My Dear Dog Friend

Living in a semi-urban neighborhood has a lot of good news / bad news situations.  Quaint, walkable streets mean that parking is always an issue.  All the things that make the area desirable also make it expensive.  The  proximity of excellent restaurants, cafes, and other foodie havens pose an existential threat to one's dress size.

But one of the almost completely positive (and somewhat unexpected) attributes of city living is dog friends.  For those of us who don't or can't have dogs of our own, a wet nose and friendly set of scratchable ears is can be a bright spot in an otherwise incorrigibly bad day. 

My best dog friend, Coco, was a chocolate lab with a little too much belly who lived at a house at the end of the street.  Sadly, she passed away earlier this week.  It was sudden, and she was much too young.  Knowing how much she was beloved by the neighborhood, her family put out this poster to let us all know what had happened. 

Rather than focusing on how much I will miss her (which is really an inordinate amount given that she wasn't actually my dog), I want to tell a little story about Coco.  

When I was pregnant, it suddenly seemed like everyone else was too--friends, celebrities, even the girl at the coffeeshop.  One day, I walked by Coco's house and saw two roly-poly little brown puppies.  Rather stupidly, my first thought was "Oh look, they got two new dogs."  Yeah, two new dogs that look exactly like their other dog.  What a coincidence! 

It was only after I saw Coco's chewed out nipples (lord, if I'd only known then . . .), that I realized that those were her babies.  One of the puppies found a home quickly, but the other one, whom I nicknamed Baby Boo, stuck around a while, growing into his rambunctious adolescence.  As I grew to house-like proportions, I'd stop by to say hello to the two of them.  After I'd managed to toss away a toy to distract Baby Boo, Coco would climb to the top of the fence, and we'd commune nose to nose, telling mama secrets. 

RIP Coco.  I hope you find a well trafficked street corner in Dog Heaven.