Copper Dog

We were looking forward to our next post being all about the girls trip to see Santa Claus. We will tell that story, but right now we want to tell you about our sweet puppy dog that we had to say good-bye to this week.

We got Copper from the Humane Society in San Antonio just two months after we got married. Emily grew up wanting a dog and while we were dating we talked about getting a dog after getting married. Dave was certainly more hesitant to get a dog so quickly, but allowed Emily to start doing the research into getting a dog and start "shopping around". One afternoon Emily was at the human society and saw "Jelly Bean" & "Gypsy" and fell in love. She called Dave and wanted him to come look at her right away. He came after work and "Jelly Bean" (Emily's first choice) had already been scooped up by a family so we looked at her sister "Gypsy" instead. Her ears weren't as clean, but otherwise she was sweet. We spent some time with her in the yard and play rooms and Dave fell in love pretty fast. A few days later we took her home and renamed her Copper, after the ski resort in Colorado and for her copper coloring.

We remember the first night at home with us, she cried all night long. It was similar to her last night at home. Anyway, we are SO thankful that we didn't get Jelly Bean; Copper was a perfect fit for us.

She house trained rather quickly and turned into the sweetest little thing. She was a very obedient dog, always wanting to please us. Some of our favorite memories with her are: running around the "dog area" (a total mess) of our first apartment building; teaching her to shake hands; teaching her to swim at the lake near our apartment; taking her camping and on a kayaking trip down the Guadalupe River (in which we all tipped out and after Dave pulled Emily out from under the kayak she yelled, "Get Copper!!!"); taking her up Mt Evans and her showing off running ahead of us "low landers"; bringing her to Colorado and hiking with family in Ute Valley Park; her snuggling with Dave on the nights Emily was traveling; her always jumping up on people to greet them (which honestly, we never trained her not to do because we liked it); taking her camping in Austin and her just loving every minute of it; while Dave was deployed, riding in the car with Emily to get back to Colorado so she didn't have to be alone in the car; Emily's cousin naming her 'Copper Jackson Jackson'; Dave and Copper chasing each other around the front yard; Norah feeding her snacks ALL the time; her chasing Norah around the house to get one of her snacks, Norah laughing hysterically and Copper still never biting at our babies; taking her to Farish where she got to do lots of hiking with Uncle Josh, Aunt Emmy, Uncle Jimmy & Auntie Becca; Emily going off a zipline into a lake while screaming and Copper running in and swimming after her to make sure she was ok; and so many more.

We know that a lot of you will read this and think, "she's just a dog". But she was our dog. We really believe the Lord gifted her to our family for a season of life. She taught us how to parent, she brought us closer together, she brought us joy on our hard days, she helped Emily survive deployments, she guarded our house and our kids, she barked at the mailman and anyone else who rang the doorbell or knocked on the door; she brought joy to Norah during Norah's "only child" months and she even touched the heart of our neighbors. Her life ended at the young age of 6, but like one of Emily's Aunts lovingly told us, "she had a job and she did it well." There will always be a place in our hearts for our sweet Copper dog.

On Monday after meeting with the vet we had to make the heart wrenching decision to let her go. We both were in the room with her, crying our eyes out and saying our goodbyes. After she passed away, Dave removed her collar and Emily fell onto the bench sobbing. We held each other and cried. We had no idea how much we really loved that little dog! And today we remember a dog who brought us more joy than we knew possible. She set a standard that no other dog will ever live up. We love you Copper Jackson Jackson. Thank you for the love and joy you brought to our lives. Good Girl!!!