Contest for pet lovers on Steem - Meet Cooper from India

Firstly, I want to thank @rishabh99946 for organizing such a lovely contest for all of us pet lovers. I am looking forward to participating in more contests that you host.

Believe me or not, just a few years ago I was not a dog lover. Wasn't a hater either. That all changed once Cooper came into our lives. The story of Cooper goes way back to July of 2017. I was in my second year of engineering and had my final lab exam the next day. The lab was Computer Networks and it was one of the hardest one yet. I had barely gone through half of the programs and it was already around 9 in the night.

This is when I heard a bunch of angry stray dogs on my terrace. At this time I was extremely scared of dogs. Luckily we had metal grills to shield me from the dogs on the terrace. As I opened the door, there he was, sitting, all scared and shivering because of fear. I immediately got him in and poured a few jugs of water to scare away the stray dogs.

Meet Cooper!

As soon as I told my parents about this, just like most of the other typical Indian parents, they didn't want anything to do with the stray dog. but I wanted to help this poor fellow.So, I decided to take care of him at my home while also searching for any mom dog near by. However, there was no other new litter anywhere close by. So, after a lot of argument with my parents, we decided to adopt the poor fellow.

I'm sorry. There's no dog here. It's just Cooper showing off his skill of staying on two legs!!

In India we believe in naming human babies based on the astrology. So, every month has a set of phrases that the name must start from. Cooper came to our house towards the end of July and he didn't seem to be even a month old. So, the phrase was Cu(Pronounciation- Ku). So, we decided to name him Cooper.

Initially, he was a very silent dog. However, soon he started to show signs of mischievousness and before we knew it, he was destroying numerous shoes and shirts.

What do you mean that's your belt? It's mine now!

Whenever, he found something lying on the ground, he would assume its ownership and take it to his crib.

While all this was cute and we really didn't mind him being naughty, his initial encounter with the aggressive stray dogs left a scar. Even though we tried to socialize him with other dogs, he never got along with them.

Sleeping after an intense evening playtime.

So, we ended up sending him to a dog boarding school where he would undergo behavioral training and socialize with other dogs and animals. While his behavior did improve after the training, he is still very anti-social with other dogs.
Now he is three years old, hyper active and very intelligent dog. He is a very proud dog who does numerous tricks and demands treats. We gladly oblige as it's too cute when he does all the tricks at once.

Cooper being goofy :D

Copper has been the main contributor to helping keep me and my sister fit. If not for him, we would have never gotten up so early in the morning and gone for walks. Now with him around, it is a daily routine for us. Cooper also is an attention seeker like most of the other dogs.

If I don't play with him in the evening, he will make sure that all the neighbors know about the injustice that I did to him. So, I usually take a break from work from 6PM to 7:30PM. This is something that my entire team at work know as Cooper time. Luckily they do support me and let me take this break.

While the anti-social part has been a bummer, we are in the look out for other dog trainers who would be able to help me out with his training. However, all this would be possible once the Covid situation resides in India.

I was away from Steem for a very long this. The contests such as the diary game and others organized by CRs is what got me back. I would like to thank @steemcurator01 @steemitblog for electing amazing CRs like @sapwood @rishabh99946 who are giving their everything to keep users engaged on this platform. Looking forward to more events on this decentralized network. SteemON!!!

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