting it Out in an Urban Zoo said...

What a good boy, Cooper! That is just precious. What a lucky boy he is to have a mom like you!!!

margo said...

Breaks my heart too. He looks happy to have a den of his own. I thought you were going to how pictures of him in the dishwasher during the storm.

Good Mommy and precious babies.
Hugs

SissySees said...

That made me cry. CRY... I'm so glad he found you!

Unknown said...

So cute! Good think you speak Cooper and made it happen for him ;)

Sue said...

That is so sweet and thoughtful of you. Tess wants a doghouse, too. She loves to get in little places. I'm trying to get Rob to build one for her.

Monty was afraid of thunder and learned to sit in a closet where he felt safe.

Stephanie said...

Awww - I think everyone deserves their own comfy hideaway. Cooper has the right idea. Do you think if I brought milkbones he would let me hang out in his club house? :)

Lapdog Creations said...

Aww... bless his heart! Poor Coop... but now he has his doghouse AND he's inside... you did a wonderful thing in bringing that beautiful boy into your home and family.

Natalie Rush said...

Awe how sweet! It's crazy how much some dogs love their doghouses. So cute.

dogquilter said...

Cooper looks totally content now!! Wilbur has always been afraid of thunder and fireworks and I've had him since he was 6 weeks old. He's never had any bad experiences with either but is afraid of them just the same. I remember the duck and her eggs post too!!

Sonya said...

Oh my gosh, that is so sad. It makes me happy to know that he lives with you and the girls now.

I think the doghouse fits in very nicely.

YawnOver said...

Poor Cooper - but isn't he lucky to have such a caring hooman? :) Love his cozy dogloo. (That is also our term for the mounds of blankets we set up for Frisky to burrow into, lol!)

Donna Lee said...

Lucky that Cooper could make you see what he needed. Smart dog there. He doesn't have to be brave. Someone else can stand up to the thunder.

Criquette said...

Brilliant thinking! Cooper must feel like he won the bazillion dollar lucky dog lottery when you adopted him! Chloe goes into a small little nook in our closet, safely surrounded by dirty laundry, snuggled into her blankets, whenever it's storming outside. She loves her little den. Poor thing has had to be in there a lot this spring!

Firefly Nights said...

Cooper looks great in the dog house. Kind of makes you wonder what their life was like before, doesn't it? We got Roscoe when he was three and I often wonder what happened to make him so afraid of storms. And, I wonder what the rest of his family was like. Supposedly the breeder just gave him away because he had a couple of confirmation flaws, and then he was passed through a couple of other families before us.