Love at First Bark

May 16, 2020

There she was, strolling down the dirt path coming our way for the first contact, first sniff, first pat. She had a yellowish harness and pink collar and seemed all happy to go for a walk. Little did she know that would be her last day at the sanctuary.

Coco is her name, like the film, and just like it, she is loved by us all, and I hope she gets to remember the good moments she may have had during the first years of her life.

She suddenly stopped her stroll to make an acquaintance. It was the horse. She’s definitely not a horse ‘person’, or should I say ‘dog’. Lucky for her, we don’t own a horse or a squirrel. At that moment, she didn’t care if she was going for a run or meet possible new owners; her focused was on the horse, and she had to call it out and bark her lungs out to show it who was the boss.

It all actually only lasted a few seconds, but in dog years, that must have been a lifetime, I wonder! That’s precisely when I fell in love with her, on that very instant. I had tears in my eyes already from watching that small Jack Russell, and I already knew she was our perfect match.

The adoption happened during the lockdown in London. I live with my sister, and we had been looking for a furry friend for a few months, but because we live in a small flat with no garden, it was a difficult task. Usually, the shelters require a good, safe space for the rescues as many have traumas and need their own quiet little area. We were frustrated as we knew the number of stray dogs was only increasing with the pandemic. We wanted to help and adopt a new family member.

From London to Oxfordshire

We’ve never imagined that a sanctuary all the way in Oxfordshire would select us to keep Coco. After a long journey, we finally arrived and couldn’t be more delighted to meet that precious little rascal. With lockdown in place, we waited outside and didn’t get the chance to see her home and her furry friends. The lady who brought her was very friendly and told us a bit about Coco before starting our walk. We stay all together for an hour, I’d say, and the lady said the was very pleased with us and the way we seemed to care for Coco.

I was so sad to leave her but was hopeful of receiving a call with good news after our departure. And so it happened, only a few hours after we left, they told us they wanted us to be Coco’s new guardians, and they would be more than happy to bring her all the way to London to our flat. The following day couldn’t come any faster. Suddenly, there she was, ready to go live with us and have a brand new life.

The first couple of hours she spent running around the flat, sniffing and finding her way through the furniture, bed, toys and training pads. I think I spent that entire week not believing I actually had a dog. We waited so long and were almost giving up on the search when it all happened.

Adopting a dog is one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve ever experienced. It’s pure love, unconditional love. I got to stay with her the entire day, every single day, due to the lockdown. It was wonderful to get used to her and create a bond; she is an incredible dog, our little companion and such a happy, lovely pooch.

Coco Love

We don’t know Coco’s history as the sanctuary rescued her as a stray. Still, we always wondered if she ever suffered any abuse or was perhaps bitten by a dog as she seems pretty scared and a bit reactive towards them. I guess we will never know unless Coco starts speaking to us, which wouldn’t surprise me at all; she learned Portuguese very quickly and is a bilingual dog now.

She is free to go anywhere in the flat and does very well with the training pads. She has so much energy I wonder how it all fits in her tiny body. She loves a tennis ball and got really good at catching it. Right now, I'm training her because she has developed severe separation anxiety; whenever we leave the flat, we come back to a proper poo party. Hopefully, she will get better and be a more relaxed yoga dog with time.

She is one of the best things that happened to us, and life without her is unimaginable. The film ‘Coco’ is all about love and family values. The character ‘Mama Coco’ is depicted as always being surrounded by those who love her. She’s never forgotten about her parents, even at old age. What a perfect name for our pooch, only I believe our Coco has completely changed the meaning to the word ‘family’.