# My Beautiful Copper... It's only been a month and I miss you so much everyday.



## CopperBear2020 (Apr 25, 2020)

My family recently lost our first golden retriever about a week and a half into the COVID pandemic (In the middle of the night on March 24th). His name was Copper and he was the most loving and amazing dog I've ever owned. Copper passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly, about a month before his 6th birthday. He was a pure-breed American golden retriever. We think he may have had some inbreeding in his family history. The breeder we got him from may not have taken the appropriate care to screen his parents. We are devastated by this loss. He had an unknown congenital defect with his tracheal wall. It caused a rip in his trachea that we were unaware of. He started acting funny one afternoon, and we took him to the vet. (and there were no signs what so ever before that) He had a pneumothorax. He passed away a few hours later at the vet due to a second pneumothorax putting too much strain on his heart. He was perfectly healthy until this point, and always had excellent vet check ups. None of us were expecting him to pass, and that has made it even harder to cope. 

I miss him so much everyday, and I just feel so lost without him. I'm trying to deal with my grief but is overwhelming sometimes, and somedays are better than others. We have another dog who is 14, but she is not as affectionate as Copper. She helps, but we all wish we had our boy back. When he died, it really left a hole in my heart. I definitely haven't been sleeping as well because I miss him so much. He slept with me every night, and loved to snuggle up. I feel guilty because I couldn't even go into the vet with him when he was sick thanks to the pandemic. When I let him go with the vet tech I didn't know it would be the last time I ever got to see him alive. I only got to say goodbye after he had passed, and it haunts me the most in the middle of the night. Even when we were waiting to go in, he was only worried about comforting me. He was such a good boy. We know he didn't suffer, because he went very quickly during his second pneumothorax. He was here and then he was gone. He won over the staff at Animerge in the short time he was there. Copper was just like that, he made everyone who met him love him. 

We have started the process of trying to find a new golden because we feel we have so much love to give, but the pandemic has made this even harder than normal. A lot of people are impulse buying/adopting dogs/puppies.

Here are some things I loved about my baby boy, who I miss so much....

His overall temperament/personality
His intuitive nature. He was a true therapy dog. He always knew when we were upset and exactly what to do to make us laugh and smile. He couldn’t stand when any of us cried.
Friendliness
Goofiness
Unconditional love
His retrieving. Whenever he was excited, he would bring us a toy, shoe, or pillow to show us he was happy to see us
He always wanted to be with us, he was a true Velcro dog
He loved to snuggle, he was my snuggle bug.
His playfulness. He loved to run and chase balls, go swimming, splash in a kiddie pool, etc.
His intelligence and ability to learn things quickly.
The joy he brought us everyday without even trying
I'll love you forever Copper and I miss you everyday.


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## OscarsDad (Dec 20, 2017)

I am so sorry to hear of your sudden and tragic loss of such a good friend. Copper sounds like he was a wonderful sweet soul and I am sure he had a very happy lifel


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

I'm very sorry for your loss of Cooper. 
He was beautiful, I can tell he was a very special boy and brought so much love and joy into your life. 

Godspeed Cooper


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

I am so sorry for your loss of sweet Copper. He sounds like he had all the best attributes of a Golden. Most of us here understand the overwhelming pain of letting them go.


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## WatsonsMom (Dec 23, 2019)

I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Copper sounds like everything a Golden is. The suddeness of his passing is terrible to deal with, but in your grief, be happy to have known such a wonderful dog. Those memories will hurt, but also heal.


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## Geoff L. (May 1, 2020)

My condolences on losing Copper. He looks and sounds like a very special dog. Having to say goodbye to him must be very difficult.

I can so relate to the pain you must be feeling, we just lost our 12 year old boy, Spud just a few days ago, and went through a similar final and ambiguous separation at the door to the Vet because of Covid. After a telephone consultation we knew he had to be put down and it would have been so unfair to him to take him back out for our sake, he had been sedated and was comfortable as could be expected. Not only not being with him when the awful last moment had to come, but not being able to be comforted in person since then by his legion of our mutual human friends. He was a charmer. And now stuck in the house where he was our constant companion the grief and tears are bittersweet indeed. I am so very sorry for your loss. But I know it will in time be easier to bear.

It really brought home for us the suffering of so many families facing loss of loved ones, including their dogs, of course, during this time when we can’t follow our natural instincts to draw ourselves closer together and be there physically and comforting one another.

Before we had Spud we had another Golden good boy, Wiley, who was so different in personality but like seemingly all Goldens so likeable, fun and loveable. Like you, we lost him very rapidly at a young age - just seven - from frontal lobe cancer that felled him very quickly from a sudden seizure to gone in a short difficult time. It happened to be the same day two of our three children were flying away from home for college for the first time. There is never a good or right time for such difficult goodbyes.

Your having had both those challenges at once, first to lose Copper during this terrible strange time of quarantine, and second such an unexpectedly sudden and young loss, my heart goes out to you, it must be such a burden. I hope you find solace in all the fabulous memories you and your family and friends have of such a beautiful companion. 

A friend sent me a few lines from a Rudyard Kipling poem that I have found comforting this week, as follows:

Well, the Lord has a dog now, I just sent Him mine.
The old pal so dear to me.
And I smile through my tears on this first day alone,
Knowing they're in eternity.
Day after day, the whole day through,
Wherever my road inclined,
Four feet said, "Wait, I'm coming with you!"
And trotted along behind.

