The Grunt Monster

This is a photo of Cooper. He is a pure breed black lab. I love this dog. This was him at about 5 or 6 months. He was nicknamed the grunt monster from the start. If you have ever been at my parents house and Cooper is outside you understand why. He is one of the most vocal dogs I've ever encountered. He grunts and whimpers because he is excited. This picture was taken 9 years ago. He is now 102 pounds and intimidating. Anytime I go walking or running, he is with me. He is a protective dog, and he has actually scared friends that sneaked up on us; they quickly learned never to do that again. He has a mean growl and bark that it has stopped people that are about 20 yards away to reconsider walking in my direction.

Last night I took him walking over to the park, like always, and a cop was driving out. He stopped and told me that I shouldn't be walking alone at night at the park. Before he could finish his sentence, Cooper came and stood between me and the cop car with a little growl and muffled bark, hair on end. The cop looked at him then back at me, and said, "You should be fine with him with you." Cooper stayed there until the cop rolled up his window and drove off. Not even ten minutes later I was heading out of the park on the opposite side I came in and a kid that was playing tennis tops over the hill. Cooper was about 5 yards in front of me and when the kid came over, he growled and the kid stopped in his tracks. Poor kid started walking backwards and ran as fast as he could back over the hill. Cooper came back to me wagging his tail proud of what he did. 

He is full of personality and has always been protective of all of us. The picture above is from Thanksgiving at the Lazy A. He was in heaven. He would sleep on the bean bags in the den area and pretty much had free reign of the kitchen and den area. He loves the walks up there b/c it is a lot cooler there than in MS. It is funny when you tell him to go get on his bed, he looks at you in a way that says, really? My paw is touching it. Isn't that enough? As he lays down he gives out these grunts as if he is saying "happy now?" I love Cooper.

He is very well trained. He just never had the hunting dog quality in him. The picture above was taken about 4 or 5 years ago, and if I had the after photo you will understand how trained he is. My sister commanded him to roll over and play. He decided that he would tackle me and play in the snow with me while continuously pinning me down. All the snow that was there disappeared. My mom and dad came out and started laughing because he was having such a good time rough housing with me. I love my lab Cooper.

When he is outside on my parents porch when I drive up our driveway. He is sitting and waiting by my usually parking spot. As soon as I'm parked and getting out he is in full swing of his vocal welcoming. Our two cats are there as well (that is a whole other blog about them). It is the best thing when you have a bad day or just in a bad mood, Cooper puts you in a good mood and brightens your day. There has been a couple of times I've brought a guy over to my parents house and Cooper didn't go up to the guy and wasn't vocal towards him. This is a sure sign that if there was any potential of the relationship being anything more... shot down w/ Cooper not liking him from the get go. The first time he did it, I should have taken note b/c that relationship ended on a very bad note. Cooper knows. 

I love this dog and I'm talking my mom into getting two more lab puppies from the same breeder so we can still have a lab around the house and so I can have a lab with me where I end up living. I need another protector.