Five

We celebrated Cooper's birthday yesterday. He is FIVE months old. Although he has been displaying defiant behavior like running away from me when I call him to come in the house, he has officially reached the Terrible Fives or teenager phase.

Our day began before the sun was up. The clock display read FIVE o'clock and Monte said it was time to potty/celebrate/eat. The two dogs shared FIVE cups of food before going back to bed. The birthday boy shared the bed as we performed some addition training. After FIVE days of work I believe we have a certified bed dog. He spent the two hours before the alarm went off curled up next to my legs. I wish all tasks were this easy to "train".

The fist item on our agenda was to dislodge Cooper's last puppy tooth. It has been loose for a couple days and the adult tooth is poking through - about FIVE millimeters. Not having the nerves to pull it myself, I enlisted Monte's assistance. Distributing a tug rope between the canine companions, the tooth was resting on the carpet in less than FIVE minutes.

Being focused on Monte's need to drain energy, Cooper has probably not been getting enough training walks in. Today we walked, on leash, around the neighborhood for twenty-FIVE minutes. He is a good walker, but occasionally looses focus. Now that he is FIVE months old, it is time to be more disciplined.

I introduced Cooper to the pronged collar. Being his first real exposure, I took it directly from off Monte to use with Cooper. The results were immediate even though it must have been FIVE sizes too big; it hung from his neck, but provided a small correction, which is all that is needed. Cooper is definitely a kind (soft) soul and we need to be careful not to over-correct or misuse the tool.

Our last activity was a trip to the grocery store to pick up FIVE items. We made a quick stop at Wal-Mart where Cooper ran into Santa. Santa is not a big deal, but the kids waiting to see him were a huge temptation and I forgot the pronged collar. He quickly settled down after a few lunges and we calmly finished our shopping, returning home FIVE minutes before seven.