We had a lot of fun camping with the Holts. A few years after Boomer was born, Tommy and Pam lost their dog Gunner, and they decided to get a puppy. At first, they named him Bo, but this name sounded too much like “No” so they decided to change it, and they called him Copper.
Copper was Boomer’s all-time best buddy. When we drove down to the Holt’s house, when we turned on Hayden Pond Road (about a mile from their street), Boomer would start pacing back and forth in the car, panting. When we pulled up to the house Copper would typically be outside and he would see 
us coming and go absolutely nuts. The two of them would romp around in the yard with great happiness.
Once Boomer got into the house, he would head straight to the bathroom and stick his head into Copper’s dog food bag and go to town until Tommy came in and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled his head out of there. Then he would wander over by Copper’s dog bowl and see if there were any nuggets of food laying around. One time he squeezed his body all the way under the cabinet because he sensed food. We all wondered what he was doing until we heard him crunching on the prize that he found way in the back!
Copper, who was also a male, never quite figured out that Boomer was also male. He spent hours mounting Boomer, much to Boomer’s annoyance.
There were many, many camping trips that Boomer and Copper got to enjoy, but there all-time favorite trip had to be the overnight backpacking trip deep into the woods of the Pemigewasset Wilderness. The picture below shows a tired Copper and Boomer resting after a 5+ mile hike.
After Boomer passed away and we visited the Holts for the first time, Copper paid his respects to Katy and myself. I swear that he seemed to know that Boomer was no longer with us, and it was as though he wanted to comfort us because he felt the same way about Boomer’s passing. Boom was lucky to have such a great pal.
Boom and Cop relaxing at Salisbury Beach Campground, Summer 2009
