Cooper #24 Yellow Labrador Retriever Male 11 Months Old ID#3754

Meet Cooper!!! This BIG, handsome boy was surrendered to Brookline due to his owner’s health issues. Cooper is almost a year old and is basically an oversized puppy. He will be working on some manners training while in foster care. Please read Cooper’s blog from the bottom up to learn more about his handsome hunk!

March 7, 2026

Yesterday we sprung Cooper free from the kennel. After dropping out of police school, he was staying at a K9 academy to do a little more training.

Although Cooper clearly bonded with the trainer, being surrounded by dogs was not great for this high energy boy. The employees there told us he was always on, jumping around, had a hard time relaxing. He lost 8lbs while there but potentially did a little work on his manners.

Cooper was great in the car (other than leaving it splattered with blood from his happy tail). We took him to the vet yesterday and went over some options regarding his neuter, how to handle the happy tail, and some follow ups from the previous foster’s vet. We have a plan and will make sure Cooper gets everything he needs!

On to our first 24 hours with Cooper – wow. He is a special boy. After having an extremely high energy dog (Jade), Cooper honestly seems pretty manageable. He is a puppy with lots of energy, and needs a lot of entertainment. He loves to play with toys (by play with, we mean murder), and go on walks. He is kind of a menace on the leash but we are working on it. He loves to play in the yard, and as the vet tech said “he’s the kind of dog you want to take out in the yard and just wrestle with.” He can easily reach the counters so must keep those clear. We’re feeding him his food from puzzles which he loves. His paws and head are gigantic so he is clumsy and goofy. He is scared to go upstairs so I slept on the couch last night. After he settles in a bit this weekend we will start to work more on his training. I can see what the trainer meant about his attention span – he is definitely easily distracted and has trouble focusing.After lots of play time, Cooper was ready for snuggle fest. It was one of the highlights of my life when Cooper climbed onto the couch to rest on top of me and play with his toy. He is a snuggly sweet sweet boy. Any time I catch him and my husband together, they are basically just taking turns kissing each others faces.Our main challenge with Cooper is definitely his happy tail. Any time he goes in the crate or honestly any area with walls or furniture it starts bleeding again. It is constantly wagging because he is such a happy and excited boy. It is hard to get a good wrap on him without sedating him because he is such a busy happy boy. We also can’t wrap it if he is unsupervised because he has a tendency to try to eat the bits of his toys that he dissembles. We are working on a solution and will figure out what is the best way to help him. If you see me in the meantime and I am covered in blood splatters, know that I did not just commit a crime 😂

February 25, 2026

Everything is new and exciting to him and he loves everyone he meets. Cooper was not exposed to other dogs or socialized in his home. He did live with a cat that he would sometimes chase for fun but not hurt. This boy is happy all the time and that has caused his “happy tail” issues. He wags so much and so hard and hits his tail against walls or other hard objects, it starts to bleed.  Cooper did spend some time in a foster home when he first came into our rescue and he was so excited to interact with the resident dogs but his exuberance was sometimes too much for them. He was very friendly towards them but was just a little too much.

Cooper is 95lbs and still all puppy and needs some training on manners. He needs work on appropriate ways to greet someone because he likes to jump up on you to lick your face to get attention.  Cooper walks well on a leash as long as there are no distractions like people or other animals so while he was in foster care, his walks were early in AM when no one was out. While Cooper was in foster care, one of the dog training organizations Brookline works with was interested in evaluating Cooper to determine if had what it take to be a police dog. Unfortunately, he did not meet the police dog criteria. The facility will keep him and train him on good doggie manners and how to be a good family dog. Once his preliminary manners training is complete at the facility, Cooper will come back to his Brookline foster home to get neutered and to continue his training until he is ready to find his forever home.  Stay tuned for more updates, once this big boy arrives in his foster home!