Pat and I had not planned to get another dog after losing our first Golden Retriever, Katy a decade earlier. But when we took our daughter Shannon to pick her golden retriever from a large litter of puppies, we fell in love with the shy little puppy who had not been adopted yet. Shannon chose Cooper’s sister Maggie, and Pat and I decided we wanted to give Cooper a new home. Cooper was a friendly, happy, energetic dog. He and Maggie were inseparable the first year of their life, then Shannon got married and Maggie moved on to her new home. Cooper and Maggie continued to see one another frequently, they played like puppies until the last year or two when they were more inclined to lay beside one another. Cooper loved his orange frisbees and greeted everyone who walked by with a frisbee in his mouth. He loved playing frisbee in the yard, the dog park and in the doggie swimming pond. Maggie loved her orange ball as much as Cooper loved his frisbee, so we threw the ball to her, frisbee to Cooper, one after the other. Cooper looked out for Maggie. One day at the doggie pond, we threw Maggie’s ball too far across the pond, and she couldn’t see it, so Cooper swam across the pond to Maggie’s ball with his frisbee in his mouth, scooped Maggie’s ball up and swam it back to her. Cooper was a bit mischievous, he loved taking Therese’s slippers and burying them in the yard, then digging them up when he was left home alone. As time went on, he started taking anything we left out of place and would bury it as well. He took socks, gloves, toothpaste, small purses, shoes, to name a few items. I was sometimes amazed at what I would find when I was doing yard work in the spring. Cooper was a gentle, loving dog. We had four grandchildren while Cooper was with us. The children loved Cooper, they would pet him, sit on him, pull his tail, drop food on him, and love on him. Cooper knew where to sit when the grand children were in the highchair, they delighted in dropping food down to him, and he loved sitting next to them and cleaning up the food that didn’t make it to their mouths when they were done. When Pat retired a few years ago, Cooper became his companion while Therese continued to work. Cooper would fetch Pat’s newspaper every morning for a treat, then they would have their breakfast together. As Cooper aged, he was no longer able to play frisbee without having trouble breathing due to paralyzed vocal cords. He had less energy and could only walk short distances. He loved to sit by the front door in the sun and look outside with his frisbee close by, even though he could no longer jump up and catch it. His tail was always wagging and his favorite place to be was in the middle of his family. We lost Cooper, our loving canine companion on October 18, 2021. Cooper will be dearly missed not only by us, but by our children, grandchildren, and his sister Maggie.
