Tribute To Cooper

Our hearts were broken on March 2nd when we had to say goodbye to our beloved Cooper. He had reached the point where he could barely walk, fell down often and simply could not do the things he wanted to do. We had to carry him up and down the stairs each night and morning. It is always a very difficult decision to make, but we had to decide whether we were keeping him alive for us or him and it was clear his quality of life had deteriorated significantly. We had once asked a trainer when it was clear that it was time and he said when a dog loses its dignity. It was gut wrenching to watch when he started to lose his.

We were so fortunate to adopt Cooper in 2010. I happened to spot him at the Bear Creek Dog Park with his foster mom Annie Scholze one summer day. She said he was due to be adopted the next day but a few days later we saw that he was still listed on your website. We discovered that the man who was going to adopt him had to have back surgery and felt unable to care for him, so we immediately put in an adoption request. A few days later my wife Cindy and son Eric met Cooper at the dog park with Annie and shortly thereafter, we were overjoyed when he became part of our family.

The first time Cindy and I took him to the park he brought us a bird in his mouth. We thought perhaps it was a thank you gift. Curiously, he never showed an interest in birds again, and we had no plans to hunt him. We simply wanted him to be a family dog and what a family dog he became. He immediately jumped up on our bed the first night and burrowed under the covers and did so each night thereafter until near the very end when he could no longer make the jump and no longer seemed interested in trying. It was a beautiful sight to watch him run and gracefully jump each time we brought him to the park, and it was painful to watch when he could no longer do so.

The records say his birthday was in February, 2006, but we suspect he was older than that. We were told he was found running loose outside Elizabeth and we think the “birthdate” was likely the day he was then brought to the vet. So, while we celebrated his 16th birthday last month, it is probable that he was older, perhaps by at least several months or longer. We were so lucky to have him so long, and so sad we did not have him longer.

On his last day, I took him in a wagon to the park where we first met, where he laid peacefully in the sun for nearly two hours. After a final meal of two hamburgers, French fries and some ice cream, Cindy and I took turns curling up with him on the couch. We then made the heart-wrenching trip to the vet’s office where we said our final goodbyes as we tearfully held him in our arms.

Our little boy is gone. We loved him dearly and miss him terribly. We will undoubtedly have other dogs, but there will never be another Cooper, or as we called him, “Super Duper Cooper”. We don’t know if there is such a thing as the Rainbow Bridge, or simply something dog owners wishfully hope that there is. But if there is, we await the day when our little boy will run to greet us again. Until then, God speed Cooper. We’ll never forget you and will miss you forever.