Where Are They Now? A Hoarding Case Re-Visited, Part Three. The Story of "Coco Loco"

Exactly two years ago, HSTJ responded to a hoarding case, a man was found to be hoarding 157 dogs in two locations of Tijuana. (a link to the article is below). As a result of mass publicity and the help of rescue groups, 80% of these animals were adopted out. However, the conditions of the animals that remained were horrible. HSTJ arrived to conduct a street clinic on these remaining animals, but as volunteers started processing the animals and treating them, we slowly realized that we could not just leave them there, we had to do something. Within an hour, we had found a property where we could temporarily house the remaining dogs, a huge undertaking for an organization of such meager resources, but the volunteers were strong, resourceful and determined. I don't think we realized how much work would have to be put into this project but in the end it was well worth the blood, sweat and tears.



Read the full story here

http://friendsofhumanesocietydetijuana.blogspot.com/2009/02/hstj-responds-to-needs-of-animals-of.html

I have decided to re-visit this story and follow up with as many of the owners of the rescued hoarding dogs, so that their amazing stories can be shared and live on forever.

***********************************************************************

What Coco has Taught me About Life, Love, Trust and Second Chances

Coco came into our lives in April, 2009 and we and she have not been the same since. She was involved in an animal hoarding case in Tijuana, Mexico. Well, she was more than involved, she was a victim. A True, blue, victim as you can see from the picture above. I have not seen this picture in a year and a half since we've had her and it brings tears to my eyes. Looking at it more often throughout her rehabilitation would have helped my frustrations. Alas, it is an ongoing process and one I am honored to share with Coco.

A wonderful, angelic, grass roots organization called Friends of Humane Society Tijuana, heard about this Mexican director who had property and was snatching dogs from the cold, rough streets of Mexico along with dogs that might have actually been considered someones “pet”. He was indiscriminate in the dogs he took and brought to his hellish property where they were left to defend for themselves with the occasional deposit of food they were forced to fight over. I heard there were a couple properties of large numbers of dogs, one with 100+ and all the horrors one would expect from such a desperate and deplorable situation.

I was newly married for the first time at the age of 37 with my own black Labrador I have had since a puppy. My new husband, Michael, and I rented a 4 bedroom house in Carlsbad, CA with a large fenced in back yard. I was instantly the full time step-Mother of two teenage boys and things were quite chaotic. That's about the time Coco entered our lives.

We were just going to foster her and take her to adoption events to find her a furever home. The first night we had her, she ran out the front door and hid under a neighbor's car. She trusted no one. She would not let me or anyone else pick her up. She would growl and snarl and try to get out of your arms and 35 lbs of feisty dog is a lot to handle. Nevertheless, I was able to get her into my bathtub and give her what closely resembled a bath, at least to get the worst grime and dirt off of her. My youngest stepson, Brandon, was able to convince her to come out from under the neighbor's car and she followed him inside our house and really took to him.

I decided she would sleep in his room while she adjusted to life in a home. She jumped up on our dining room table on day 2 while exploring her new digs! She was wild for sure and had no idea what it was like to have grass and consistent food and shelter. She would go into a frenzied state when I brought out the food bowls. She competed with Bali for attention and even snapped and tried to bite her once or twice. I put her outside and made it clear Bali had seniority and she was not in charge. It seems as if she was so used to competing with other dogs for everything she had she didn't understand that food and love were not really limited resources here in this new world she had found herself in suddenly. She was used to living in fear and pain and didn't quite understand that she didn't have to have that here in this life. We took her to get her groomed, but the groomer called us after 10 minutes to come back and get her. I asked if she could just muzzle her and the groomer was insistent that even with a muzzle, she was unable to groom her. Coco just didn't trust anyone at all.

 The one thing Coco fell in love and bonded with made us realize she must have known how to be a pet at some time in the past. We got her tennis balls which she chased and retrieved, but the day we brought home the tennis Kong squeaker ball was the day her life changed for the better. She fell in love with that ball and would roll her entire body over and over it to get her scent on it. She would then get up in the morning and sniff all the tennis balls in the yard, ultimately finding her beloved squeaker ball by sniffing it out. She slept with the ball, carried it in her mouth and chased it until exhaustion. As long as Coco has her squeaker ball she is happy and content.

