Welcome to our Blog ! We 're so happy to share our smiles and wags with you ! Click here to ' Join This Site ' . Become a member with other " Friends Of Cooper " in following his stories . Share us with your friends ! We 'll be happy to share our adventures and memories with ALL of you ! Check out the Blog Archives to read about our cross country motorcycle road trip from MA to CA this summer . We attended the Annual 2011 National Women On Wheels ® Ride - In in San Jose CA . Then we just rode . We traveled over 11 , 000 motorcycle miles in what ever direction we wanted to go . We visited friends and family , saw the country , met some amazing people . We made memories we 'll never forget . These memories are what THIS BLOG is made of ! Enjoy them while we make MORE memories worthy of posting here for your enjoyment . Cooper goes to David 's room when Jesse and I go to work . Jesse lets Cooper in David 's room and closes the door and David goes back to sleep for a while . According to David , Cooper and Sam have been a bit more brave in their socialization while David sleeps . Yesterday morning when David woke up , he saw Cooper and Sam about one inch from touching ' nose to nose ' . When he reached for his phone to take a picture , Cooper moved away from Sam and wouldn 't allow him near again . The closest he was able to convince them to get was about five inches apart . This picture is of them just after they were five inches apart . I can 't wait to see if Cooper will let Sam touch him . Once that happens , I think there will be a really good friendship between them . I 'll keep you posted ! We all have a morning routine . Cooper recognizes the type of day we will have by the morning routine . If the day starts with an alarm to wake us up , he knows I get into the shower and Daddy will feed him . Cooper quickly runs outside to pee , then comes in for his breakfast . Jesse always puts something special into his dog food so Cooper always has something different to look forward to . After Cooper eats , he will come sit with me on the bed while I get dressed , watch the weather and check my email . He snuggles right next to me content in knowing we have a few minutes before I have to go . He seems like he 's sleeping but I 'm sure he 's fully experiencing the morning . When Jesse emerges from the shower , Cooper opens one eye to look at him , just to notice him but not to interact . By this time I 'm looking at my banking on line and taking care of anything else . By the time Jesse is done getting dressed , Cooper is usually fully awake with his head up and eyes on Jesse . Once Jesse is completely dressed he will be ready to go outside to start the cars to get them warmed up . Cooper goes out then to do his ' business ' . Jesse usually will say something like , " Lets go start Mama 's car . " Cooper jumps up like a shot and launches off the bed to run out the door in front of Jesse . They go outside to do what ever needs to be done . Start my car , take Jesse 's bike out if he 's riding to work , or start Jesse 's truck . Cooper takes care of himself out there and comes back in with Jesse for a treat and some play time . Jesse leaves later than me so when I leave Cooper comes to the door to watch me walk out before he goes back to his routine with Daddy . When I get home from my job at the school , Cooper is always in the window upstairs to watch for my arrival . You may or may not believe this , but when I get in and say ' Hi ' to Cooper , he jumps up on me to burry his head in my legs and he repeats " Mama , Mama . . . " over and over again . Yes , I have this on video as you see . You have to listen carefully for now until I get a better clip since in this one he wasn 't as clear as he usually is . I give him good scratches that he loves so much , and then we get ready to go to work with Andy . Cooper helps me gather the things we need for the afternoon with Andy . I get my things and send him to get his . ( yes I have this on video too ) Sometimes we may need a leash , so I tell him to get that . He comes running back to me and hands it to me . I put that in the bag , then I tell him to go get his Jug . This is a toy to put treats in that he has to manipulate to get the treats out . He gets a small lunch of his regular dog food in this toy . He will go get it , hand it to me , I put his lunch in it and put that in my bag too . Once everything is gathered , we go to the car . Cooper will pee on the way . He gets in , and I give him his Jug to occupy him for the ride to Andy 's . He can be a bit of a whiner in the car , so this is a good diversion . Arrival at Andy 's is always the same . He gets out of the car and visits two trees that other dogs visit also . I call them his ' News Trees ' . He also visits the bushes in front of Andy 's house . If the news paper is on the ground I have him get it and hand it to me before we go in to wait for Andy to get home . I put Cooper 's sleeping bag on the chair by the window for him to lay on where he waits for Andy 's bus . When Andy gets home , I open the door for Andy 's driver Jim to bring Andy in the house . Cooper waits at the threshold to smell Jim and Andy as soon as they are in reach . He gets greeted by Jim with a pat on the head or a scrub behind the ears . When Jim leaves , Andy has a snack , so Cooper goes back to his chair . We hang out with Andy usually until about dinner time . Cooper will get in my lap to visit with Andy sometimes . During cold weather we stay in most of the time , so Andy will nap , Cooper will nap , we watch tv or what ever Andy wants to do . Cooper is just there to create a better environment , which he does very well . When we get home , Jesse is usually there . Cooper goes running in to greet him . We eat dinner , then Cooper gets his dinner with something we had or dinner in his dog food . We hang out together for the night playing or practicing new tricks and skills . Cooper will bring his leash to one of us if he needs to go outside to do his business again . At the end of the night after we 've settled in , Jesse and I will usually read or talk or research something on the internet . We do this in bed because that is where Cooper gets to lay with both of us at the same time . He will stay with us until he 's content and ready to go to bed himself . When he 's ready , he will jump down and get into his crate . If we 're ready for bed before he is , we just say , " Cooper , go to bed . " If he 's not ready to go he may object while he goes reluctantly . Before too long , we hear a big ' sigh ' from him as he tucks in for the night . His day is over and he 'll be in his crate till the alarm goes off again tomorrow morning . Pictures to come . Cooper is a funny little guy . There are few things that really excite him to send him into ' over - the - top ' excitement . This is one thing that does just that . As you know , I cut Cooper 's hair myself . Some of his haircut is done while Cooper relaxes across my lap . As you can imagine , hair gets on me , my clothes and the couch . So when I 'm done , I 'll use a lint roller to clean up the hair . The first time I used a lint roller was when I discovered that Cooper has a funny reaction to sticky things . He hears the sticky cling sound and it causes him to chase the roller . When I tear off a layer from the roller , I give it to him . He tries to curl his lips back to keep them off the sticky surface , and he tries to take the tape from me with just his front teeth . If the sticky part touches his lips or the hair on his lips , he sneezes and shakes his head , then tries again . This will go on for a long time if you 're willing to play . One time I put the roller sheet on the floor , sticky side up . When Cooper touched it , it stuck to his nose . He used his paw to get it off , so it stuck to his paw . He shook his paw , then he used his mouth again to get it off and it stuck to his nose again ! He shook his head and it went flying off and landed on the floor . He ran to face it , barking as if to say , ' I showed you ! SO THERE ! ' . This was so funny to see ! It all happened in about eight seconds . It was the funniest chain of events in eight seconds I have ever seen with Cooper . In staying with the same sticky subject , can you imagine Cooper 's reaction when he watched me the first time I put a band - aid on ? He watched me with curiosity as I opened the band - aid . There was no big deal there . However , as soon as I pulled the backing off to uncover the sticky part of the band - aid , Cooper seemed determined to protect me from this sticky item . I was successful in applying the band - aid to my finger . I was able to convince him he shouldn 't try to remove it , UNLESS i tried to touch him with that finger . He would roll his lips back to try to delicately get his front teeth on the band - aid so he could pull it off my finger . He would remember the band - aid was there for the whole time I needed to wear it . I still can 't have a band - aid on without him calling my attention to it . Sometimes it 's fun to get him going . He understands that this is only play now . He 's really funny about it still . Some things never get old . Oh , and by the way , sticky labels , stickers , price tags , etc . , evoke the same reaction from Cooper . Bubble wrap is fun in a different kind of way . Weather it 's the style of bubble wrap where there are tiny bubbles or the ones that are big , as soon as you pop one , Cooper goes CRAZY ! He jumps and barks and tries to grab the bubble wrap from you . If he gets it , he shakes it more vigorously than anything else that deserves to be shaken . He tears at it and spits out tiny pieces of it until it 's completely shredded and no pop - able bubbles remain . He seems to really have it in for anything that makes the popping sound . This includes bags if you trap a bubble and pop it . He knows what you 're doing if you trap a bubble . As soon as he 's sure that 's your intention , he starts to bark and jump for the bag . So there is a little insight into the lunatic