CASPER AND HIS MILITARY DUTIES

Casper is my five year old Coton du Tuleur. He is a pedigree and an expensive one at that. We should not have gotten Casper but our dear, lovely, darling, daughter, Sabrina rallied for him. Our dog Chelsie, that we all loved dearly had just passed away. We had another dog Bailey and daughter Sabrina stated that Bailey maybe lonely now that Chelsie was gone. My husband did not think this true. I was not sure but the thought that little Bailey could be lonely pulled at my heart strings. So it came to pass that maybe we were getting another dog.

Once there was a possibility that we were getting another dog Sabrina dropped out and it was up to me and the hubby to make a selection. We wanted a small dog. We believed that Bailey was of high intellect so we wanted a dog on her intellectual level. Initially I wanted a Bichon Frise. They were cute. However, I knew this guy Jason who's mom raised Bichon's and Jason said Bichon's were not affectionate. I wanted a dog that was affectionate and would idolize me. I did not want a cat dog. So Bichon's were out.

 BAILEY

As I roamed the Internet I discover the Coton du Tuleur. They were related to the Bichon's and they looked like the Bichon's. They were affectionate and cute. The thing that made it easy for us to get a Coton was there was a breeder near by. We went to look at the Coton's. My husband went along willingly. My daughter was excited as she is a true blue animal lover.

We met the Coton's. They were aggressive and high minded. They were so darn cute. Getting one was not that easy. We had to be interviewed by the breeder. There was also a questionnaire. We were forbidden to select the puppy. The breeder made the selection based on the interview and the questionnaire. We had to wait for the birth of the puppy once we knew we were accepted. Finally the puppy arrived. He was a tiny thing but full of spitfire and hell fire. He was aggressive and bossy and had little sharp puppy teeth. Bailey was terrified of him. She ran from him and hid. My husband disciplined me about the new puppy once he saw how Bailey would have preferred to be an only child. We had the puppy for about a week when we had a meeting about the need to find a name for him. I was calling him Mr. Cotonie but we all knew that would not be his name. We just could not decide on a name for him when I said, “How about Casper?” and that just sounded right so the puppy got a name.

CASPER THE MILITARY DOG

I have a friend and she is my walking partner. We took our dogs with us where we could walk with the dogs off leash. Casper acted fine around other dogs. He was a player and loved to play. He was very fast and few dogs could catch him. From the way he behaved I thought he was socialized around dogs. I also baby sat my friend's dogs and Casper was a perfect host. Casper was kind of a yenta dog in that if he saw big dogs fighting he would run over and bark at them saying, “Quit fighting and act nice.”  He did not approach the dogs he just got near them and barked his message.

Then I moved. I thought Casper was okay to be off leash from time to time. This was a huge mistake. He was not the Casper I knew. He turned into a military dog. Perhaps the war in Iraq influenced him but he went from gentleman/part time yenta/supervisor to a Green Beret.

His first maneuver off leash was to run up barking to a little dog and when he was close bark, snap, snarl and eject saliva. He was aggressive. The dog owner quickly scooped up her dog and ran. It appeared that Casper was on a military mission when he ran up to this little dog. I was surprised because I did not see Casper display this behavior on the walks when he was off leash. From then on he was leashed up and supervised carefully by me.

Yet even on leash he was a military guy. He would walk outside and check out sites. He would stand still, sniff the air and look around with his head cocked. Maybe someone was walking by. That was something he would have to study. He sniffed every area. If another dog (combatant) had marked territory Casper had to mark over him. Casper let the enemy know that he knew where they were marking and he was on top of it.

If a child was near that would be a reason to bark and whirl around and pull me toward the unsuspecting child. Once we were near the child Casper would pull and growl and bark and snarl as if he was going to attack this child (the enemy). He was on a mission. If a child was on a bike, skateboard, or scooter Casper would go nuts. He wanted to take them down. How did this come about. My cute Casper became a military man.

There was other military behavior that Casper engaged in. If anyone passed by our door or knocked Casper was instantly at the door barking and yelling. When people entered our humble abode Casper growled just as any protector on a mission would. Then came the licking.

If another dog passed by our door that meant there could be an invasion. Casper ran to the door and stood his ground barking and jumping at the door. No enemy would get passed him.

This military mode remained with Casper even when we thought he was relaxing. When he sits on the balcony with us he is always on duty. We have a metal railing with bars and Casper sticks his head and sometimes part of his body in between the bars. He is looking for alien enemies which probably are children on scooters, skateboards or bicycles. Sometimes if adult humans walk to their cars or exit their cars Casper views them as enemy combatants. My husband and I have tried to talk to him about this but he remains silent and continues to guard the home and every square inch of wherever he is. He is always on the alert and we know that we will be protected from children, dogs and adults who may be entering or leaving their cars. That makes us sleep so much better at night.