It is with tremendous sadness that I must tell you that my dearest friend and companion, Mr. Cooper, has passed to the great beyond. He was my constant companion and a friend like no other, so my missing him is the greatest understatement of the century.
Some 14 plus years ago my wife of 30 years decided to leave our marriage. It was the hardest thing I have ever gone through in my life, and I was buried in the depths of a depression that can only be described as a deep, dark hole from hell. One thing about Ol’ Dutch is that when he loves someone or something, it's the deepest form of the expression and so my loss was seemingly more than I could stand.
My daughter Cricket, seeing how distraught I had become, hatched a plan to give me some purpose for living. For you see I had recently been hurt very badly at work ending my career, so I had nothing to do and nothing to look forward to each day.
She had a small Yorkie female, and that dog had miraculously given birth to seven of the smallest puppies you ever saw, each one smaller than a tiny mouse. Cricket and her husband took infinite care of the wee little creatures. Since I lived close, Ol’ Dutch got to see them almost daily.
There was one little puppy that stood out from the rest as he was always in trouble. He would get in the self-waterer and dig until it covered the floors. In the midst of being ornery, though, he also had dignity and courage. Cricket named him “Cooper” for Gary Cooper because he reminded her of a Western hero. She fell in love with him and didn’t want him to go to a stranger’s home, and that’s how Cooper ended up with me.
She was right in her observation that it did give me a purpose every day to take care of him, and he of me. From that time on there was not a moment when Cooper was not with me. He went everywhere including church, stores, restaurants, ball games, vacations and anything in between. I soon loved him more than even myself and my policy became “if Cooper was not welcome, well then I didn't go.”
Because of that constant care and companionship, he became well-adjusted to being in crowds and with people. It was easy to take him places and people accepted him being around. He was always on his best behavior, never causing a scene. He learned to perch on my shoulder like a parrot as I went into stores or fished or hunted for hours on end. Of course, that brought Ol’ Dutch a lot of conversation from passersby in a time when I was so lonely.
We moved to Colorado shortly after he came to live with me and the house we lived in was up high on a mountain surrounded by forests and wild animals. Not your typical Yorkie, even by this time he loved to chase the bear that visited nightly and so began the fearless life of a little dog.
Nothing was off limits to him outdoors and he loved to go fishing and fetch any fish I happened to land. Grouse hunting also was a favorite of his and he would fetch them if given half a chance after Ol’ Dutch had brought them to the ground.
Everywhere we went Cooper was loved and people wanted to pet him. In Las Vegas once, I walked the Strip with him sitting on my shoulder and by the time we got to the opposite sidewalk, strangers were already chanting, “Cooper!” and wanting photos with him. He put up with all of that like a King taking admiration from loyal followers.
Many tears have flowed over the loss of my friend, and I do not believe I can ever again own a dog as he was simply the best friend I have ever had and cannot be replaced. Now that he is gone, I realize how much pain he carried for me all these 14 years and it was a huge job and burden for such a little guy, but he never complained.
Godspeed, my dearest friend. See you on the other side.
Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV or hike daily. His email is Kevin@TroutRepublic.com. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com.