side of Cooper . I 'm not sure if other dogs have similar reactions to these things . I would love to hear stories of other dogs reactions to things like this . Please feel free to leave short comments or email a story to me . Maybe I can post your story as a guest blog entry . Cooper has great curls on the top of his head . They are a collections of soft tight ringlets from his forehead to the back of his head . The hair on his ears and face is soft and straighter than the top of his head . The hair starting at his neck and covering the rest of his body is courser than his face and somewhat frizzy rather than curly . It was time for his spring haircut in 2010 when I decided to do something a little different . I cut his hair short all over his body as I always did in the spring , but I left the hair on his head untouched . I wanted to see what it would look like to leave those beautiful soft curls on his head . This was quite a different look for Cooper . It was kind of ' punkish ' . The only problem was that this style kind of made him look like Lyle Lovett . I wanted to see how it would look if it grew out for a couple of months . This was the kind of ' different ' that would set Cooper 's looks apart from other dogs as much as his personality did . He is definitely a unique little guy . Yet something was still missing . BLUE ! ! ! He needed color in his hair so it wouldn 't look like a poor attempt at a poodle cut . I struggled with myself over this idea . I 'm not one that likes foo - foo dogs . I don 't dress him up , though he does have clothes to help him keep warm and dry . It really is against my nature , but I couldn 't help myself . Cooper seemed to enjoy the attention while I colored his hair tips blue . The only part he didn 't enjoy was the rinsing . I had to hold him on his back to keep the color off his face . He didn 't like it but learned to relax fairly well , allowing me to rinse it well . Jesse rolled his eyes about the blue hair at first . He couldn 't believe I actually did it . I had expected him to tell me he wanted me to cut it off . I was prepared for that , which is why I only did the tips of his hair and not his whole head . Jesse didn 't tell me to cut it off , so I had to ask , " What do you think ? " I posted his Blue - Doo pictures on FaceBook to see what people 's reactions would be . Most comments were great . People who know Cooper best thought it was very fitting to his personality . So the Blue - Doo would stay , at least for the summer . It became long like dreads and appeared to be a very spiky blue mop . I loved how it looked at the end of the summer last year . Unfortunately Cooper had a flea issue that got out of hand at the end of last summer . It caused him to scratch so much that his hair do was all different lengths . I had to cut it all off to treat his skin and conquer the itches . He has a good head start on the Blue - Doo for this year . The hair on his head is a lot longer than it was for his spring cut last year . It will only be a matter of weeks now before he gets his hair cut and then only shortly after that I will color it . I will post pictures of " Blue - Doo Returns " . Maybe that will be a blog entry . Before - During and After pictures from Fluffy to Cool ! Great Idea ! Stay tuned ! : 0 ) Sometimes we participate in rides to benefit animal shelters with New England Thunder . The ladies we ride with in that group are very involved in a number of shelters in our area . The group will read the wish list posted by what ever shelter we decide to visit . The wish list is usually on the web site of the shelter . We will shop for items from that list and load our bikes with all kinds of goods to donate . We usually need a truck too since some members buy big bags of cat food and kitty litter . Some members will donate old sheets and big economy packs of paper towels . We meet in a parking lot so we can go on a scenic ride . There has to be a scenic ride after all , since we are a motorcycle group . The ride will end at the chosen shelter at the time they will expect us to come . Sometimes there is a local news paper reporter there to get our story . We always have an audience when we arrive . People come from all over to see the motorcycles as we arrive and park our bikes at the shelter . Cooper gets a lot of attention . Since he is an animal , he 's seen as kind of the spokes person ( dog ) for the ride . We unload our bikes and the accompanying car and usually make a big pile of our donations outside the shelter so we can get a group picture with all the things we donated . Then we carry all the things in to the shelter and help put them where they belong . After everything is put away , we get a tour of the shelter . This is Cooper 's favorite part . I don 't bring him in far enough to make the cats nervous or upset the other dogs . He just likes all the smells and has no idea of the life lived by these animals . He gets a lot of attention . He kind of makes the statement of what a dog 's life should be rather