Cooper

Some of you may know that after many discussions Dan and I decided we needed to simplify our life to give ourselves more time and a little less responsibility being that we were stretched too thin. In light of those discussions, we recognized that we weren't able to give Cooper the time he deserved for exercise and play which is a very important part of a dog's life. With all the demands on our time we weren't giving him or ourselves the time we needed. Taking him out in the morning and evening, albeit briefly, was not enough and became just one more thing to do in the morning and evening on the long list of things that included cleaning up his hair twice a week to make sure the floor was clean for the kids who spent a lot of time crawling around with him.

Cooper spent most of his time in doors sleeping or waiting for us to come home and when we were home we were often shooing him away as he tried to lick Aidan and Ella's faces, eat their snacks and sit in areas that were off limits to him. He became the low man on the totem pole when the twins were born and, to his credit, he took it very well but it wasn't fair to him. He deserved much more and there had been a time when were able to give him that attention.





Cooper is a very athletic and happy alpha dog who loves people, playing with other dogs, and rambling around in the great outdoors. When we adopted him we were looking for a running companion with a great disposition. Cooper loved to run, swim and play but he hadn't had the opportunity for much of that in the past year and a half. We considered those we knew in the area that could keep him and give him more play time but that didn't work. We'd also made an agreement with the adoption/rescue group in Texas that if we ever decided we couldn't keep him we'd contact them and make arrangements to send him back to Texas.

It was with a heavy heart that we made the decision and the arrangements to fly Cooper back recently. As luck would have it, and because Cooper is a happy, handsome and a well trained lucky-dog, he found a new family within two weeks of arriving back in Texas! He makes friends quickly. We are happy and relieved to say that Cooper has found a new family with grown children and another dog. His new family has more time to share with him. We think, we hope, that this was for the best. The idea is that he has a better quality of life and the change has definitely helped simplify things for us, too.

Dear Cooper, we love you and thank you for being our faithful companion. You are the best and we'll miss you! We feel better knowing you're enjoying the good life...again.