Celebrating our area's four-legged, feathered and finned friends
Cooper Utz: Q2 iPet Favorite!
Last week we recapped all of our heartwarming Q1 iPets and invited you to pick your fave. And the winner is…Cooper Utz! Here’s his story:
Meet Cooper Utz, one cool 8-year-old Black Lab/Border Collie mix with maybe the biggest vocabulary of any dog I’ve ever met!
A year before Cooper joined Steve and Lowertown artist Karen Utz, their 14-year-old Weimaraner had passed away. “At the time I didn’t think I would ever have another dog in our family,” says Karen. “But after about a year, I found myself going to the local animal shelters looking to add to our family again. He was several months old, and unfortunately, his former owner had abused him and it took lots of loving for him to begin to gain confidence again.”
But, luckily for Cooper, Karen and Steve were the perfect fit, although there are still some remnants of his past. “Cooper still suffers from fear aggression due to his early abuse,” Karen explains. “We slowly introduce him to new people saying to them….don’t look at him, don’t talk to him, don’t touch him. By slowly introducing him to new people, over time he has learned to love many of the residents of Lowertown.”
And he knows them by name! At a recent dinner party, Karen would tell Cooper to “Go see Auntie Patience!” and over he would trot, smiling and wagging. Then she’d say, “Go see Uncle Bill!” (My husband was apparently a much more glamorous guest than I was, because Cooper picked up his Kong on the way to acknowledge Bill.) Karen named all of the people present and over Cooper would trot. It was amazing!
“Cooper has an extremely large vocabulary and most of the time when I speak to him it’s just like talking to another human and not an animal,” Karen laughs. “He watches television and knows all the commercials with the animals in them.” In fact, Karen can simply start singing the “Ain’t no bugs on me” jingle, and Cooper runs over and woofs at the TV!
I asked Karen if she had any regrets about getting a dog with Cooper’s sad history. “It takes time to heal the wounds of abuse,” she answered. “The best advice I could give is to never push a dog into a situation where they are uncomfortable.”
But regrets? I don’t think so.
“Cooper is one of my best and closest friends,” says Karen, quietly placing her hand on Cooper’s handsome head.
And that devotion is crystal clear no matter how big your vocabulary is!