than to live in a place like that because someone gave up on him . The shelter folks make things as nice for these homeless pets as they can as they wait for a family to come choose them . Cooper gets a lot of attention everywhere he goes . His presence makes a statement every time . If he could make a statement to advocate for these shelter animals , I would want it to be this . . . Love your pets . Spay and neuter them to reduce overpopulation . Seriously consider them a family member , as they consider you a member of their family . Learn how to live together and find ways to resolve issues . Dogs have feelings . So do cats . What the feeling of love is to us is the feeling of loyalty to them . Create a trusting and stimulating environment . If you 're not sure you 'll be able to keep a dog for his whole life , don 't get a puppy . It is a commitment not to be taken lightly . It isn 't fair to an animal to be surrendered to a shelter where their futures are unsure , stale and sad . The newer septic covers are no longer at ground level . They are buried under ground . You have to remember your measurements from a fixed object so you can find it again if ever you have the need . Last time we had to uncover our septic cover , Jesse had dug a hole where he was sure the cover would be . He wasn 't happy to find it wasn 't where he thought it would be . He poked around thinking he must be close to it while Cooper looked on . I think Cooper thought his was a wonderful new digging game that he was eager to play with his Daddy . He barked at every shovel - full at first , then he started to spread the pile of dirt Jesse had dug out of the hole . This would never do ! He was told he had to stop , so he went back to barking . This game was right up Cooper 's alley ! If he couldn 't dig he had to bark to help Daddy make the hole bigger and deeper . When Jesse was about ready to give up and begin digging in a different spot , he decided to let Cooper have a turn in the hole before he filled it in . Cooper jumped in and flung dirt everywhere ! He was on a mission ! We had to pull him out of the hole a couple of times to scoop the loose dirt out . Cooper seemed to be after something because he kept digging in the same direction . It was time to scoop the loose dirt out again . Jesse pulled Cooper out of the hole and started shoveling when he hit it ! Cooper had dug straight to the septic cover for Jesse ! This probably saved Jesse at least an hours work since his plan was to move a few feet a way to try again , he could have been there all day . Needless to say he was thrilled for the work put forth from his little helper . Cooper was happy to get FILTHY while playing this digging game with his Dad . How ever you see it , it was great fun to watch . Cooper had to be carried to the shower that day when he was done with this incredibly fun game . He was returned to his white color without too much trouble . He laid down exhausted next to Jesse to take a nap together before dinner that day . My hard working boys . I 've had trouble finding the best drinking solution for Cooper for when we 're riding . I had one thing that was a bottle that had a long cup - like carrier . You lay the bottle on it 's side and it clips together for carrying . To use it you flip the bottle up and squeeze it and the water fills the long thing for the dog to drink from . This was ok as long as it stayed upright . As soon as it was on it 's side it would leak . Another device I found was another one that held a bottle . This style had a small attached bowl at the bottom end . You put a regular 16 ounce bottle of water with a sport top in the holder . When you gave the dog a drink , you would hold it with the bowl side down , open the sip top of the bottle and squeeze water into the bowl . This was fine , but you had to struggle with closing the sip top while the dog tried to drink or the water came out all over the dog 's nose . After that I resorted to just carrying in a small frisbee for him to drink from . I would pour the water out of the bottle into the frisbee and he would drink it . This was fine , but sometimes I wanted to give him a drink while he sat on the bike because maybe the black top was too hot for him to stand on or some reason like that . It made it a little harder to give him a drink in that case . Overall it was the easiest way so far since there was no struggling with water splashing all over Cooper 's face or leaking into my trunk . It was the best I could do , until . . . . . One day last summer , while I was browsing in a store in VT , I came across a stainless steel sport bottle for dogs . This bottle was a 24 ounce bottle with a lick ball at the opening . When the dog needs a drink , you just turn the bottle up side down with the ball facing down and allow the dog to lick the ball for a drink . This is like the water bottles animals drink from in the pet stores . It seemed perfect for us , so I bought it . I know Cooper had never had a drink from a bottle like this before . I was