I got the candy girl when I was six weeks old. He wanted a purebred black lab, but there didn’t seem to be any available at the time. I called to respond to an ad for some mixed lab puppies. I went to look at the puppies, but the heart really wasn’t in it. While looking at the puppies, Candy kept climbing on my slippers. I would walk away from her because I still didn’t know which one, if any, I wanted. He continued to follow me and climbed back into my shoes. After several times of moving and her return, I picked her up to take a closer look at her. As I did so, I made the decision to take her home with me. I felt like she chose to be with me.
We made a game of feeding her. His dry food had a variety of colors. He would pick a certain color and give it to her calling it meat, vegetables, and cheese. I was fascinated, like a child, with the game. I fed her piece by piece until she had enough. I gave her canned dog food a few times a week and fed her with a spoon. He loved the attention.
She became my best friend. We play together and we work together. When I was raking leaves or limping from fallen trees on a tarp, she would grab one end of the front and help me drag it to the pile we had to burn. She also helped me when I planted flowers or bulbs. She would run away with the containers or dig up the flowers or bulbs as soon as she buried them in the ground.
He loved going to the neighbors’ houses to see what he could bring home. He brought garbage, dolls, stuffed animals and food. Once the backyard was white with the fiberfill of a huge stuffed animal that he stole and smashed; If you tried to remove it, it would run or swallow it. I learned to sneak up on her if it was something she knew. if swallowed, it can harm it.
Candy loved water, so I got her a baby pool to play in. She loved it and would go in and lie down to cool off on hot summer days. She would sneak down to the creek to get wet and muddy when no one was looking. Sometimes he would bring home a present for Mom. That included rats, mice, and once he brought home a possum. He put the possum in his pool and then came wagging his tail for me to come see. I guess he was making sure she was drowning to death, if not already.
He comes to wake me up at night if he hears some kind of beep or something that doesn’t sound right. Candy is nine years old now. I can’t begin to tell you all the stories about her and our lives together. She is my best friend. I can’t imagine ever losing her.
Coco emerged after we lost Bubba at the age of seven to a brain tumor. He was abandoned at four o’clock and on his way to the kennel. I rescued him and brought him home. It is a completely different story.
Back to Coco. Candy needed a partner again after her six-month grieving period. I was ready to have a new member of the house again. I didn’t think that she, or I, needed to have a puppy to train. We were both getting old for it. Candy needed a slightly older dog, so I searched the internet and searched for shelters, rescue shelters until I found the dog that I thought was perfect for her. It was a lab mix. Her name was Coco. I contacted the rescue shelter and they told me that I had already been adopted. It was very disappointing. I contacted another woman who told me about another rescue shelter. We went to see the dogs available for adoption after they told us they had a mixed breed lab for about a year. At the shelter we were introduced to a young, slightly skinny, male, mixed breed dog. Her name was also Coco. I didn’t realize at the time until Candy thought it was okay, went with us and signed the adoption papers, that it was the same dog that was on the Internet. It seemed like we were supposed to have it.
Coco took all the toys out of the toy box when she was in the house. He played with each and every one of them. He was full of energy and very bossy. I would push Candy out of the way when she tried to get close to us. I wanted all the attention.
We found out about his fear of thunderstorms after the first one that came after bringing him home. We were asleep and I woke up to the sound of a scratch in the bathroom. We have a Hugh garden tub with no frame in the front, just a little edge. He was standing on all fours on top of the tub, shaking all over the place. I can’t even imagine how it got there. I lowered the 73-pound dog and closed the bathroom door. The vet gave us some tranquilizers to calm him down before the storms. I have lost many hours of sleep with him and storms. Coco is extremely intelligent and eager to learn. He is so loving. He will rest his head on my lap and fall asleep soundly. He loves to be kissed.