Cooper the Scarecrow

I used to joke around that Cooper was the stupidest dog on Earth, but now I’m beginning to worry that maybe it’s not a joke. Maybe it’s really true. First there was the doggie door incident, when he just plain couldn’t grasp the fact that the door moved 3 feet over. The dog would stand and push his head against the drywall, then proceed to do his business in the garage because he couldn’t comprehend that the door could have moved. Thank goodness our once dunce, now brilliant little Peanut showed him the way. As Cooper was (literally) banging his head against the wall Peanut happened to come by and slip out the doggie door. A dim lightbulb went off in Cooper’s head and he somehow realized that he should follow her outside.

Ok, so maybe there’s hope for him after all. Or, then again, maybe he really is among the dumbest dogs in the world. For some strange reason Cooper LOVES the wood stove. He practically spoons the thing for as long as we let him before we literally take his hind legs and drag him across the floor to cool him down. He lays there panting up a storm, over heating, and practically melting his ears. I always fear the dog is going to spontaneously combust one of these days. So every day, we drag him away from the stove, but he always finds his way back.

The other night as Karlo and I were watching TV, we heard some frantic toenails on the wood floor and never seen any greyhound get up so quickly. We wondered what on Earth happened. Did Cooper have a bad dream that made him jump? But he didn’t get back down where he was laying (by the stove). Instead he came over and laid by the couch. It wasn’t until he came up to give me a kiss that I realized his nose was practically hanging off. OK, that may have been a slight exaggeration, but it was all white and crusty and I wondered if it was his new rawhide all over his face. Nope, I couldn’t rub it off. It was layers of nose skin that apparently got singed by the stove. So that explained the sudden jumping action.

Well, Karlo and I decided it was the best thing that could have happened to him. Maybe now he learned his lesson and will stay away from the stove.

Or not. Where do you think he parked himself the very next night? Learning a lesson would imply some sort of brain power and, well . . . we are hoping that Santa will bring him a brain.