Coconut

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Original: “She loves to roll on her back and make growling noises as she itches it.  She has done it rolling down the hill and was quite amusing.”

Coconut is a wonderful dog with lots of love, personality, and intelligence.  She comes from a good home in Virginia and was paired with a German Shepherd for a few years.  They initially didn’t get along but that changed over time with regular and routine walking together.  They moved in together and became best buddies and did everything together, working in sync when something was up.    Their time together was to be temporary; the loss of Coconut’s owner and the Shepherd brought this love to rescue.

This beautiful girl has very poor hearing; she appears to not hear lower pitched sounds. Coconut’s loss of hearing was not noticed because she relied on and queued off her Shepherd friend.  Also dormant was Coconut’s stress when left alone.  She wants to be near, or, if not, at least have her people in sight.  The medication for anxiety has really help with her generalized anxiety.  It has also helped that there are other dogs in her foster home.  She will need a companion in her new home. 

She has so much love to give.  She loves snuggle time and will sit in her person’s lap and be a comfort.  She will let her mom pet her as long as she wants and ask for more. She aims to please the people around her and is very excited to be everyone’s friend. When a friend walks in the door, no one will ever be as excited as Coconut.  She loves to be petted and to be the center of attention.

Coconut doesn’t like to go to the bathroom on leash.  She will if she needs to, but she prefers to be off leash.  A fenced in area is perfect for her.  She has had occasional accidents inside if she is not let out frequently enough or is left alone for a long time

Coconut has never lived with cats or other animals in the house.  Initially she chased the ducks and chickens in her foster home, but, after correction, she cared little of them.  She does love to run around the chicken fence to let them know she will round them if called upon.  She is good around children and has never had an issue with them.

Coconut eats anything even vegetables.  She does “spin-aramas” when she is fed in the morning and at night.   She is not possessive of her bowl of food, but will not give up things– bones and food in her mouth– easily and really does not want things taken out of her mouth. She will search for garbage or food on the counter.  If it is left out, she will eat it.  She has a 4-foot vertical jumping range and can easily leap up when people are not around. She loves to chew on a bully stick or peanut butter in the Kong. 

Coconut sleeps in her bed at night but does try to jump into Mom’s bed occasionally.  She follows Mom into the bathroom looking for extra pets and scratches.  She especially likes her ear massages which relaxes her.  Belly scratches are pretty cool, also.

Coconut loves to be outside on or off leash.  On leash, she is very good and will walk right next to her person and rarely pulls.  Off leash, she will run around and explore for hours.  She never goes off too far and always makes sure the person who took her out is close by.  She has a lot of energy even at her young age of 10 and loves to run in a field.  She can be seen “springing” as she runs off in the distance.  She instinctively runs left and right in front of her person hunting for birds, covering as much territory as she can.  She loves to search for birds and other animals and caught her first squirrel earlier this year.  Coco also loves to swim and is very intrigued by water.  A life vest is a good idea as sometimes she doesn’t realize how far she goes and can become tired.  She loves to roll on her back and make growling noises as she itches it.  She has done it rolling down the hill and was quite amusing.

She is very intelligent and picks up tricks and commands with ease.  She is very food driven, so if a treat is involved, she will remember.  She has learned the following commands: “sit” (hand high in the air/face level), “lie down” (point to the ground, moving hand downward direction), “come” (wave toward self), “whoa/stay” (open hand extended to represent stop), and “off” (move arm in sweeping motion).  She currently wears a beep collar with vibration.

Coconut will make a super pet, but she definitely needs a companion or two and a house where she is not left alone for long periods of time.