Plumb Crazy!: May 2011

I have been putting this post off because I knew it would be extremely hard and that I would sit here and bawl. Hopefully I'll be able to see through all the tears and pay a loving tribute to an incredible dog, friend, loyal companion, hiking buddy, and protector.

Cooper was the second English Mastiff that we owned, Molly being the first. We absolutely love this breed! They are truly gentle giants. When we lost Molly after nine and a half years we knew we would own another EM some day. So a little over a year and a half later Cooper came into our lives. We were in Tacoma, WA for a soccer game and stopped by a breeder that Rob had talked to, to see some EM puppies. Rob wanted the biggest and bulkiest male they had. They had three males left and two were bigger than the third so Rob couldn't take his eyes off of them. However, I have always been a sucker for the under-dog (pun intended) and couldn't help but notice the littler guy with the red yarn around his neck, whom they called Riley. He kept coming up to me and snuggling and seemed to be saying, "Pick me, Pick me!" He just had such a cute personality right from the moment I saw him. After we left, Rob asked me which of the two I liked best. I said neither! I knew "Riley" was the one - he had picked US!

9 weeks

14 weeks

Carli whispers sweet nothins in Cooper's ear

Training went fairly well - Cooper was a very smart puppy. In fact, we liked to call him Houdini. Twice we came home to find him waiting at the door for us, wagging his tail, when he should have been locked up tight in his kennel. Our first thoughts were "Oh no! The house will be completely destroyed!" But the worst thing he did was chew up a roll of toilet paper. I have to admit it wasn't fun getting up every few hours at night to take him out... it was like being a new mom again. But in the long run, it is sooo nice to have a well-trained dog who only goes "bama" where you tell him to. (I know it's bad but we used the word "bama", as in Obama, to be Coop's command word to poo. Ha! We got Cooper the same week that Obama was elected president. You guessed it...we didn't vote for him!) Of course this would be a winter that we got lots, and I mean LOTS, of snow. We had to shovel a trail for Cooper to get out back to do his duty. Poor thing, you couldn't even see him because the snow was piled so high! But he loved the snow - he didn't like being cold but he loved to EAT it! As the snow was melting in the Spring, he would look for little mounds of snow left that he could eat. It was really cute.

Cooper running down trail through snow - you can
only see the top of his back!

Waiting for the school bus to come.

Eating snow

Some of Cooper's favorites: chasing wild turkeys out of the yard, laying on the trampoline, chasing balls but not bringing them back, treats, fetching stuffed animal from down the long hallway upstairs, wading in the shallow end of the pool, chewing on his bone, taking naps, laying on his back -baring all, spinning round and round in circles until he got dizzy and fell down, walks, being with family, hikes, laying under the coffee table, his friend Carli, playing soccer with a basketball, sitting on the couch, tug of war.

8 months

Couch potato

No shame!

Funny thing about Cooper: He destroyed and chewed up every toy he ever had except a stuffed baby rattle that we gave him when he was a puppy. It had been one of the girl's toys when they were little and maybe he sensed that it was special but he played and played and played with it but never chewed it up or tore it. It was his favorite!

Cooper could always put a smile on our faces. He was just a funny guy and had quite the personality. We often joked that Cooper had "the life of Riley" - absolutely spoiled rotten! He seemed to sense whenever I needed to be cheered up and would start playing and spinning around in circles or go get a toy and want to play. He knew when I just needed some love and would let me lay on his shoulder. He was an awesome hiking buddy and loved the desert and checking out new trails. I always felt so safe with him around. He would check out caves first and lead the way in slot canyons. It's definitely not the same hiking without him.

Cooper at Pet Night at Whitworth University
"Don't worry ladies! There's plenty of lovins to go around!"

Birthday Boys - September 2009

In January, 2011, Cooper started getting really sick. He would throw up almost every night in his kennel and sometimes during the day too. He always tried to get sick on the tile floor or in the far corner of his kennel though, so as not to make too big of a mess. While I kneeled there cleaning it up, he would look at me with those puppy-dog eyes, as if to say "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." It broke my heart. This went on for two months. We took him to the vet and they did xrays and blood tests but couldn't figure out what was wrong. They tried one medicine for acid reflux that didn't work. They tried antibiotics and bland food which he hated. They put him in the hospital for a weekend and hooked him up to IVs, which worked wonders and made him look and feel so much better but as soon as we got him home he got sick again. Then, our vet went to a conference in Las Vegas where they happened to have a little segment on Addison's disease. They even showed a picture of an EM and Dr. Barton thought "That's what Cooper has!" All the symptoms matched. I truly believe it was a miracle - a divine intervention that led us to some answers that we had been praying for. They put Cooper on some steroid meds and alas, the puking stopped, he started putting weight back on (he had lost 25lbs.) and he started getting his spunk back. We had our boy back!

Unfortunately, from what we can figure out, Cooper was feeling so good that he chewed up one of his toys and swallowed some pieces. On that Tuesday morning he got sick again and there were pieces of rubber in it. We thought that that would be that, he got sick and then he would feel better like he always did. But he felt lousy all day, didn't eat and just layed around the back yard. The girls got home from school and went out to see him. Aleah came back in and said something is wrong. By the time we got back out there, he was taking his last breath. He died in my arms with us all around him. We figure that with the Addison's, he just couldn't digest the toy pieces that normally he would've just passed. Words can't even describe how heart broken we all were and still are. He was truly a huge part of our family and loved very much! He has left a huge hole in our hearts and he is missed greatly! We couldn't have asked for a better dog. Cooper, we love you and miss you and look forward to seeing you again someday little Buddy.