Sunday, August 22, 2010

Copper goes home!!!! Last Copper post

I am just so excited!! I packed up Edan, Splash and Copper yesterday at 5AM to take Copper to meet his new owner, Matt.

We met at a State Park in Lake City PA, Erie Bluffs State Park. There were 2 parking lots there. One had a trail that went back to the bluffs overlooking Lake Erie. I got there early and scanned both lots, then took Splash and Edan on the trail for a 30 min hike to see the Bluffs. Kevin and I will be stopping at this place again. It was really nice. I wish I had more time to hike. But, I wanted to make sure I was ready to spend time with Matt and Copper.

We then went over to the Elk Creek Access area and I walked Copper at bit, then got Edan and Splash out to swim. I swam Splash until Matt got there. The Elk Creek access area has a boat ramp to put small craft into the creek, then short trip down to the lake. There was a trail along the creek to walk down to the lake about 1/2 mile.

So Matt met Copper and we walked Edan and Copper down to the lake with some bumpers to retrieve. They got along very well, although Copper was still looking to me for direction.

At the Lake there was an engine near shore that the water was breaking over. Copper started barking at it. So I showed Matt the touch exercise I do with Edan when he freaks out at something.
Matt took some treats from me and waded into the water and worked with Copper, till Copper touched it several times. He then was able to ignore it and started to retrieve past it with no issues.

I showed Matt a couple other useful exercises back at the car. He practiced those with Copper and by the time I left them they looked very happy and like they were bonding already.

It was a very fun trip to enjoy the park and to see Copper and Matt starting out with a good experience. It was worth the drive, rather than sending him out with someone else, to be able to see Copper transition and start to bond with Matt.
The drive home was easy with a good book and the good feeling of having been able to see Copper to his Forever home.