Goodbye, dear old friend...

Carrots, sweet potatoes, coffee grounds, roses, a picture of her smiling with a whole package of graham crackers in her teeth, a cross with a collar draped across it, a splash of pond water and her food and water bowls... this is what Copper's grave is covered with...

Before I delve too heavily into our dog's death let me first tell you about her life.  She was a pure-bred Hungarian Vizsla who came from a dog-model mother.  She was supposed to be a seeing-eye dog, but I think she was meant to be our dog.  She was trained not to whine for food and to stay off of the furniture.  Of course, being the L'Allier family, the first thing we did was put her on the backseat of our car and feed her potato chips!  That was the start of our 13-year long relationship with Betty  (yes - we renamed her).

We shared many memories with Copper.  She was the highlight of some of our rained-out pool parties and the pain in our necks when she would kill moles or wake us up at 4:00 in the morning at a campground because she heard another animal.  She was Mom's pride and joy as she would threaten any suspicious-looking strangers who dared come near us children and she would annoy us when she'd wet the floor during every single thunderstorm.  She loved human food.  Her favorites were carrots, sweet potatoes (perhaps the reason(s) she kept her red hair so far into her life) and coffee.  She liked to think she was wild and loved drinking out of the pond.  She would wake you up if she didn't get her Purina first thing in the morning and she loved being outside.  {Mom is convinced Purina is the reason Copper lived 4 years longer than the average Hungarian Vizsla.}

She stopped eating her dog food a few days ago and for the 24 hours preceding her death we let her eat whatever she wanted (hence the lovely present she left us after she died... ew...).  She still got up to greet Nisi (my aunt) this morning when she came with us to the vet.  And as that silly dog lay on mom's lap while being put to sleep she still didn't want to leave us.  She let out a long howl quieted only by her death.  We were all a mess (we even brought the vet to tears!), but it was what was best for her.  I already miss her whining (go figure) and her bad breath.  Well... maybe not her bad breath. :^)

Thank you to everyone who has been and is still praying for us.  And thanks for putting up with Copper and her bizarre ways for the past 13 years!  We're going to miss you, Copper-Betty Marie L'Allier...