Coco was born on June 4, 1993 and was bought by an elderly lady who eventually knew she could not take care of the lively creature. So we bought Coco when she was 8 weeks old. When we picked her up the lady had put Coco in her bathtub so that she would not have to chase the fiesty little dog around the house when we got there. When I lifted Coco out of the tub she spread her tiny Chihuahua arms straight out in a spread-eagle. She was dark brown with a white belly and a thin white line down her face. Her feet were white and there was a single white hair at the very tip of her tail. That single white hair was still there yesterday morning when I wrapped her in her blanket to bury her.

We bought her a companion, named Blondie, who was born on June 12, 1993. We decided to have two dogs because we had one Chihuahua before that we felt lacked companionship when we went to work. Now we have to help Blondie through a time of grief, or maybe she has to help us through ours.

Coco loved to run around the our backyard and when she did she would drop her big ears behind her head and tear across the yard. She loved to play chase with anyone who would chase her, or anyone who wanted to be chased. She was fast!

Somehow she became ‘daddy’s girl’ and Blondie is still ‘mama’s girl’. Whenever I came home from work she would come to say hello with her tail wagging. I would squat down and she would jump into my arms. When she got older she just stood on her hind legs and let me pick her up. Coco would sleep between my knees, snuggling up to keep warm. Her fur was sleek and thin so she hated being cold. She would always get under the blankets and covers to sleep and then when we went to bed she would crawl between my knees with her head toward my feet. My feet get cold so that was great. Last night, was the first time in fifteen years that I slept in my bed without her right beside me.

I remember the time when we went to White Sands, New Mexico and got them out on the dunes. It was like they knew exactly what to do; they ran and played in the cool sand for a long time—digging, running, and chasing each other and us. Coco and Blondie have traveled across America and have visited over 40 states and seen more than most dogs, which usually are stuck behind a chain-link fence for most of their lives. They have seen the red wood forests of California and the Grand Canyon. They have barked at the elk in Rocky Mountains’ National Park and seen moose and buffalo in Yellowstone. They have barked at bears in the Smokey Mountains and in upstate New York. They have been from Boston to Orlando and from Chicago to LA. They didn’t love every place but they really enjoyed the times we spent together.

About three years after we had the two girls, we found a Chihuahua male lost in our neighborhood. We chased him around the block and finally caught him under a van. He was so scared. We put ads in the paper and poster all around asking for it’s owner to call. We got lots of calls from people willing to take him, but the owner must have dumped him. That was their loss, because ‘Lucky’ has added immense joy to our family. But we had a real tough time getting the girls to adapt to a new member in the family. Once they accepted his presence Lucky and Coco became good friends. By accident we taught Lucky how to sing on command. He still does that today. All you have to do is to either start singing yourself or tell him to ‘Sing Lucky, sing’! Coco would get so excited and she would jump up and yelp. You knew she wanted to sing too, but she never figured out how. She whined and made little sounds but she finally resigned to barking the beat while Lucky sang. Sometimes Lucky would start singing on his own when he saw something outside and Coco would bark right along. They were so cute together. Lucky will have to sing without a beat from now on.

In 1996, my wife and I went on a seven day cruise for our tenth anniversary. Her parents came to stay at our house to keep the dogs. That was really nice of them. When we got back we found that ‘our’ dogs had temporarily forgotten us. They barked at us like we were intruders. We felt kind of solemn about that.  For about two hours they would have nothing to do with us, but then they remembered and Coco slipped back between my knees to sleep that night.

I taught Coco one trick, and that was to rollover and play dead. I would say ‘bang’ and point to her velvet belly and she would roll on her back, tilt her head and paw at the air. I would then rub her belly while she continued to paw the air. Lucky loved to play fetch and Coco tried to play too but Lucky didn’t teach her the rules. We didn’t make the rules for fetching, Lucky did. When they were younger they would play tug-o-war with their toys.

What a joy Coco was. Her middle name was ‘Nught’—Coco Nught like 'coconut'. And she was a nut alright. That is why we eventually nicknamed her Kukee. That is right—the namesake for this blog! Whenever she got scared we would whisper in her ear 'kukee girl, koookeeee' and she would calm down. I adopted the nickname for this blog site because when I express my feelings I calm down.

Three months ago Coco started loosing weight but she was eating the same amount of food. We had all the dogs on a special diet since Blondie had come down with an intestinal problem that almost killed her about a year and a half ago. The vet said it would be fine for all the dogs to eat. So we thought that maybe she needed something more nutritious and we began to feed her regular dog food again. She gained a little and then she stopped gaining. When she started coughing we really got worried and I took her to the Vet. Her ran tests and found that her kidneys were failing and that she would need special care. He put her on the Kidney diet food, gave her some fluids, and sent me home. I cried when I broke the news to my wife, then she began to cry. We knew our time with Coco was going to be short lived. That was Saturday the 12^th of April. That night, her cough was worse and I stayed up all night and morning. I called and told the vet what was happening. He told me to bring her in and he x-rayed her lungs. She had built up fluids from the day before and her little lungs appeared to have some fibrous or fungal growth. He gave her lasix and told us that she had to be feed water every thirty minutes while on this because of her Kidneys and to keep her hydrated. She also began to have frequent short lived seizures. Within two weeks Coco had transformed from a vibrant healthy Chihuahua to a very delicate baby. The lasix and liquids worked; she stopped coughing and began eating again like she was starving, which she was. Then a big thunderstorm came. Coco hated thunder and lighting and they scared her. Her heavy breathing during the storm caused the fluids to build again in her lungs. We fought again to bring her back and finally after two days of sleepless night and tender care she rallied again. She rallied three times and each time her recovery was less pronounced. Saturday, May 10, 2008 she ate a fair amount of food after not eating on Friday. But at 5 PM she began to cough again and I stayed up most of the night. On Mother’s day she seemed to be okay but again by 5 or 6 PM it started again. She was breathing short shallow quick breaths. My poor little Coco struggled to breathe all night. I held her for hours and thought several times that she was gone, but then she would start huffing again. I finally got her to sleep for about an hour by rubbing her shoulders. She loved being rubbed on her shoulders. She would close her eyes and drift off into sleep. She had difficulty breathing while she was laying down so she would rise on her front paws with all the energy she could muster.

By 6 AM Monday, she was still struggling to breathe. I had a 7 AM appointment. Me and Coco were both tired. I woke my wife and told her that I would be back from the appointment and we would take Coco to the Vet to see what we were doing wrong and if nothing, then we would put her down. We cried and hugged. I left for about an hour. When I got home Coco was gone. My wife and I cried for a long time. My wife told me that Coco was resting then bolted up like she had to go out side. My wife carried her outside and set her down. Coco collapsed in a seizure. My wife held her little boney body while she peed, then picker her limp body and put her back in her bed. Coco’s struggle was over, she now rests peacefully. She is running fast again chasing whoever will play. And that would be Skippy, my first collie; Snowflake, my second dog—a Spitz; and Bonita my wife’s Chihuahua she had when we got married. I went to the backyard where she loved to run and dug a hole in our decorative garden. I searched for a place then saw a rock that would mark her grave and began digging. My wife bought an iron garden heart to remind us of the love Coco gave to us.

In remembrance of these joyful, forgiving, loyal, unconditional-loving creatures that God has graced us with. Goodbye my precious Kukee. Hope to see you when God makes all things new, including you!