Posted on August 10, 2011 by: WayCoolDogs

Coco reminded me of that line in the wonderful movie Seabiscuit – ‘Just because he’s bashed up a bit doesn’t mean he’s no use’.  Seabiscuit went on to be a huge winner in horse racing in the US. Coco’s eyes were full of green guck.  He rasped loudly and painfully through clogged lungs, he was nearly blind, he had a skin condition which produced scabs all over his body and practically all his hair had dropped out. 

His crooked yellow teeth told the story of his advanced age, and he was truly a sorry sight the first day I approached his cage, which was perched on top of another cage, so that Coco was level with my head.  I opened the door and he struggled to his feet and shuffled over to me, and to my surprise, without even a cursory sniff, he felt his way over the lip of the cage and both front feet stepped right out onto my shoulder. 

Thereafter I made time for Coco every day and would usually leave him till last, when I was exhausted from being pulled about by the larger dogs, although each time I passed in front of him it was obvious that he was anxious and worried that I would forget him.   He was plump for a shitsu, and quite heavy, and when I put him down as we got outside to the yard, he tottered a little till he found his balance.  Then he would trot around for a bit, relieve himself several times, and look up at me for the next phase, which was the part both of us liked best.  I would sit on the bench, pull him up beside me and work on him with a damp piece of cotton wool, clearing the matter from all around his old, tired, sad eyes. 

It must have been uncomfortable, but he put up with it like a real trooper, and it was obvious that he felt better afterwards, and as soon as I finished and let go of his face, he would promptly collapse with his head and two front feet on my thigh, and fall asleep.  I let him rest as long as I could because it was only in sleep that his breathing came down to a normal range, and I took the opportunity to gently comb the little fringes of hair that still remained. 

As time passed the hair began to grow back, soft and fine, and with regular care, the guck in his eyes turned from green to brown, which I told myself must be an improvement, and then it got considerably less, till I only needed to wipe his eyes every 3 days or so, and at that it wasn’t a big job.

Coco had been given up by a family who had got him as a puppy, but now had a baby in the house and didn’t want him around the child – a tragic story that I have seen repeated hundreds of times, where a dog who was once a loved member of the family now becomes superfluous, through no fault of his own. 

However, another couple, friends of the original family, had agreed to take him, and he was supposedly just in transition at the shelter.  By and by we learned that they had changed their minds, and he was moved back into the adoption section.  But the brutal truth was that since he was an old dog with a number of problems, there was very little chance that anyone would want him.  

Each day I treated him with extra special care, as if it might be the last, and each day I came timidly to look at his cage to see if he had been put to sleep. 

Then out of the blue a miracle.  An elderly couple came in looking for a small dog, and decided that Coco, even with all his ailments, was exactly the one they wanted.  They live high in the hills, so Coco doesn’t have to suffer in the heat, and the last time I spoke to the lady they were delighted with him and all very happy.
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Guest Post by Cindi Scholefield, a volunteer at the local animal shelter in Kingston, Jamaica. For any donations to Cindi and her dogs, please send to:
Eunice Crompton-Nicholas
c/o
Harry Dufour
9330 Dunhill Drive
Miramar
Florida 33025-3869

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