Cooper Turns One!

On April 11, our little buddy turned 1 year old. I'd say he had a damn good birthday weekend. We kicked off the day with a long early-morning walk and stick-finding mission.

One happy buddy.

That afternoon, Vicki, Cooper and I hiked to Triple Falls. This is an amazingly beautiful hike that passes outstanding waterfalls and peeks down into Oneonta Gorge. The bridge just past Triple Falls is out—washed away during stormy weather last fall.

Cooper sits on the edge of Oneonta Creek, right where the washed out bridge used to be.

Cooper and Mom—a birthday squeeze and Triple Falls.

Coop had some trouble with this bridge. His little paws were falling through, so he tap-danced his way across.

Success! Cooper poses with Horsetail Falls back at the trailhead.

My mom sent Cooper a nice birthday card with some money in it. We got him a nice gift—a supposedly "tough" eel toy. Cooper started defuzzing it within 5 minutes and gnawed through the whole thing, removing squeakers, fuzz and all by the next day.

Cooper Claus works the eel.

Cooper's favorite part of his birthday weekend was some play time with his best buddy, Sam. As you can see, Cooper has no idea that he is 15 lbs and only wants to play with the big dogs.

Cooper gets his fangs out and barks at Sam, egging him on.

Sam gets his mean face out and tells Cooper how it is. Cooper zooms around at high speed, while Sam chases with big bounds and loud RUFFs.

It's a good thing Sam doesn't have a mean bone in his big furry body.

Happy Birthday, Puppy Fagioli!!!
(That's Puppy Fa zooool)