Coco

by Chris Wong
(Hong Kong)

My dog Coco

I remember it all, I remember when I first met him. One day after eating dinner in a japanese restaurant with my family, we decided to go for a walk since my sister wanted to take a look at some books in the Dymocks store, just across the street and a left turn. I honestly had no intention doing this since I was in a paced mood to get back home but I decided to roll with it, plug in my earphones and ignore my surroundings. After a long boring hour awaiting my sister to pick up her books in the shop we decide to take a short cut round the back.

As I was just rolling my eyes, listening to the music I spotted a Pet shop right next to me. I was quite suprised of the dogs that were barking like mad as if they were suffering in their cages, pleading to escape. My mother felt sympathy for the dogs from what she saw and we all decided to take a peek. Thats when the tables were turned... As she tried to pat one of them, they threw a claw or a bite but her instant reflexes managed to dodge them. It was until then that she wanted to leave until I saw the dog of my dreams. It was a toy poodle, a gracious looking dog and was just staying silent in his cage, patiently waiting for an owner to buy it. After the suggestion I made we decide to buy him and named it from the fur colour, Coco.

From first looking at it, we knew it was young and fragile. That time it was only 5 months old the owner said and its birthday was in May 8th. We needed to place him in a cage for a few weeks, until her potty training could be a success. The very first thing we wanted our dog to do after it was able to get out of his cage and go around the house was to make it sit. Eventually it worked! But with a lot of help from guides, books etc.

A big issue though was the fact when during dinner, he can sure as hell be one aggressive animal he'd jump onto one of the stools,begging for food on the table but once we try bring him back in the kitchen (where he eats his doggie food) he gives a growl or a roar and bite if you dare try lift or even touch it. Another problem was his health sometimes, when we may have given him some mistaken food and causes him to make small vomits so we just go to a vet and find the problem/ cure for it (usually an injection). Luckily he eventually gets better easily but still doesn't know (as a dog) went wrong. An example was when it was his birthday, we gave him avocado and meat ( trust me he loves them) but a little too much... His birthday is in May 8th.

A major activity/ hobbie he enjoys is to go out for walks. Every morning he's either begging one of us to walk him and gives this face (something like the puppy eyes) that makes him do the trick. Reason probably for this being his hobbie is that he enjoys greeting other dogs (A lot of them in the morning).

I still enjoy every second of him, no matter the way he acts, I can always count on him and make sure his health is in good shape.