This is Coco and me.
She has been with me for just over twelve years now. I had just lost my Cha Cha when I came across a story about eight newborn puppies who had lost their mommy. They were picked up under a bridge by a shelter called Pets Alive! The agency was warning us that if they could not find these newborns another nursing mom, they might have to be sent away (a nice way of saying euthanized). I was still mourning Cha Cha, but for whatever reason, as the Chinese say, “whether guided by the gods or pushed along by ghosts,” I gave Pets Alive! a call.
“Yes,” they said, “someone did come forward, almost immediately, and the puppies are now with their foster mom. If you’re interested, we can give you her number and go see the pups!”
I was not really “interested,” since I was still mourning Cha Cha, but, whether guided by the gods or pushed along by ghosts, I said, “Yes, I’d like to see them.”
The first puppy that greeted me looked like a German Shepherd baby. Later, when they all appeared on the fenced in porch, I saw that she was the smallest one of the lot. There was another one who looked just like her, but bigger. This foster mom had named them all after fairytales; her own Great Dane (I think it was and I think her name was Tiger) had just finished nursing her own litter, so the foster mom gave her the new babies to nurse! Poor Tiger, lucky pups! The little guy who came to me was Rapunzel, even though her hair was not particularly long, and her brother was Robin Hood. There was also a blond Cinderella, and I don’t remember the rest. All of them, except for Rapunzel and Robin Hood looked entirely different from each other. It was during this trip that I learned that within the same litter, there could be several different “sires.” That appellation was also new to me. I was amused. I was drawn to Rapunzel as she was drawn to me, but I had a previous plan to meet my sister in Florida in two weeks, so I didn’t think I could take her home.
“O, not to worry, she’s a bit young anyway to go home with you yet,” the kind lady said to me as I was about to take my leave and told her the reason why I couldn’t adopt Rapunzel, as I gazed at her longingly. “I’ll keep her for an extra two weeks while you go on your trip. Come get her when you return to Austin.”
That was an offer I couldn’t refuse. The day I came home I asked my friend, Lorraine, to drive me over to the foster mom’s house. There was only one puppy left! It was Rapunzel, and she seemed so happy to see me! (Of course I’m projecting.) I was so grateful to the lovely lady who kept her for me, I invited her to dinner.
“Call me in a few months,” she said, “I’d like to see what she grows into.”
That’s mysterious, I thought, what could she grow into?! That day, I took the lady’s number and left with Rapunzel. Since my friend had so kindly offered to drive me, I could hold onto her all the way home. Indeed, Rapunzel grew into a red haired beauty that looked nothing like a German Shepherd! The vet also fell in love with her immediately, and as we continued our visit, she started guessing at her breed, even though at first, she had written down German Shepherd mix on our first visit. As Rapunzel, now named Coco, after Coco Channel, because she looked so elegant -- I also called her my Super Model – the vet finally said, with that little bump on her head, she has a hound in her, and those pretty feathered ears and bushy tail that tends to hang downward, like a third leg, she must be in part, a Leonberger (which, when I looked it up, is the predecessor to the German Shepherd, which explains her coloring at birth; this explains the foster mother’s mysterious remark when we left her as well). Now that her coloring has changed, it might also suggest a golden retriever is there in the mix.
In the following months, more was revealed and ascertained. It turns out Coco, beautiful as she became, was also a hunter, could have named her Diana if I had known. All in all she killed about fourteen little animals in the backyard before they stopped coming to our yard. My clever teenager said, “word must have spread among the animals that there is a serial killer in our garden so they all stayed a way!” Like her Leonberger forebears, Coco is also an amazing guard dog, although, other than when strangers are at the door, she never barked. When she did bark, not as a warning to us, it was a short and low utterance asking for us to open the door to let her in, after a session in the yard, for example. Anyway, that’s the story of how Rapunzel came to me. Maybe, some day, I will tell you more.
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