sure I would have to teach him how to use it . He wasn 't at all interested in figuring it out if it only contained water , so I tried putting chicken broth in it . This was a bit more enticing but when he licked the ball too hard he got a flood of broth . This caused him to become more cautious and eventually he lost interest . The next time I introduced the bottle to him he was a little interested in it since he remembered the broth . That was a treat so he wanted to see what was in it this time . He was nervous about licking it . This time I had put milk in the bottle which is a thicker liquid . It would flow a little bit slower , allowing Cooper to enjoy the drink and get used to the bottle . I hadn 't given him much milk the first time , allowing him to finish all and want more . I gave him seconds and left him wanting more . I washed the bottle and put it away . Some of the things I like about this bottle are : - The material is stainless steel and BPA free . - It opens in two ways . Just the ball , and also the whole top comes off for filling with ice if you want to . - It 's big enough to keep a big supply of water so you don 't have to refill often . I tend to fill the bottle about a third full of water and freeze it the night before a ride . This way Cooper 's water is cold for most of the day . He drinks cold water better than warm . On days where hydration is so important , I will do about anything to make him want to drink a lot . It 's really easy to become dehydrated on a hot day while riding a motorcycle . I 'll do anything it takes to keep him healthy . I 'm glad I found this bottle . It really makes life easier for me and Cooper . Cooper has been to Laconia Bike Week twice so far . He doesn 't mind the crowds much at all . He has become so accustomed to busy hustle and bustle on occasion that it 's natural for him to walk close to me to avoid being stepped on . While in Laconia , walking along the vendors can become so congested with people that there really is no where to move . In this case I carry Cooper so he 's safe from that dozens of motorcycle boots coming his way . You can actually see the relief in this posture when I pick him up . I usually carry him until I step into a vendor tent . I put him down when we 're inside so he can walk and stretch his legs a little . Since all the tents are set up outside , I have to make sure he doesn 't try to pee on anything . I have caught him taking the posture as if he was going to lift his leg . This is one of the downfalls of having a male dog . He sure gets a lot of attention when he 's at a bike show . I don 't get to browse as much as I would like to because people always want to pat him and ask questions about him . Once they find out he rides , the conversations could go on for ever . One person hears and joins the discussion , and before you know it Cooper has had his picture taken a dozen times and has performed a multitude of various tricks for his audience . He loves when people clap for him . One time I was enjoying a shopping experience in one of the vendor tents . I didn 't have a crowd around me , so Cooper and I were moving slowly between displays from front to back of the tent . At one point when I was looking at something I might buy , Cooper was standing there looking out into the crowd . I felt a little tug on Cooper 's leash that was tied to my belt loop . This isn 't unusual once he becomes interested in things often and pulls on me ( bad habit ) , but this time was different . About five seconds after he tugged and I corrected him , I heard a voice coming from the direction of the tug saying , " Look ! There 's Cooper ! " He must have spotted one of his Aunties before she spotted him . It was one of the women from our group New England Thunder . She came to us and we got to talk for a while . It was a lot of fun bumping into a friend so far from home . It seems that Cooper has a real knack for finding the people he knows . Reflecting back on our summer vacation of ' 09 that I have mentioned in past blog entries , I remember our first night was spent in a little old motel in VT . The motel was due to be torn down in the fall to put up elderly housing . This is a motel that I would have loved to visit again . It was a wonderful little motel with simple amenities . Each room had it 's own balcony . Cooper really enjoyed our balcony . We could leave our slider open and allow Cooper to come in and out as he pleased . There was a chair on the balcony that he liked sitting on to watch out over a brook in the back yard . He couldn 't see much , other than nature , so there was nothing stressful for him to feel like he needed to guard against . He was very relaxed and content to just sit and watch nature . We took Cooper on a walk to that brook while we were out walking around the grounds . We allowed Cooper to be off leash for a while so he could explore . He really enjoyed the brook a lot . There were a couple of fallen trees that made a sort of bridge across the brook . Cooper liked to