I usually give Cookie a pretty hard time - she was a crazy puppy, she has a fierce bark, she is a lousy company greeter and she has no idea that she is 150lbs! And when she first joined our family she had some super-sized doggie shoes to fill. Our first dog, Harriet, was about as perfect a dog as you could have. Another big dog, but she garnished attention simply because she was so sweet and had a great expressive face. She was pre-Jack, so since I didn't have Jack to play with, the neighborhood kids in our Grand Rapids neighborhood would come over and ask to play with Harriet. They loved to throw sticks for her and watch her chomp them up and she would lie on her back and let the kids rub her belly and poke their hands in her mouth and look in her ears. I always thought she would have been a great therapy dog visiting kids in hospitals and things. She is still very missed in our house.
So in comes the Cookie Monster, a super-sized puppy with very sharp puppy teeth and a will of her own. She is so loving and loves her people...as I type this she is sitting at my feet in my office. She is usually very mellow. She likes to "talk" with us doing some silly part growly, part howly, part barky thing that is hilarious. And she is very sweet. But with our 6 ft privacy fence on one side of the yard she isn't able to see who is walking or riding there. So all they hear is her ginormous bark and have dubbed us "the house with the big mean dog". What they can't see is that her tail is wagging like crazy and she is simply barking to just try and get them to come play with her (we have to work on her delivery!). I feel bad for her when she turns from running the fence line with a totally defeated and broken hearted look on her face. And she loves to bark at anyone that comes near the house, which although a bit annoying makes me feel crazy safe - no one is ever coming into this house when they hear her. So that's a plus!
Jack and I recently bought a citronella spray collar for her to help curb the barking. It actually works really well, but I need to continue to work with her when she has it on so that she doesn't just stop barking when she has the collar on. My dad mentioned some crazy leash walking trainer that when the dog pulls gives off a high pitch dog whistle. The harder they pull the louder the whistle. That might be awesome because she is a terrible dog walker - for at least the first 30 minutes or so, anything after that she is crazy tired and doesn't have much spunk to get into mischief.
Cookie is a great dog - Harriet was an amazing once in a lifetime dog - but Cookie is a great dog and Jack and I can't imagine life without her. Kiss Kiss Cook!