Gotta love the convenient "canine" holes! 

Welcome Copper!

This is Copper, the latest addition to our family. He is almost 7 months old and is already over 75 pounds! Since joining us this past spring, Copper has grown about 10 lbs each month According to our favorite vet at Willow Run Veterinary Clinic, he is going to be a "big dog", meaning somewhere between 80 and 100 pounds. Funny, my OB doctor kept saying that about Alex - well, not that he was going to be a big "dog", but from the first visit when she confirmed my pregnancy, and for ever month after that, she would put her hand on my belly and pronounce: "big baby". And he was over 10 pounds! So, if a doctor tells me big, I gotta believe they know what they are talking about.

Copper is a Yellow Labrador Retriever. He loves playing, eating and sleeping. He basically has 2 speeds: Hyper and Sleep. But, he also has promise. He was a quick study when he was a puppy and learned the basic commands pretty quickly. He knew "look", "come", "sit" and "get the ball" in just a few short weeks. After puppy Kindergarten, he started to learn "stay" and "leave it". During the Intermediate Class, he added "wait" and would even wait to dive into his food dish until you told him it was "ok". He was such a smart dog. We were so proud of Copper!

And then it happened. Just as our trainer said it would. He forgot all of it. Well, not all of it - he still waits for his food and if you happen to have a treat in your hand, he'll sit, lay down, and even walk through a hoop. But when I tell him to "look" he pretends he didn't even hear me. And "come" is pretty much a crap shoot.

However, he does have his priorities. He knows each of his toys by name and if you tell him to "get Ducky" he will come back with the blue dragon. (So named because it honks like a duck when he chews on it.) When you send him for "Peggy" he brings back the pink baby dragon. (Peggy also honks but looks more like a Pegasus than a dragon, so we nicknamed him Peggy - after the guy on the credit card commercial.) And when you ask for a "ball" he will find a ball to bring to you.

The Copper Chronicles will follow Copper and his day-to-day escapades as he grows. But right now he is barking at me so he either knows I am writing about him and has something to add, or he has to go out to pee, or he's just bored.... If only I spoke "Copper".