Paws on my heart

Thirteen and half years ago she walked into my life at a rescue organization that I was volunteering with.  She was a pathetic excuse for a chocolate Labrador and if truth be told she resembled a chocolate Weimeriner.  She trembled with each step into the shelter and it was obvious this wasn't her idea.  It was near the end of the day and her owners told us that they needed to give her up.  They had adopted her two weeks earlier and has named her Cocoa.  Real creative I know, but the long and short of it was that she just didn't get along with their much older dog.   If we didn't take her in they were going to drop her off at the local shelter that evening.  My heart broke for the obviously scared dog, but there were no current open foster homes so the director was preparing to send them away.  I temporarily lost my senses and phoned my parents about fostering this dog.  Their immediate answer was an unwavering NO, but I pushed the issue.  Begging and pleading...pleading and begging.  Miraculously my dad gave in on the one condition that this whole thing was only temporary.  I assured him the last thing I wanted to do was adopt this pathetic sad creature.  Two weeks into fostering and the entire family had fallen in love.  Koko was home and she had a new name.  My dad took to calling her Koko Puffs after the cereal.  Seeing as I was at his mercy for keeping her I went along with the name and came to love it.  She was my puffy, my puffkins, my honey girl Koko.  For the next 13years ago she was my best friend, my constant companion.  Thru thick and thin she was always there for me.   She was by my side for a marriage that brought me to a brand new city-Las Vegas, she become the watch dog of my first born son, she saw me through a gut wrenching divorce and custody battle, and a new relationship in a new town that led to a new marriage.   She was a constant in the newly formed Johnson household.  She was there for the addition of four new babies and for the move into a new home.  And finally she was there for the biggest adventure of all our lives...a cross country move.  She was an old lady, but a very healthy one at that.   There was no reason to believe that she wouldn't do well with the trip.   Unfortunately her old bones did not deal well with the upheaval of the household and her health took a nose dive during the travel between coasts. She arrived very much worse for the wear despite having been in the awesome more then capable hands of my stepson.  I believe at first that she would come out of this funk when she saw me  and for a little bit she attempted to get back to normal. She ate her breakfast and almost seemed to be rebounding.  But it was a short lived effort and by that evening she was weary and lethargic.  She could barely walk.  That night at the end of day one I slept by her side in my parents cottage.  I fully expected her to surcomb to age and illness that night, but she hung on.  In the morning she was even more lethargic, was still unable to stand and was breathing heavily so I made the decision to help her move on to the rainbow bridge. It's a decision that no animal lover wants to make, but one that is compassionate and loving.  Koko wasn't going to let me down by leaving.   We'd been through way too much.  I had to give her permission to let go.

I miss her so much every day.
Even 8 months later my eyes still fill with tears at losing my best friend Koko Puff.
Koko Puffy 12/1999- 06/2014

8years later and my heart still Hurts at her loss. My Puff❤️