Coco

by Linda Wraith
(Seattle, WA)

Coco is a black standard poodle. She was three years old when she fell out of the sky and into my life. Today is is a 15 and a half year old miracle. When she was ten weeks old she was flown from her breeder in California to Redmond, WA where she was expected to be a therapy dog for their autistic son, Blake. It took the family three years to realize that their "therapy dog" dream wasn't going to happen. When she stumbled into my life she was a nervous wreck. Every morning she would double over and wretch. I spent many hours on the floor with her cuddling and saying things like "bye bye nervous pood tum." Eventually, it worked. But Coco came with a lot of baggage. She'd never been socialized and she was dog aggressive. More than once she appeared to be a lawsuit just waiting to happen. Sometimes I would come home from the dog park and cry. But we got through all of that. Once you fall in love with a standard poodle there is no turning back.

That's my story. Thanks for listening.