This is Copper. He’s my dog. Actually he’s my granddog. He belongs to my oldest daughter, who lives out of state in a place that doesn’t allow dogs. So Copper is staying with me until sometime next year, when he can join my daughter’s daily life.

Copper is two years old. He’ll be three in January. He’s lived with me since he was about nine weeks old. He’s purebred, Mississippi born and Florida raised. He’s smart. Real smart. Well educated, with lots of classes and diplomas under his belt — er, collar. He’s chipped, snipped, groomed, and click trained. He has a crate and knows how to “tuck in.” He loves agility courses, homework, peanut butter, and old females. Two-legged and four-legged varieties.

I’ve had pets before, pets I’ve really loved their whole lives, from hello to goodbye. Copper takes “life with a pet” to a whole new level. In short, pretty much everything I need to know, he has managed to teach me.

This 31-day series started out as 31 things I thought of to share from my own life experience. Write what you know, right? Or at least what you’d like to know. But in the end, as I related yet another Copper story to my daughter, she shrugged and said, “There’s your blog.” And she pointed to the giant golden puddle of dog sprawled on her feet.

So forget about any pearls of wisdom I may or may not have gleaned from a non-traditional life. With Copper, it’s all about The Golden Rules.