Cooper’s Beginnings

The saying is “A dog is a man’s best friend”. Cooper is truly my Farmer’s best friend. We have had many dogs here on the farm over the years, and my Farmer has been attached to every single one of them. Well, maybe not so much Arf. Arf was mine and the kids’ dog. She started killing our chickens and ended up on my Farmer’s bad list very quickly. I did write a story about Arf. It’s actually one of my favorite blogs. You can read it here.

Back to Cooper. I can honestly say that my Farmer and Cooper have the strongest bond over any other dog we have ever had. Cooper is very devoted to my Farmer and visa versa. I believe what happened during Cooper’s first few months here on the farm is why that bond is so strong. Here is Cooper’s story…

Our dog Pete had died and we were without a dog for a while. I had been looking, but my Farmer said he was not ready for another dog. He’s that way. He was pretty attached to ‘ole Pete, as we all were, and he wasn’t ready to replace him. I will insert here that Pete was a pretty good farm dog. He passed away just weeks after my Farmer’s father had passed. I’m guessing he needed a good cow dog up there with him.

Neighborhood Cowboy found out that my Farmer was without a dog a few months after Pete’s passing, and felt it just wasn’t right. Farmer needed a dog, in his opinion. Not soon after this, on a day my Farmer was out fixing fence, Neighborhood Cowboy pulled up in his pickup truck, took a 4 month old puppy out of a crate from the back, handed it to my Farmer and said “Here’s your new pup”, and left. That was Cooper’s entrance to our farm. The pup and my Farmer hung out for a while longer fixing fence. When it was time to head for home, my Farmer headed out across the field on his ATV, and the pup followed….but only about half way. The pup panicked, turned around, and headed in the opposite direction, back to the area where he had been dropped off earlier that day. It took us 2 hours to find him hiding in the swamp, catch him, and finally take him home. He was so scared. I truly believe the pup felt my Farmer had saved him that day. The bond had begun.

The next incident that strengthened that bond between Cooper and my Farmer happened about a month later. We had been working on training Cooper. I was determined to teach him to stay. Unlike the last 2 (or 4) dogs we had that would follow the pickup (or whatever vehicle my Farmer was in) and run down the road. I was going to make sure this dog did not do that. Cooper was doing really well with the staying command, or so I thought. This one spring morning, we loaded some cull cows to take down to the valley to the livestock sale. It was pretty early, I believe it was still slightly dark. We told Cooper to stay. He was sitting there looking at us, like “do I have to”? Figuring he understood and was a good dog, my Farmer and I jumped into the pickup and took off. As I said, it was a spring day and the highway was is full spring breakup condition. Meaning, it was extremely rough from all the broken up frost heaves and it had just snowed, so it was slushy. We drove about an hour and a half, to Horseshoe Bend hill if you are familiar with this area, and stopped to check our load. That’s what a good driver does, stops and checks his load. Plus, check the tires, (I’m sure you know what I mean). 😉 My Farmer got out and was headed back towards the trailer, when I noticed he stopped at the back of the pickup. My first reaction was “Oh no! What’s wrong?” My Farmer then opened up the tail gate of the pickup and low and behold in jumps Cooper! Where the heck did he come from!? Evidently, he did not follow the stay command. Evidently, he had jumped onto the front hitch area of the trailer, as we were leaving the house, and rode there the whole way! In my opinion, this was impossible! There is absolutely no place for a dog to grip and stay there! Especially considering how bumpy the ride had been. Plus the road was slushy from the melting snow. Poor Cooper was cover with dirty slush and shaking like a leaf. My Farmer felt so bad! I felt bad! We then put Cooper into the backseat of the pickup and that’s where he rode the rest of the trip. His Farmer had rescued him again.

The backseat of the pickup is where Cooper now rides whenever my Farmer takes a load of cows to a sale.
Cooper seems to have a connection with our cattle. His cattle. When anything is loaded, he yipes and barks crazily at the trailer until my Farmer loads him in the pickup….or the semitruck. Cooper LOVES to ride in the semi. Once the animals are unloaded at their destination, Cooper is totally fine. Probably because he got to ride inside the cab with his Farmer. He does love it.

Cooper is the first dog my Farmer has ever allowed to ride in the cab of a pickup. Proof that change happens…even with my Farmer. My Farmer takes Cooper with him everywhere anymore, pretty much. He even is allowed to ride to the grocery store with us when my Farmer goes along…..in MY pickup!!! Also a first! Some days, I feel if Cooper could cook, clean, and do laundry, I’m pretty sure my Farmer would consider tossing me out. 😉😂 In fact, my Farmer’s quote that he recites quite frequently is “if Cooper has thumbs”. Yep, I would be replaced.

That is the story of Cooper’s beginnings on the farm. He’s a very special dog and actually is pretty good at helping with the cattle…..when he wants to. Sometimes he just likes to play with them. After all they are his cattle. Just ask him.

Cooper makes my Farmer very happy Livin’ the Life, the Farm Life that is. Which in turn, makes me happy.