It's a Dog's Life by Coco: From Thrown Away Pup to Wonderdog

By Shirley Price

Living on a farm in a remote area of Costa Rica, a little dog writes letters to Granny Gringo in hopes of getting some advice on how to cope with her problems. There are so many animals to deal with and Coco thinks she is the "boss" of Mom and Poppy's Farm. The bulls kick at her, the cat tries to move in the house, new puppies show up, and the chickens seem to be taking over the farm. Full of humor and love, "It's A Dog's Life, by Coco" will keep you laughing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 6, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477281901

Shirley Price

Shirley Price is one of the world’s leading aromatherapists and author of the best-selling ‘Practical Aromatherapy’.

Book preview

CHARACTERS IN THE STORY

• Coco—aka Coco the Wonder Dog (We wonder what she will get into next) aka The Queen, Nonobaddog, and Blanket addict

• Mom and Poppy—Coco’s Humans

• Granny—(aka Granny Gringo, GeeGee) Coco’s mom’s mom

• Grandpa Gringo—Married to Granny

• Windsor—City cousin, aka Official Farm Dog

• Uncle Phil and Aunt Peggy—Windsor’s humans

• Oro The Cat—Coco’s best friend on the farm

• Uncle Nine and Aunt Blackmouth—Poppy’s hunting dogs that came from Florida

• Curly and Ringo—Blackmouth’s puppies

• Poncho and Cisco (not Crisco)—Uncle Nine’s puppies

• Buddy—Male black dog—don’t know where he came from

• Happy Dog—Found her starving, she was so Happy to eat everyday

• Neron and Pantera (means panther)—Mutts someone left in our driveway and we adopted them

• Bulls (big ones)—Dangerous, be careful

• Baby bulls (little ones)—Coco’s pals, they like to play chase

• Cows—No fun at all, but some of them make good milk

• Lizards—Enemy of the dogs

• Roosters—Make noise in the morning and Coco pulls out their tail feathers (when no one is looking)

• Chickens and baby chicks—Coco is not allowed to pull tail feathers

• Mice—Make chomping noises in the rafters of the house and they are disgusting

• Rats—Look like big mice, but they live in the barn

• Skunks—Stay far away, they can spray BAD perfume on dogs

• Bozo—Dumb hunting dog somebody gave to Poppy

TIME LINE—STARTING

IN COSTA RICA

June 1997—Coco adopted Mom & Poppy and moved in with them

March 1998—We moved from our rented cabin to the 250 acre rundown farm

July 2004—We moved from our farm in Costa Rica to Florida

July 2006—We moved from Florida to Georgia

February 18, 2009—GeeGee moved from Florida to Heaven—We all miss her a lot, but we know she is busy getting the welcome party ready for the rest of us

FYI—There ARE dogs in Heaven, GeeGee’s angel came and told Coco

ONE

Giving Thanks—January 1999

Dear Granny Gringo, (gringos are people from the United States) I never have met you in person but Mom always talks about you and tells me what a wonderful mother you are. I figured if you are her Mom then you are my Granny. Let me introduce myself; Coco The Wonderdog here in the boondocks of Costa Rica. I do have some problems I feel like I need to get some advice from you, being as you’re a human, but we can talk about that later. First I wanted to share with you some of the reasons I am VERY thankful. There are always lots of things to give thanks for, but sometimes we’re (humans especially) too busy worrying about what we don’t have, instead of appreciating what we do have. This morning Mom said, Let’s just relax and give thanks for some of the things we take for granted every day, or maybe small things we don’t notice.

Do you know what we did? Well, the best place in the world to relax is in the hammock. So, Mom picked me up and we both lay down in the soft hammock and rested as it was gently swinging back and forth. While we were quiet we could hear all the different bird sounds, and watch them flying around from tree to tree. There were flocks of parrots with lots of bright colors in their feathers. They would come and eat berries out of the tree by the back door. I like the funny looking toucans with their huge beaks. They make funny sounds like some kind of croaking tree frog. One little bird that had bright yellow feathers sat on the barbed wire fence for a long time singing pretty bird songs. We enjoyed the tiny humming bird that sounded like he had a little motor as he buzzed from flower to flower. Every now and then he would come really close and it was as if he was telling us good morning, and he didn’t even seem scared of us. We could even hear the chickens down in the barn making soft clucking noises as they scratched for bugs and got ready to lay their eggs in the chicken house.

