What I Love About Cooper

I am SO incredibly overjoyed to have Cooper back. overwhelmingly filled with joy. The first 24 hours after I got him back, I don't think I stopped smiling once. I was giddy, over the moon, words can not possibly describe how happy I was.

The first morning he was home, he was so effing cute and adorable, it was hard to go to work. I really wanted to call in sick and spend the day with him, and he was pulling every trick in his hat to try to make that happen.
First, he would dance around me as I was walking around the house and then he would make his way back towards my bedroom, stopping every couple of feet to make certain that I was following him. Once he got to the bedroom, he hopped up on my bed and snuggled into the blankets as if to say "Look, we could just stay in bed all day. We could cuddle, you could give me belly rubs, I could give you kisses, and we could eat fauxreos! It would be the perfect day!" It was tempting, very very tempting, but I continued to get ready for work. At that point he tried one of his old tricks... he tried to prevent me from getting dressed. As I am putting on my pants, he jumps up, gently grabs my pants with his mouth, and pulls them back down. It is hilarious. I missed this little trick of his SO much while he was gone. At one point during the 3 weeks that he was missing, I made a list of all of the things he did that I missed. At the time, I was afraid that if he never came back home that I would eventually forget all of his little quirks that I find so endearing. These are the things I love about Cooper.
How much he loves Sam. Any time they are reunited after being separated, the first thing Cooper does is jump up and give Sam kisses on his face.
In the mornings, Cooper wakes me up by covering my face with kisses. If he is hungry, thirsty, or needs to go outside, and I don't get up quickly enough for him, he will gently grab my hand with his mouth and try to pull me up and out of bed.
In the mornings that he wants me to stay in bed with him, he will lay on me to try to prevent me from getting out of bed.
He can be a fairly picky eater. If I've gotten some treats for him that he doesn't particularly care for, rather than eating them he will take them and drop them in my purse. It can be annoying to be looking through my purse for my car keys or something like that and instead find crumbled up bits of a dog biscuit, but I missed it while he was gone.
He knows my morning routine and herds me through it. He knows that I go from my bed, to the bathroom, then to the kitchen for a cup of coffee, and he walks right alongside my feet herding me through this routine. If I deviate from that route at all he is momentarily confused.
The way he reacts whenever I bring the leash out. He knows that means we're going somewhere and he starts jumping and dancing and racing towards the door. He gets SO excited that it can be challenging to clip the leash to his collar.
He knows the route to the pub, recognizes when we're getting close and knows that it means he's going to see friends who will give him love and attention. He LOVES being out in public - a true social butterfly.
Sometimes, he lays down on his belly with his legs stretched out behind him. Like a frog.
When I'm at the computer he lays on his side at my feet.

His eyelashes. I know that sounds weird, to love a dogs eyelashes, but his are amazing. He has got the longest eyelashes I have ever seen on anyone or anything. Seriously, a drag queen would not wear eyelashes like this because they are too long and outrageous.

His lack of a face. His hair gets so fluffy, and is so thick, that at times it looks as though he doesn't have eyes or a mouth. At least thats what my friend Phil has always said. Actually, when Cooper was sick with Parvovirus back in December, Phil claimed that it wasn't parvo that was making him sick at all but the lack of a mouth because how can a puppy possibly stay healthy without a mouth with which to eat and drink?

He LOVES LOVES LOVES car rides

He lets me know when he's ready to go to bed. If I'm sitting here on the computer and its what he has decided is bedtime (midnight, by the way... which really should be my bedtime anyways). Right around midnight, he will come up to me and first STARE at me, if that doesn't work then he will start talking to me.
The way he eats fauxreos - licking out all of the cream filling first.
He prefers to drink running water. When I go into the bathroom, he will jump into the tub and wait for me to turn the faucet on to a rapid drip.
When he's been recently groomed (with a cut, not just bathing), his hair looks, and feels, like plush velvet.
The way his tail curls up and over his back end.
I love taking photos of him and playing with them in Photoshop.