We finally found another pup to add to the Cooper family! Trek is a Canadian born border collie who found his way into our home and hearts. We've been looking for a border collie puppy for a few months and had some great prospects planned out, but certain circumstances came up that ended up leading to Trek. On April 9th I got a call from Kim at Power Tripp border collies. They had a 7 week old puppy that was looking for an active performance home. I had been emailing Kim about another litter coming up in May, so she knew what I was looking for and thought Trek (Cypress at the time) would be a perfect match! After talking with both Kim (dad - Risk's owner)and Robin (mom - Jaida's owner) we decided to take the plunge and give Trek a home.
On April 19th, we flew to Buffalo, NY to get our boy! Robin drove Trek down to Buffalo so we could stay in the states for the plane ride. She also brought down Jaida (mom) and Slyder (Trek's almost-twin brother). We got to meet both of Trek's parents and 2 other siblings and had a good time visiting with Kim, Peter & Robin. Since Travis and I had never been to Buffalo, we decided to spend an extra day there so we could drive up to Niagara Falls. Trek was a really good boy in the hotel room! We took him out for lots of potty breaks and he went every time! We could tell Robin and Craig had already started working with the pups. He slept through the night and was a very well behaved boy.
On Tuesday we had a relaxing morning, then drove up to Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to get my passport out of the safe deposit box before the weekend, so we weren't able to go over to the Canadian side for the "postcard" view of horseshoe falls, but we did get some great views on the American side. We took Trek along with us to all the viewpoints and he did great on leash! He didn't seem to be scared of anything and loved the attention from other people. We spent a couple hours up at the falls and did quite a bit of walking. The falls were beautiful and we're glad we took the time to go see them.
For the drive back to Buffalo, we decided to put Trek in his airline crate to get him used to it before the flight. He was tired from all the walking, so he slept the entire way back. We got some lunch, then played in a big grassy field until it was time to head to the airport. At the airport, everyone was super nice and the security guys even threatened to "confiscate" Trek because he was sooo cute. ;) Travis had an upgrade to 1st class on the 1st flight, so he had Trek with him. He pretty much slept the entire first flight and I only heard one little peep out of him from 2 rows back. In Chicago, we checked in for the next flight, then Travis took Trek outside for a quick potty break. We got on the next plane and after a few grumpy flight attendants, Trek and I were moved to economy plus (out of business class), but I had an entire row of 5 seats to myself, so it wasn't that bad. I guess they're not allowing pets in 1st or business class on the 777s anymore. Trek was starting to get a little restless on the second flight so we put his carrier on the seat and opened the top. He was much happier that way and calmed down for the rest of the flight. We arrived home late Tuesday night and did a quick introduction of Trek to Mariah and Brisco. Needless to say, they weren't overly thrilled with us surprising them with a puppy, but they'll learn to like him. He's an adorable, sweet boy who will be a great mountain dog!