walk across the little bridge as if he was a cat . He sniffed and played in the water and got his feet wet . Since he was only two years old , we didn 't really know what he would do with the stream of water . He had never seen one before . He seemed to really enjoy that the water was moving . He was curious and cute in his investigation of his surroundings . It seemed as though we could have walked away from him and he wouldn 't have even noticed . He was so interested in this moving water and all the things in and around it . When it came time for us to go back into the motel and relax , Cooper seemed very content to be allowed to look out the window or go out on the balcony . He didn 't seem bored at all . This motel was as calming for him as it was for us . If it wasn 't for our schedule , we may have wanted to stay another night . Some day I would like to go by there again and see what they did to the place after we left . Maybe this summer will allow us to go in that direction again to take a peak . Posted by Last summer I took my 81 year old mother on a benefit ride on the motorcycle . I had found a good toy run where participants would all pay $ 15 per person to join this nice ride . The proceeds would go to providing gifts to underprivileged children in the area . The ride was guided through a lot of scenic back roads in our area . It would end at a hall where they provided a meal , raffles and awards . The weather was great for the ride . It was a little chilly since it was in the fall , but I wouldn 't call it cold . I had my mother wear pajama pants under her jeans . She wore two layers of warm shirts under my leather jacket . She wore solid shoes , my leather gloves and a full face helmet . She was all ready to go . Cooper watched while we got ready . He was all excited to go too . I had planned to leave him home this time but he and my mother had different plans . She really wanted him to come so it wasn 't long before they wore me down . She had planned to hold him , but I know from experience , he doesn 't like to be held while riding . My son and I found this out one day . Cooper couldn 't get comfortable while my son held him . He wiggled and tried to get comfortable the whole time . Within half an hour we had to stop and put Cooper in front of me where he could stretch out . So , it took us a few extra minutes for me to make myself ready for Cooper to come with us . I had to tie a leash tight around my waste to clip him to me . He can 't have room to move while in front of me because if he does , he also has room to fall . This isn 't his favorite way to ride but it was all I could do . With a sweat shirt and his harness on , Cooper laid across my lap and over the tank in front of me without ability to turn around or move very much at all . He was going to have to stay put until we got to the staging area for the ride . We got there safe and sound . It was a rather small turn out with only about 75 to 100 bikes . This was a lot to my mother , but I had ridden on benefit rides like this where there are over 500 bikes . My mother met some of my friends . She knew one of my friends from when I was in my teens . He and his wife hung around with us for the day . The ride took an hour and a half . They took us along all the local back roads that my mother and I were very familiar with but which we hadn 't traveled much in years . Cooper would have liked to get more comfortable , but he did his best . Cooper announced our arrival as he usually did at the end of the ride . He sat up and barked a lot until we parked the bike . My mother got a kick out of that . We had a lot of fun and my mother seemed to thoroughly enjoy it . She won the trophy for the oldest rider . She keeps that on her knick - knack shelf in her apartment where everyone who visits can ask her about it . When it was time to leave for home , we walked to the bike . Cooper usually has to pee before getting back on the bike but strangely , this day he trotted directly to the bike . I didn 't think anything of it until he jumped on the bike , got on the back seat , sat down and looked at my mother . Usually I have to tell him to get on , then he sits on my seat till I 'm ready to put his harness on and clip him to the back seat . This seemed to me a sure sign that he was claiming his seat so my mother wouldn 't sit there again . It was as if he was telling her , " Ok Gramma ! It 's YOUR TURN to ride on the tank ! " I was glad it was only going to take about 20 minutes to get home . He would be fine for a short ride . I guess I have to design a better way for him to ride in front of me in the event that we have another human passenger again . It 's bound to happen , because Cooper never likes to be left home . When I 'm traveling with Cooper , I prepare for the ride according to the weather and distance . At the end of this blog entry there is a little video clip . On the back seat of my bike you can see a soft crate for him to travel in . This is how I travel long distances with Cooper . If we 