"Coco Was the Best Surprise of My Life"

Kate and Coco's Story

Dear Ken and Nancy,

I want to start by thanking you for your podcast and book—after losing my dog Coco unexpectedly in December, I was desperately seeking any resources that could help me process my grief. Hearing others’ stories and your insights has helped tremendously.

Coco was the best surprise of my life. Like the Rolling Stones’ lyric, “You can’t always get what you want, so get what you need,” she taught me things and completed me in a way I didn’t know I was searching for when I began the process of adopting a dog. I grew up with a beagle, so when I was ready to have my first dog as an adult, I naturally gravitated toward that breed. After seeing that a female beagle puppy was available for adoption at a local shelter, I submitted an application. The puppy was adopted by someone else during my approval process, but the shelter sent a photo of a 2 or 3-year-old puggle they had just rescued from a kill shelter overflow in another state. It was love at first sight and I asked if I could pick her up the next day.

Coco took to her new name right away and always wanted to be by my side. The shelter had told me she didn’t really like to play, but after a few days she was bringing me the toys I had bought for her—she just needed a loving home for her personality to fully emerge. And from that point, playing multiple times a day was part of our daily routine. Just over a year after adopting Coco, I decided to go freelance full-time and work from home. Our bond grew even stronger as she was by my side all day, every day. Weekends were her favorite because it meant extra play time and longer walks, but Coco did not like Mondays and would sometimes stay in bed after I got up.

Not long after we brought her home, Coco had a seizure. We spoke with the vet and learned some breeds were simply prone to them, and opted for a prescription food that would help to minimize their frequency. It was my instinct to hold and comfort her whenever a seizure would start, but I never knew if I was helping or not. One afternoon, after a long day of unpacking in our new house, I was lying down on the sofa, and Coco was in her favorite spot, curled up on the back couch cushions. Suddenly, she jumped down and nestled against me. A moment later, she started seizing. From then on, she continued to get my attention anytime she could feel one coming on so I could hold her and talk her through it.

Coco was also extremely reactive to other dogs in the beginning. Even a dog on the other side of the street would set her off. Her face had some scarring, so it was easy to deduce her reactive behavior was a result of being attacked. Thankfully, I found a wonderful trainer who helped me to show Coco through body language that she was safe with me. We slowly worked our way up to interacting with mellow, nonreactive dogs, and I’m happy to report that in the last two years of Coco’s life, she was able to make friends. I will never forget the first time she approached another dog wagging her tail and how my heart was bursting watching them sniff each other.

That same trainer suggested I get a dog dna test for Coco, which  revealed that Coco’s parents were a puggle and a chiweenie. My theory is that she and her siblings were oopsie babies at a breeder. She was the best of those four breeds and one of a kind.