The Swin Life: Our Dog

Two years ago we had to make a tough decision and have our shi-tzu Duey put down. He became sick quickly with an autoimmune disease and after 3 blood transfusions and much discussion we had to make the decision.

It seemed almost immediate that we started looking for a new dog. I say Andrew started looking for a new dog since I was busy chasing a around a one year old that just learned to walk. Every time he showed me a puppy I fell in love. All puppies are cute and so hard to say no to! We looked for a while and discussed different breeds and sizes. We finally decided on an Irish Setter.

The breeder had a puppy cam set up and we watched the mom and puppies sometimes. They were so tiny and cute. Getting this puppy was serious business. We had to go for an interview and fill out a questioner. She was serious about who could and couldn't buy her dogs. It was actually a little crazy to me. She warned us about how fast the dog would grow and how he would eventually knock over our at the time one year old. I just thought the puppies were adorable but stayed on the fence about getting a dog. (Just to be clear half the time I still don't want a dog! I love to hate him in the kindest way possible.)

Anyway I remember the day we got him really well for some reason. I had to look at our paper work to see what month it actually was, September 2012. I had gone for a run and as I made the turn to come back home my boys were driving toward me. They were coming to tell me that we could go pick out our dog as soon as I was finished running. I just got into the truck with them so we could go as soon as I showered. We drove to the breeders house and checked out all the puppies. They were already a little over 2 months old. I can't remember exactly how many puppies were left but they were everywhere, he came from a litter of 11. We had already decided that we wanted a male dog so she let all the males out to see us. Each one was marked with a colored yarn "collar" to identify them. We narrowed it down to two and I let Andrew decide which dog he wanted. We left there an hour or more later with our new nameless dog that had a purple collar. We also have a contract and all this other paper work that came with him. I'm telling you getting this dog was no joke.

We had a few irish names picked out for him but decided on Coop/Cooper because it was a name that B would be able to say back then. We call him Coop sometimes and Cooper others. He responds to both!

He immediately puked in the truck on the way home. He peed and pooped all over our house forever! He was so hard to house train that it prompted us to rip out our carpet which we had been planning to do for a while. He ate all my stuff and none of Andrews. He was a puppy and he wore me out! (He's a huge puppy now and he still wears me out!)

Now he is 2 years old as of June 28th. He is the most beautiful dog ever. He weighs 70 lbs and stands taller than me when on his hind legs. He is actually a lot bigger than they expected him to get. He is so good with B. We couldn't ask for a better dog to have with our boy. He tolerates more than I could have ever imagine.

He isn't a perfectly behaved dog like I wish he was but thats our fault. He jumps the fence and gets out of our yard. (I think we have fixed that problem right now.) He poops on my brand new flowers in the flower bed. He digs holes, although he hasn't in a while. (fingers crossed) He jumps on people when they come to our house but not typically on kids. He has more energy than a room full of toddlers, I promise. He makes more sounds than any one animal should be capable of making, whining, "talking", barking, yelps, etc. all because he wants something. He really only barks at me when it comes to barking at family members. He has no clue how huge he really is. He is also super protective of B and I. Also of his yard. Funny story- He was out front (Andrew and B were out with him) and an elderly man was walking by. Coop went crazy barking at him in his big dog bark and ran toward him but he never left our property. He let the guy have it from the yard just warning him not to get close to his family. Seriously wish I would have actually see it happen!

Going from having the best little dog to having a huge crazy dog has been and still is an adjustment for me. You'd think that after 2 years of him being here I would be use to him by now. I hate how much he sheds, that he brings in a bucket of dirt with him each time he comes in from outside, that he floods the kitchen floor each time he drinks, that he can put his face on my kitchen table without trying at all and that our house has dog hair everywhere all the time! I can't keep up! Coop wants to be with you all the time just like a kid. He gets on the furniture, which I also hate, but only does it when we aren't home. (except for the bed he tries to be on there as much as he possibly can and he's not allowed!) Despite all the things that I hate about him which like I said earlier I love to hate him, he really is a good dog. There I said it, I kind of like him sometimes. ;) Honestly he is a great dog and no matter how bad he annoys me at times he is our dog. We would all miss him if something ever happened to him.

If you ever want and Irish Setter just keep in mind that they are super hyper and require lots of attention! They really are great dogs but taking one on is no small task!

So at the end of the day no matter how annoyed I get with this huge wild animal we love him!