Ellen's New Best Friend!

It's been said that a dog is man's best friend. This is certainly proving to be true for Ellen this week. We are doggy-sitting a Shepherd-Black Lab cross (very tall) nine month old puppy whose name is Cooper. He is a rescued dog so sometimes his manners are a little rough around the edges. As you may have guessed, he is Mr. Active! So we've gone on walks and had chats, even a sleep-in last Sunday morning. What we are not doing much of is knitting and there's good reason for that. Last week when I was knitting and finishing the capelet in the last post, John had to rescue it from His Nibs and put it above his reach in the laundry room with the door closed. This dog is a fibre lover!

At first when Cooper started visiting I found out about this fibre love of his (he claimed a sweater drying on a rack) and wouldn't allow him in Ellen's apartment/my studio at all. But since he's been living here for almost a week and has proven himself to be a trustworthy soul, he has gradually been allowed access (last night even had a nap there!). Tonight I thought I would tidy things up and make a decision about the next hand knit project so I invited Cooper to join me. I recently bought some cord and beads from Michaels and one ball of Fun Fur, thinking I could use the Fun Fur as the edging for a scarf and perhaps some beads in the fringe. Cooper likes to sniff things, so while I was sorting all this out I let him sniff as we were going along - until we came to the Fun Fur. He laid claim to it immediately! When I told him "no" it was mine, he absolutely didn't agree. So, now I am writing this blog post in the studio with Ellen with the door closed while Cooper is watching TV with the family in another room. I guess we'll have to knit him something furry.

Below are a few pics of Cooper and Ellen. Cooper is being bribed with a doggie biscuit to sit still for the photo.  ;-) The photos beneath those are of Cooper the day we took him along to the SPCA Walk for the Animals in June of this year. He still had lots of energy after the walk so we played ball in our back yard.