On Saturday, Coco Puff, our older, mellow, white, big boy, American Pit bull Terrier was adopted after being in our rescue for three years, YAY!!! I’m sure that everyone who reading this post is wondering, well, who adopted Coco? Did he get a home with a nice family where he will have his own dog bed, toys and a forever home with kids and yard? Not exactly, and that’s definitely not any of the types of living situations that would have interested Coco if he could pick and give us his opinion. Sadly, in three years, this great dog never received one application despite being on three adoption sites, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, he was networked, yet no one wanted him. No one wanted him until Errol met Coco Puff. It was love at first site!
Errol is an experienced pit bull owner, who lived with a dog aggressive Male APBT named Petey for 12 years. He rescued Petey after an abusive owner let him go. The two were inseparable until Petey became ill and had to be humanely euthanized. I could see that it was tough for Errol to talk about Petey at our meeting. When I told him that Coco was not exactly cool with male dogs, it sure didn’t compare to the level of aggression he had endured with Petey. In fact, it seemed like Coco was going to be a walk in the park compared to his former dog, literally because that’s where they will be spending the majority of their time, the park. Errol lives outside and Coco is going to be his road dog. I wasn’t hesitant at all about the idea of Coco not having a traditional home, he was going with a great dog owner, with lots of hands on experience with the breed, and a track record of caring for a dog that surpassed most wealthy pit bull owners. I know a lot of stereotypical middle class dog owners who would not spend their life’s savings on their dog, something that Errol did with his last dog. Good dog owners come in a variety of socio-economic, education levels, as well as ethnicities.
Each month, Errol will be entitled to a small stipend to be used for whatever Coco might need. Downtown Dog Rescue will pay for any medical care that Coco might need for the rest of his life. None of this would have been possible without the introduction and support of Cynthia Larkin, a dog trainer and APBT advocate who teaches a free pit bull training class in San Pedro, the same city that Errol and Coco live in. Cynthia met Errol at the shelter orientation class. He told her of his loss of Petey. She was kind and sensitive but eventually asked the question, “Would you consider adopting another pit bull?”. He told her of his living situation and how his life was empty without a canine companion. He went on to tell her that it wouldn’t be fair to anew dog since he was in no financial position to be a responsible owner. Cynthia contacted me and I agreed to help.
In our rescue, Coco was and is the perfect dog for Errol. Saturday was the day when, as Cynthia put it so eloquently, “dreams really do come true.” Coco Puff finally has his home, a long journey from living on a chain at a pallet yard in Pomona. He will be traveling throughout San Pedro, getting to know the community as Errol will introduce Coco as his new dog.
Please consider that not every dog does well in a conventional home or can be trained to do well in a home. Not every dog can be happy and thrive with our chaotic work schedules, often expecting our dogs to think like a humans and understand what we want from them. Separation anxiety and dog on dog aggression are all symptoms of the real problem, we are often not putting our dogs in the right situation even though there is a fluffy dog bed, the best dog treats, and everything that money can buy. What does a dog really want? Often the answer is simply, a life like Coco, seeing new people, new things, walking and stopping to investigate, living as a pack of two 24/7!
