It has been almost a month since we lost Cooper, but I have had a hard time writing this post.  I have all these pictures of him I want to post… it will have to come later.

This picture was taken at Point Reyes when Cooper was still a youngster.  I love this photo for two reasons– it is a great picture of Cooper, and also this particular beach walk was one of the last and best memories of family time spent with my Dad before losing him in 1998.

Pretty much everyone that knew Cooper loved him.  He just had the happiest, handsome face and great personality that won people over.

Cooper was the first dog that Don and I got together, so we always joked that he was our first-born.    He was the light blond puppy whose expressive brown eyes stole our hearts.   We took him on vacation with us to Bandon, Oregon when he was just 16 weeks old, and had so many people stop and ask questions about him while we were walking around town that we thought we might have to write up a Frequently Asked Questions flyer to pass out to people.

Cooper was so spoiled, but he was a good boy– active, sensible, and sensitive. He loved catching frisbees. He loved agility, where he and Don were an exciting team to watch. Cooper would bark through the course, and he had this funny habit of snorting when he got really excited. On one qualifying Excellent Jumpers run, after Don and Cooper left the ring, the judge ran after them just to say laughingly that she had “never judged a pig before”.

Cooper gave me a wonderful introduction to the world of Goldens, and through that I’ve made many special friends.  I met my dear friend Suzanne Bria through Cooper’s litter, because she has “Gemma”, his littermate.  I was fortunate to meet and become friends with Laura Finco, because she owned Cooper’s sire Arsey.   Laura invited both me and Suzanne to one of the NORCAL fun days when the pups were 12-weeks old, where Suzanne’s Gemma proceeded to beat Cooper up.   After that and going on many weekend hikes together, they became the best of friends.

Cooper’s favorite place was in Oregon at Don’s family’s lakeside cabin just outside of Bandon. We go once a year, usually for 1-2 weeks and it is dog heaven. Lots of hiking, and he would get to swim at least half the day. On the hikes he would always make sure everyone was accounted for and keep the pack together, whether it was just us or if we had friends/family along.

He had the biggest smile, and would tilt his head back as if his smile was so big that he had to hold his head back to keep the smile from weighing his head down. You can see an example of this on the photo to the right of him and Gemma on their 9th birthday hike.

In his last weeks, one of the things that struck me was how he could feel bad for a day or two, be down completely, and once the spell was over he would be back to his happy, active self as if nothing bad had happened. The good days would be really good. That’s one of the things I think we all try to learn, but it can be so hard to do– to live in and make the most of every moment and not let the bad times take away from the times that can otherwise be good.

We love and miss you, Cooper.  We’re sure there must be many frisbees (and frisbee-throwers!) at the Rainbow Bridge.

Footnote: I found the poem ‘Joy and Sorrow’ by Kahlil Gibran to be very true, and a source of comfort.

Check out this picture of me and Cooper at his puppy kindergarten… he was a star!

And what a perfect stand… wasn’t he a cutie?!

Cooper had his 5th and final IV chemo last Wednesday.  In another couple weeks he will start a course of oral chemotherapy.  He continues to do very well in attitude, though his endurance has suffered a bit.   He can still do things like agility, but instead of jumping regular height he does a lower height (typically 12″).

I sent a sample of his blood to the Broad Institute at MIT and Harvard (Dog Genome Sequencing Project).  They are being funded by the AKC Canine Health Foundation to study hemangiosarcoma.  This cancer of the blood vessel lining is very aggressive and affects as many as 1 in 5 Goldens.   The hope is not only to find better treatments, but also to potentially identify genes that could cause the cancer to be expressed.   If a genetic test can be found, then it would have a profound, presumably positive effect on breeding decisions.   Also, a huge benefit of cancer research in dogs is that the findings often advance human cancer research.