Brandon and I took her to a couple of adoption events. She got a little attention but no takers. She was becoming increasingly attached to us and was getting more and more comfortable with her surroundings. She was pretty much house trained from the beginning although there were a few accidents. She will still go on the back patio sometimes instead of the grass. She just wasn't used to grass. Coco eventually decided she had a job to do in our house and took it very seriously. She was going to be the front door watchdog. She started sleeping in front of the front door at night instead of with Brandon. I put her bed in her spot in front of the door and that has been her favorite spot since.

Coco is a tough girl. After deciding that she was our “watchdog” she started chasing after everything and anything that sounded like an immediate threat. This is especially pervasive when she and I are at home alone together without the boys. UPS truck, FEDEX, gardeners etc. she had no tolerance for anything that she perceived as dangerous to her pack or palace. I ended up getting a shock collar that had 10 levels and a buzzer. I would press the shock button on level 4 when she would give chase and would release as soon as she turned and responded to my call to come back to me. She then no longer needed the shock and would respond to the sound of the buzzer on the collar knowing she was on notice. I haven’t used it in quite a while but need to put it on her intermittently when she starts to chase people and dogs walking down the street.

Coco loved her little bolster doggie bed. She first had a zebra striped one for her spot in front of the front door and then I got her giraffe print one for outside our bedroom where she liked to lay. She luxuriated in the zebra striped one for many months. Then she would try and get on the couch and I would push her off.

Finally I stopped making her get off of the couch and got a doggie cover for it. Once she became a couch princess a strange and inexplicable new pattern emerged. She refused to sleep in her beloved zebra striped bed. She slept beside it, she slept on the cold tile next to it but she would not even get in it for me to pet her like she used to love. She avoided it like some substandard health care clinic in Tijuana after being treated at Cedars Sinai. I finally put it in the garage and brought down the giraffe print one to see if that was of a higher quality in Coco land. It wasn’t. She was on the couch now, bitches, and she wasn’t going back to anything that even resembled her prior lower socioeconomic status, no matter how comfortable it was. I admire that. A lot of humans go back and forth for a while, not real certain if they deserve it. Coco the dog knew she deserved it and fought and scrapped and endured for it and she wasn’t going to give it up for anything.

Coco let the mobile groomer shave and bathe her as long as I was there to treat her and help hold her. There was only one mobile groomer she liked and she ended up leaving the company so I now shave her down with my own high end clippers. She tolerates baths and loves to swim in the doggie lagoon and retrieve balls.

One day, I was in our neighbor’s driveway chatting and Bali, Coco and Ellwood were hanging out with us. Suddenly, a dog burst out of the front door of the house across the stress from where we were standing and ran straight towards us. The dog didn’t even pause before it jumped on Coco and clamped onto the side of her face. I sprang into action and grabbed the offending dog by its collar and held it almost in the air. It would not let go of Coco until it pulled out a big tuft of fur. The owner came running and got her dog back into her house. Coco was bloody so I scooped her up and my neighbor took us to the Vet. She was so traumatized and the Vet had to anesthetize her to find the wound and clean it. When I came back to get her later that day the Vet said he found two puncture wounds on the side of her face and she didn’t require stitches or drains thank goodness. He said she hated everyone there and was going to have me get her out of her kennel. I found her in her kennel with the cone of shame around her neck looking absolutely miserable. I went into her kennel and she was still groggy from the anesthesia. She growled slightly when I reached out to her. I said “Coco, it’s Mommy” and the instant she recognized me she flew into my arms, so grateful I came back for her. It might just be my perception but I really think she trusts me more and listens and behaves better since that incident. I guess getting your ass kicked and getting rescued by Mom can humble and increase trust at the same time.

Coco taught me, actually reminded me, to believe in myself and to know that I deserve the best and to hold out and fight for it no matter how long it takes or how hard the journey. There is a couch in a palace in Carlsbad with a family who loves and nurtures and supports my growth if I believe that is what I need. Just have to fight for what you know is right, choose your battles carefully, and never, ever give up. When you do find someone who believes in you, just for you, give them time to prove their loyalty. After your instincts tell you they have proven themselves enough for you to give them the generous gift of your trust, be loyal to the end. Protect them and advocate for them. Give them your undying love and devotion because they gave that to you believing in you before you could be the kind of dog that they knew you would be. That is what made you into the beautiful life you live today. Someone saw the light in you and invested and sacrificed to bring out the potential that they see in you. Perhaps they see themselves or the potential for themselves in your disadvantaged life and hope to make themselves or their situation better through you. Or perhaps they just know that your souls were meant to nurture each other and have intersected for the beautiful relationship that has ensued. Your paw to my hand and your soul to mine. We are bonded for life and I am honored to share our lives in this world together my Coco Loco.