're traveling at high speeds for a long time he likes to get out of the wind . For short distances on the high way or around town , he likes to have the whole back seat . Since this trip was going to be unpredictable with some lengthy stretches at high speeds we wanted to be prepared . It worked out really well . In the video we had just ended our vacation to NY State in ' 09 . We were two towns away from home . Jesse and I really didn 't want to go home yet . We were sorry to see our vacation end , so we stopped to talk and have a soda together before we got home where everyone would want to talk to us . Cooper had learned to make the most of our stops . We would clip him to a 15 foot long leash and allow him the freedom to do what he wanted while we relaxed . He would walk around and pee everywhere . Then he would sniff his new surroundings and if there was time he would want to play . We had been here long enough for him to want to play . In this video , he really wanted a toy from his riding crate . He usually barks a lot at what he wants . This is almost as if making sure it 's ok to get it . He expects to be told " ok " or " no " . In this case , he 's allowed to get the toy . I only wish he wouldn 't feel the need to BARK so much ! Posted by Cooper LOVES to borough . He has done it since he was very small . He used to sleep between two pillows on the bed until he got too big to fit between them . By that time he had discovered the fun of getting under the blankets to play . He climbs under and begins to bark . He wants someone to touch the outside of the blanket he is under so he can try to catch your hand . He barks and grabs at the blanket wherever you touch . It 's a great game and it never gets old . Cooper between the pillows when he was small It 's always fun to put a toy under the blanket with him too . He is so funny when he tries to chase the toy , grab the hand touching him and try to move around under the blanket all at the same time . All the while he 's STILL BARKING ! Trying to make the bed is usually a disaster when he wants to ' help ' . He especially likes it when I 've stripped and washed the bedding . He likes when I make the bed with fresh warm sheets . I have to insist he get down till I get the sheets on the bed . He will sit on the floor until I tell him he can get up on the bed . As soon as he hears the word ' Ok ' , he leaps up on the bed and begins to roll around and growl . He would be doing this under the sheets if I allowed him on the bed before I was done making it . Sometimes he will get under a blanket or sweat shirt that is bunched up on the bed . Usually he will roll around on it first , then under it . I have been able to get some great pictures of him getting under what ever he can get his nose under . This has included a pile of freshly folded laundry , jackets , towels , clothes we plan to wear for the day , you name it . Because he loves to get inside things so much , and at Andy 's house he stays in the kitchen , Jesse and I got him a sleeping bag to use over there . It would give him something small to borough in to go to sleep . I was sure he would like it . The first time he saw it he was all over it . And when he found out it was like a sack , he was THRILLED to play in it . He played in it for a long time and still uses it at Andy 's house . I keep the small sleeping bag in my car in case he needs something of his own to sleep on or in . It 's a good place to show him where to lie down and stay if I ever need him to be out of the way . He will lay on it and stay there without getting off until he 's told he can . This has come in handy at times . It 's a good thing Cooper loves his sleeping bag . It makes things easier for me to keep him most well behaved . About a month ago , Jesse and I took a course in Accident Scene Management . This is to teach riders what to do for a fellow rider in the event of a crash . Women On Wheels ® paid for half the cost of the two day course . It was a great value even without the reimbursement . The knowledge you come away with is more valuable than many people realize . Cooper came to the second day of the course . At the end of this day the teachers , Gail and Dave Riley , set up a scenario where there is an accident scene . The other students taking the course pretend they are in a group ride and come up on the accident . They have to assess the scene and treat the victims . Jesse , Cooper and I played victims in the scenario . Another friend named Angie in the class was a victim also . Our scenario was that , a woman ( me ) was walking her dog ( Cooper ) . A bicyclist ( Angie ) almost got hit by a car and swerved into the path of the motorcyclist ( Jesse ) . The motorcycle swerved to miss Angie ( who crashed into bushes and was injured ) and hit Cooper , seriously injuring him . I was uninjured , but in emotional shock . The motorcyclist ( Jesse ) after hitting Cooper , hit a wall and was seriously injured with multiple injuries . We had to do this scene inside because the weather