The Blind Puppy

A young friend recently took care of our dogs (and yes, Kate's cat) while we were away. He fell in love with our sweet black, brown and white cocker spaniel....our blind puppy. Today, sadly, our blind cocker left us for doggie heaven.

Now there is a small freshly dug grave under my bedroom window. My blind cocker is at rest. His grave is near those of Kate's bunnies Flopsey and Grey Bird. There is no marker. I will work on that.

Koko was one of the sweetest dogs I have ever known. He wasn't an inside dog, though sometimes we thought he should have been. When cataracts or some similar malady took his vision, he almost seemed to get happier. His tail was in perpetual motion, wagging anytime anyone was in proximity. He shuffled around our yard and did pretty well finding whatever it was he was looking for. He did occasionally run into a tree or a swing. He adjusted. He overcame.

My husband thinks Drew named Koko. If that is so, Drew must have been barely talking when he did. Drew couldn't have been more than two years old when Koko joined our family. I do know that we spelled the name with K's and actually registered him as Kate's Koko. I also know that today it was Drew, not Kate, awash in tears as he heard the news of Koko's passing.

Koko deserved better than he got from us. As our children grew bigger and our time for pets grew shorter, Koko had to fend for himself much of the time. As the eldest of our canine crew, Koko tried to rule the roost, or should I say rule the kennel, in our little dog kingdom. And for much of the time, he had things under his cocker control. Lately though, I just don't think he felt like being bothered with leadership responsibilities. After all, being in charge is not always everything it is cracked up to be.

We will miss you, Koko. We already do. I hear your dog brothers barking for you. I know they don't understand.

I hope this day you are running and romping and seeing everything you've been missing. But when I think about it, Koko, I am not sure you missed much. I so hope you saw and knew how much we loved you.....