Mini Cooper

Fred named Cooper after a car. Fred's favorite car. And Cooper was definitely one of our favorite dogs. Well, all of them are our favorites in their own way - and Cooper definitely had his own ways.

Cooper was the second dachshund we got after Lucy. I was still living with my parents in Corona at the time, and I remember he was the absolute tiniest puppy I'd ever seen. I remember being afraid the cat might try to eat him since he just looked like a little mouse. I remember when Cooper was born - it was November 2001 and we were pretty sure we were getting one of the puppies from the litter that Bryan's wife's dog was having. We got Cooper and someone else in the family got his brother Linus. My parents later met Linus and took video to show me how much alike the two were.

Cooper was the dog that forever stayed a puppy. He was 6 1/2 when he died, but still looked and acted like a funny little floppy puppy. We all called Cooper "dumb" or "slow", but in the most affectionate way. He was a dog's dog, and just wanted to play, play, play. Cooper was also our "delicate flower" since he was allergic to most vaccinations and didn't process medications well. The first time he got vaccinated, we brought him home and about an hour later his lips and face had totally swelled up. Another time, he was given something that made him completely listless and caused him to vomit uncontrollably. Both times he recovered just fine, but it gave us a good scare - and he never complained. My mom said that recently the vet told her he's one of the most docile dogs he's ever met. Which I think is why we always thought he was kind of the "Dopey" of the bunch. He never complained or made a noise, and was pretty much just always waiting for you to throw the ball or knot again.

A few weeks ago, after a few hard days of playing (exercising) with Benny - the newest (overweight) addition to my mom's clan, Cooper wasn't moving out of his bed. Mom took him to the vet and after x-rays, it was determined that he had calcification of the spine, a common thing to happen to dachshunds, and what we also think Lucy died from. It can be treatable with medications in some dogs, but can also get drastically worse and begin leaking, causing terrible pain. They decided to try the meds for 2 weeks to see how he did and to see how his liver was holding up. He was kept on total restriction from movement, and my mom even put him in the Pack N Play in order to prevent him from further hurting himself while they were trying to get him healed. Some of the meds made him completely out of it and he even had trouble walking straight, so mom adjusted some things and had least he was more alert. But it just wasn't meant to be...

Mom said he had 2 really bad days in a row where he barely moved and cried in pain. After seeing Lucy struggle so badly, they decided they had to do the humane thing and put him to sleep.

We're all very sad about him being gone, and I truly can't believe it still. Cooper was a very special little dog and people always fell in love with him right away. I always called him the little dog with the funny face, and most people commented on how it looked like his front two feet were on the wrong legs. That was just Cooper. He was a little 'off" and had his own definite quirks like therapeutically chewing away at the knot when he was nervous - which was often. Or eating his food VEERRRRRYYYYY slowly most days, taking the time to chew each morsel individually while all the dogs around him are inhaling it so fast it's gone in 3 seconds flat. That was just Cooper. And we'll miss him.

(I have a few hilarious videos of Cooper but am having trouble finding them on my backup disks. Hopefully they'll turn up soon and I'll be able to post them.)