A Sad Farewell to our Sweet Cooper Harvey

Our first family pet passed away this past Sunday. Cooper Harvey Summers joined us soon after we got married. The product of a incredibly ornery and sneaky hunting male and a sweet obedient show female... by accident (the male snuck out of his kennel and broke into the female's kennel)... guess who took after his father? :) He was our first dog together. A ridiculously cute peach fuzz ball, full of spunk and overflowing with affection. He was unbelievably human like in his empathy, devotion and expressions. He knew over 50 commands, most of them both verbally and with signs, and could understand literally hundreds of words. He was so smart and so sweet... but so ornery! He kept us on our toes for sure, but also surrounded us in love. He was so sweet with both boys, from the time we first brought them home. He still seemed to have so much life left in him, but as some dogs do, he might have been hiding some pain. I think it was fast moving cancer. And I hope he didn't suffer much or for very long. He had a thorough exam at an excellent veterinarian clinic in May and they didn't find anything wrong with him. So this was quite a surprise. He seemed fine when we left him at the kennel for a week's vacation in Paris. And even the kennel owner said he appeared to be in good health and spirits. But the last morning before we picked him up, she found him in his kennel lying on his side not breathing or moving. She said it must have happened sometime late the previous night or very early that morning. We will all miss our sweet Cooper Harvey! We hope he's chasing squirrels in dog heaven with all the other dear dogs we've lost. He will certainly live on in our many memories, funny stories and hearts.

Thanks for 10 wonderful years Coop Dig!

Favorite things/stories about Cooper:

-how we actually bought Chloe for him, to give him a playmate and give ourselves a break

-how he would help himself to a drink of water by turning on the bath tub faucet when he was thirsty, get his own food from the big bag and even jump in the tub to pee if he was being ignored during our pilot training days

-the way he would sit, literally all day, and watch the Thanksgiving turkey being prepared, cooked, cooling, carved... straight through until the last piece of meet is carved off

-the Christmas we lost our first prime rib to the little food thief

-how he would hide our cell phones so we wouldn't talk on them and ignore him

-how he could honk the horn in my jeep if I dared to leave him in there while I went in a store

-how he could get into any trash can, including the pedal lid ones

-the way he would sleep right next to Ben's crib when he first came home from the hospital

-the way he would stay so calm and lie down on the blanket next to both our boys when they were babies

-how Ben could feed him under the table even before he was a year old because Cooper was so gentle and soft-mouthed

-how Ben first learned to pull himself up to stand on Cooper's kennel and how hard Ben would laugh at Cooper's sneezing when he was a baby

-how Ben used to call him Pooper

-the way he ran after birds, crying out his barks of glee, and bounding/bouncing effortlessly through the fields and tall grass

-the way he would try to get me to hold him at the vet's, the big scardy cat :)

-the love/hate relationship he had with the same crazy squirrel all 3 years we lived in Altus Oklahoma

-how he would follow me around from room to room all day long, just wanting to be near me

-how I could talk to him like I would to a regular person

-how even at 10 years old, he was still up for a game of steel and chase, especially if Ben wanted to play with him

-how he knew how to tell you exactly what he needed or wanted

Cooper just seemed to beg me to take his picture this day... just a week before he passed away. I'm so glad I got this one last shot. He is absolutely adorable! One of those dogs that stayed puppy-cute his whole life!Cooper with his sweet Chloe Jean, his best friend and constant companion for the last 9 and a half years. She misses him a lot.

Just breaks my heart, this picture! Cooper was always so sweet to Ben, but they were really starting to become great buddies. Right after we moved here, I went in to check on Ben in his room in our TLF... and I found this. Cooper was instrumental in helping Ben with this move... the first tough one for him as he didn't want to leave his home or friends in Oklahoma.

I'm sure there are tons more I will have to come back and add! What a special part of our family he was! We love you Coop Coop!