Detante

In the picture you can see, Cooper is on the couch with Gus. Gus is one of the schnauzers, and he is the dog which has had the hardest time adjusting to Cooper's arrival in our lives. Before Cooper could crawl, Gus was fine. He didn't really pay any attention to Cooper. Then the small creature started moving and all bets were off. My theory is that Gus saw Cooper like another puppy. Something that should be wrestled to the ground and made to submit. We spent a LOT of time keeping the dogs away from Cooper. Especially once Cooper began walking. That was too much for Gus to handle. He just bounced straight up in the air and barked and wanted to knock Cooper down and chew on him.

Recently Cooper has begun commanding the dogs. If they run into the room Cooper points his finger at them and says "BACK BACK". He has begun petting them more and laughing around them. He even says "Choncho" which is Cooper for Poncho. He has always been able to say "Gus" and called all dogs "Gus" for a long time.

Now we seem to have achieved some sort of detante. I was doing something else, and came into the room to find Cooper on the couch with both Gus and Poncho. Gus was quite happy to be just laying there. He doesn't charge Cooper when he runs into the room anymore, and gives him space.

This is comforting to me because Gus was my first born, the first dog I brought into my life and had before the Bob and I moved into together. He was my baby and I didn't want to think about what I would have to do if he was a risk to Cooper.

Now if we can just get Cooper to walk the dogs we will be all set.