outside was terrible . We had to pretend to have a motorcycle , and we had a real bicycle . Jesse , Cooper and Angie all had to wear make - up . I was supposed to be sweating from going into shock . Cooper was to lay across my lap unconscious . The scene would play out for 15 minutes . I wasn 't sure what Cooper was going to do when all the other people came up to evaluate and treat us for injuries . Once they started working on me he may have wanted to see what they were doing . I told him to ' stay ' whenever he moved during our practice time . He did fine , but the real test was about to play out . The other members came upstairs and around the corner . They saw Jesse , me and Cooper first . Angie was around the corner hidden from view . Cooper started to pay a little attention to the familiar people but I gave him a quiet command to be still . He was awesome ! He laid across my lap the whole time . I complained of shock symptoms and was covered with a blanket . The blanket was put right over Cooper and he didn 't move . When they raised my legs , he just rolled with my moving legs and remained motionless . It was unbelievable to see him do exactly as I asked with all that commotion . Getting his patches At the end of the 15 minutes , we all regrouped and went down stairs to the classroom again . We talked about all we experienced and were given our patches for the course . Cooper was given patches too for his participation . He really was something else . He didn 't care that I put fake blood all over him and around one side of his mouth . Nothing bothered him . We can just add this to his collection of fun stories to tell . In the summer of 2009 Jesse and I went on our summer vacation to NY State on our motorcycles to visit friends and family . We were gone for nine days total . We took Cooper , of course , and had a WONDERFUL trip . The trip was our only vacation for the year . We didn 't want to have any agenda to follow . All we were sure of was that we were going to visit Jesse 's daughters and grand children and we wanted to visit a few friends . Other than that we were free to ride , sleep where we wanted to for the night and go when we felt like it . Mostly we were just going to be away from home and be on our bikes for the whole week . What a great week it was ! We got to see everyone we wanted to see and we had BEAUTIFUL weather the whole time . The one storm we encountered was a doozie ! We had to try to beat it to our destination before the storm got there . We had been hanging around with our friend Howard , who was a passenger on Jesse 's bike . We were on the way to Howard 's girlfriend 's house when the skies began to darken . We were riding right into the storm with our fingers crossed . There was thunder and lightening ahead of us and the wind was really picking up a lot . I thought we were going to really get wet . None of us had rain gear on , so if the skies opened up we were defenseless . In this video , you can see lightening in the distance just above Jesse and Howard 's heads to the left and right of them at about 4 seconds into the video . As we rode a bit longer you can see the skies darken and wind pick up a little . The storm was coming in really fast . I thought we were going to really get it . Howard was trying to give directions from the back of Jesse 's bike . When we got to the apartment complex , Jesse missed the driveway to the complex , so Howard pointed around the side of the building . Jesse cut off onto the lawn with a bounce that threw Howard four inches off the seat . I followed ( good thing for Cooper 's harness ) and we cut across the lawn and around the house . We came into the driveway from the other side . When Howard 's girlfriend saw us arrive she was ready to throw two garage doors up for Jesse and me to each pull inside . We parked the bikes and ran to the house . Branches were being blown off trees with the heavy winds . Just as we got inside the door of the house the rain came crashing down in huge abundant drops . It couldn 't have missed us by any less without one of us getting wet . Not a single drop fell on us . The volume of the rain was incredible ! The thunder and lightening was quite a show for us to watch from the safety of the apartment window . Cooper watched out the window too . I can 't help but wonder what he might have thought of all that rain . Did he realize we were almost caught in that ? Would he have cared ? We stayed for a nice visit until the storm ended . Only a short time passed when the sun had dried the ground , allowing us to give Howard a ride home . We enjoyed a cookout on the grill at Howard 's house . We stayed until about 10 PM and then rode back to our motel a few miles away . We entered the comfort of our home away from home and started talking about what we wanted to do tomorrow . Cooper and I love life . We 're just having fun and trying to make people happy . So far we 're succeeding . We just wish we had more time to play , travel and influence the world in a wonderful way .