Here’s an update from the Broad Institute, posted by someone last month:

“Update: Hemangiosarcomas are rapidly growing and highly invasive, blood-fed tumors. Blood vessels grow from the tumor and often cause death through excessive blood loss due to rupturing of the tumor. After comparing the genomes of ~100 healthy dogs with ~100 dogs with HSA we were able to identify several areas of the genome that were possible associated to inherited HSA risk factors. Currently, five genes found to be associated with the disease are being searched for mutations. Once the mutations have been identified and their presence in different breeds assessed, this will allow for rapid development of genetic tests for carriers of HSA.”

This is incredibly exciting news!

Hi everyone, Cooper here.  Here are a couple of pictures of me from today.  I got lots of fancy cheese for just standing around and smiling– the best job ever!

My human mom and dad are really happy because at my fourth chemo treatment a couple days ago, my ultrasound and x-rays showed no visible evidence of tumors.  I could have told them that.  I feel great!  I just wish they didn’t have to keep shaving my tummy.  It kinda spoils the outline, ya know?

I’ve been going to agility class every week, which is always fun.  Also last week at the fun match I got to run around the winery fields, see and play with lots of other Goldens (a shout out to my girlfriend Scout– I *know* she likes me a LOT), got to do Rally Obedience with my dad, and best of all I got to catch lots of frisbees!

Gotta run– my mom is finally going to feed us dinner!

Love, Cooper

A lot of people have asked how Cooper is doing.  He continues to do extremely well, despite having gone through two chemotherapy sessions so far.  His next chemotherapy session is in a week.   To look at him one would never know that he has cancer.  His energy and appetite is good, his eyes shine, and he looks really healthy.   He is as sassy as ever.

We started agility classes with him again, after the long break when the puppies were here.  He got right back into it without a hitch.  Pretty good for an 11-year old, let alone an 11-yr old with hemangiosarcoma.   We just got back from a frisbee-catching session, too. 

You know the story “Where’s Waldo”? Click on this image to see the larger size, and see if you can find Cooper.  (when this picture was taken we didn’t realize he was there!)

Cooper has been recovering, slowly but surely. He was in a terrific mood tonight, eating a full meal and then some. He is still very sore and has trouble lying down and getting up, but that is to be expected with an 8-10″ long incision.

Here he is tonight, wearing an e-collar which I made for him some years ago. It is made of foam and an outdoor tablecloth. He loves it, I think because it makes him feel like a really BIG dog, and whenever he wears it we call him “Stego-Cooper”.

We almost lost our dear 11-year old boy Cooper yesterday. First thing in the morning he usually helps Don get the newspaper, but yesterday he wouldn’t get up. We checked him over and discovered his gums were completely pale. Don rushed him to the vet, then to the surgery clinic, where it was discovered he had a mass on his spleen and it had ruptured. He had bled out so much that at one point they couldn’t find a pulse or blood pressure. It was a very difficult day for us, as there were many times that we thought we might lose him. Fortunately he took the good path at every critical juncture, and we thank those that sent good thoughts/wishes/prayers for our boy– it really worked.

Cooper came back home to us this morning after having major abdominal surgery yesterday in which they successfully removed the spleen and stabilized him since he had lost 2 1/4 liters of blood. As you can see from the picture he is a real trooper, and a very strong boy. Next to him is a very relieved and proud “Dad”.

He wasn’t ready to leave us yet, and we are not ready for him to go! There is still a lot of frisbee catching left in our boy. He is getting anything he wants, and he has been taking full advantage of it, even asking for thigh massages. We love you, Cooper!

Happy Birthday to our dear Cooper!

Please see his Birthday Page for lots of pictures of his birthday hike and celebration at Sunol Regional Park.  We celebrated with our dear friend Suzanne, and Cooper’s littermate Gemma.  Of course it was her birthday too!

Happy 9th birthday to the wonderful dog that introduced me to life with Golden Retrievers. I’ve never looked back!

We spent Cooper’s birthday at Sunol Regional Park with his littermate Gemma and her owner and dear friend Suzanne Bria. See the pictures…