Then, we felt the soft cool breeze of the early morning and the warmth of the sunshine coming in on the back porch as we lay there real still, listening and watching.

Poppy’s big dogs were coming down the driveway. They go every morning and chase whatever they can find; coyote, rabbit, squirrel, foxes, or lizards. When they get tired they come back and stretch out in the sun to nap. If it’s raining they get on the porch and curl up on a rug. Uncle Nine likes to get into the clothes basket if Mom leaves it on the porch, but if she is using it, he will climb into his cardboard box. The box is almost too small for him, but he doesn’t care. He’s thankful he has a box with a blanket.

We looked out across the farm and gave thanks for all the fresh green grass for our baby bulls to eat and the water in the streams from the afternoon rains. We gave thanks for the fluffy white clouds that we could see in the valley down below and for the big black clouds coming up over the mountains on the north side of the farm, because they will bring the life giving rain for the grass and plants and trees.

We gave thanks for the stillness of the moment and that we could have this special time to appreciate ALL OF GOD’S CREATION.

The Bible says, Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

For His mercy endures forever. Psalm 118:1

TWO

Humans Are Hard To Train

Dear Granny, having a human is a big responsibility. They are so hard to train. When I showed up at Mom and Poppy’s back door last year I knew it was going to be a good place to live but I didn’t realize how long it would take to get them trained. I can tell when Mom is going to ride in the truck and I try to tell her that I would like to go. I know she is getting ready to go when she starts to put on her shoes. Sooo, I wag my tail and try to climb up in her lap and lick her face; this is the signal for pleeease let me go too! Then I jump up and down, up and down, UP AND DOWN. When she stands up with the truck keys in her hand, I make the very saddest eyes that I know how, and what happens? She puts me on a chain outside the house and drives away leaving me sitting on the porch, again. Oro the cat laughs at me every time that happens.

I have to admit she seems to be catching on because of my persistence. She has been taking me along more often, so I reward her with dog kisses. I found that humans need to be rewarded when they do something good, to reinforce the proper behavior.

There are some other habits that Mom needs to change, such as the small item of the cat getting fresh milk on HIS food, and man’s best friend is suppose to eat dry dog food? GAG! Mom seems to be having trouble understanding that certainly a smart dog like me is much more worthy of getting that milk than a cat that runs off every night, leaving me to guard the humans all by myself. Oro says he is hunting mice all night but he never brings one home, so I’m thinking he is off romancing that white fluffy cat that lives down the road.

I do have Mom trained to let me sit with her in that nice soft stuffed chair in the living room, AND I’m allowed to sleep in it all night. In that chair I have the cutest little pillow that Aunt Peggy sent and I just love that thing, it is so soft. It sure feels good to lay my little head on it at the end of a hard days work on the farm.

Now, there is the matter of Poppy. Talk about hard to train, when I make sad eyes at him he says, No, do not sit in my chair! He says that Do Not part real loud. Not only that, but Poppy won’t take me for a ride in his truck unless I take Mom along with us. I know they are doing the best they can, so I try to be patient with them. Granny, you probably wouldn’t be so difficult to train.

Lots of love from your Granddog, Coco XOXOXO (Oro too!)

THREE

Happy New Year—January 1, 1999

Dear Granny Gringo, so far I’ve been good this whole year. I’ve been helping Poppy and I am getting really good at rounding up the bulls. When I bark and run around them, they try to kick me, but I’m so low to the ground that they miss me every time. I run back and forth and bark until finally they get the idea that I am trying to move them into the corral. Sometimes they will stop, lower their big heads and say, Just tell us which way you want us to go. Poppy wouldn’t think I was earning my keep if it looked too