Geoff


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## CopperBear2020 (Apr 25, 2020)

Geoff L. said:


> My condolences on losing Copper. He looks and sounds like a very special dog. Having to say goodbye to him must be very difficult.
> 
> I can so relate to the pain you must be feeling, we just lost our 12 year old boy, Spud just a few days ago, and went through a similar final and ambiguous separation at the door to the Vet because of Covid. After a telephone consultation we knew he had to be put down and it would have been so unfair to him to take him back out for our sake, he had been sedated and was comfortable as could be expected. Not only not being with him when the awful last moment had to come, but not being able to be comforted in person since then by his legion of our mutual human friends. He was a charmer. And now stuck in the house where he was our constant companion the grief and tears are bittersweet indeed. I am so very sorry for your loss. But I know it will in time be easier to bear.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for your kind words. I'm so sorry for your loss! Quarantine definitely makes things more difficult. My thoughts and prayers are with your family in this tough time with your loss of Spud.


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## KK Taos (Mar 19, 2020)

CopperBear2020 said:


> My family recently lost our first golden retriever about a week and a half into the COVID pandemic (In the middle of the night on March 24th). His name was Copper and he was the most loving and amazing dog I've ever owned. Copper passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly, about a month before his 6th birthday. He was a pure-breed American golden retriever. We think he may have had some inbreeding in his family history. The breeder we got him from may not have taken the appropriate care to screen his parents. We are devastated by this loss. He had an unknown congenital defect with his tracheal wall. It caused a rip in his trachea that we were unaware of. He started acting funny one afternoon, and we took him to the vet. (and there were no signs what so ever before that) He had a pneumothorax. He passed away a few hours later at the vet due to a second pneumothorax putting too much strain on his heart. He was perfectly healthy until this point, and always had excellent vet check ups. None of us were expecting him to pass, and that has made it even harder to cope.
> 
> I miss him so much everyday, and I just feel so lost without him. I'm trying to deal with my grief but is overwhelming sometimes, and somedays are better than others. We have another dog who is 14, but she is not as affectionate as Copper. She helps, but we all wish we had our boy back. When he died, it really left a hole in my heart. I definitely haven't been sleeping as well because I miss him so much. He slept with me every night, and loved to snuggle up. I feel guilty because I couldn't even go into the vet with him when he was sick thanks to the pandemic. When I let him go with the vet tech I didn't know it would be the last time I ever got to see him alive. I only got to say goodbye after he had passed, and it haunts me the most in the middle of the night. Even when we were waiting to go in, he was only worried about comforting me. He was such a good boy. We know he didn't suffer, because he went very quickly during his second pneumothorax. He was here and then he was gone. He won over the staff at Animerge in the short time he was there. Copper was just like that, he made everyone who met him love him.
> 
> ...


I can't even read all of your account because I'm crying. And thinking of my last boy Lucca who died at 9. Perfectly healthy, one day just started limping. Then in no time he put no weight on one foot. Vet said probably a tumor. Very soon the leg was dangling. And finally he couldn't get up. I couldn't bear to take him myself. I couldn't lift him anyway, he weighed 95. Big boy, not fat. That was as 2.5 years ago and I'm still heartbroken.


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## Geoff L. (May 1, 2020)

KK Taos said:


> I can't even read all of your account because I'm crying. And thinking of my last boy Lucca who died at 9. Perfectly healthy, one day just started limping. Then in no time he put no weight on one foot. Vet said probably a tumor. Very soon the leg was dangling. And finally he couldn't get up. I couldn't bear to take him myself. I couldn't lift him anyway, he weighed 95. Big boy, not fat. That was as 2.5 years ago and I'm still heartbroken.


Wow he was a big boy! So sorry. We have had a Golden in the house and our lives for 19 of the last 20 years, and it leaves a big hole when they go. Each one is so unique yet they all seem to be so happy and loving in their own ways it is no wonder we miss them so.


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## KK Taos (Mar 19, 2020)

Geoff L. said:


> Wow he was a big boy! So sorry. We have had a Golden in the house and our lives for 19 of the last 20 years, and it leaves a big hole when they go. Each one is so unique yet they all seem to be so happy and loving in their own ways it is no wonder we miss them so.


It surely does. And each one of them are completely different! People don't get that. He was my 4th. I rue the loss of each, to this day. What they had in common was the sweetness, the intelligence, the absolute loyalty to me. I know when I die I will see each of them. That's after I meet my beloved husband Andy. 17 years ago. I don't consider myself schmaltzy. I earnestly know this. God is good.


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## SeaGlass925 (Mar 12, 2020)

What a wonderful dog Copper must have been! I'm sorry you had to lose him so young and unexpectedly. We lost our Madison at the beginning of March from cancer (also very unexpected) and sometimes I wonder why she had to die amid an immensely depressing time in our world's history. Like Copper, Madison would "retrieve" whenever she was happy. She would carry my mom's slipper or one of my old stuffed animals in her mouth and insist that we chase her around the house. Even on the night before she died, when she was clearly sick and lethargic, she mustered up her last bit of strength to grab my stuffed penguin and bring it to us. It made me cry. 

Wishing you the best during this difficult period.


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