The Extraordinary Life of CoCo - From Puppy Mill to Paris Part 3

First of all I must apologize for taking so long to write Part 3 of CoCo's story. There are 2 very good reasons for that. The first one being that my computer and my blog app do not seem to like each other as of December. It has become frustrating to try to figure out how to combat (yes, I mean that!) this difficulty. The format looks very different and it is not as user friendly as it used to be. The second reason is a little white fluffy dog named Gwinnie! She joined our household the Monday after Christmas and is worthy of her own blog post - later. But now back to CoCo! In the year leading up to my move to France there was a flurry of activity as I prepared my house for sale and CoCo for the long flight in a small carrier. I hired a trainer so we could work on her getting comfortable being in a carrier for hours at a time. We had 3 private sessions with her and they were very helpful. Then I started taking CoCo to as many places as I could that were dog-friendly - sometimes keeping her in her carrier and sometimes just carrying her around stores in my arms. The trainer suggested putting her in an agility class as those sessions were good to build confidence and help with command obedience. It just so happened that the training center was going to have agility classes for small breeds and so I signed CoCo up for those. I know why poodles were so popular with circuses in years past. They are not only cute and playful, but they are great athletes and performers. This was another example of CoCo doing things to please me! I'm not sure she was that excited about performing all of those tricks, but she was really good at them and I had a great time!

One of the places where she was welcome was the Garden of the Gods Trading Post. I started taking her there to be around people and to have lunch. On our first four or five visits CoCo shook the entire time, even in my arms. She was so little that I seldom put her on the ground when we were in crowds. I wss afraid she'd get stepped on. Eventually, she came to be quite comfortable being at the Trading Post with me. I always had to warn people that she was not friendly. Most people wanted to pet her, but she was known to bite, so a warning was in order. I also took her on a few car trips and on a few domestic flights to see how she would do in her carrier. I did a lot of reading about flying with dogs and checking with airlines and, of course, with France, to see what their requirements were for transporting dogs. She had to stay in her carrier while on the plane, but it was ok to have her in my lap in the airport waiting areas. She adapted really well!! I read that take off and landing were usually the worst for the dogs in their carriers under the seat because of all the vibrations of being on the tarmac. To help allay that anxiety it was suggested that I unzip the carrier just enough to fit my foot inside to assure her that I was still there and wouldn't let anything happen to her. This seemed to help a lot. She would settle down and stop whimpering as soon as I did that. Depending on the flight crew I was allowed to put her carrier in my lap once at cruising altitude (not all crews on United flights were ok with that, so I always asked.) We made a road trip to visit family in Texas and another one to Albuquerque to apply for my Global Entry pass (the Denver airport didn't have any appointments available in time for me to insure that I would get the pass in plenty of time before I moved to France.) That was her first experience in an airport. I was curious about what airports required when it came to having dogs inside. It was a good learning experience for both of us. It was also good to have her sleeping in a few different hotel rooms on those trips to see how she would do. I always took her bed with us so she understood that we were sleeping in these strange places. While all this was going on with CoCo I was getting my house ready to sell. That meant scraping popcorn ceilings, painting walls, refinishing wood floors, getting rid of most of my earthly possessions, taking things to Good Will, renting a storage unit for those things that I didn't want to get rid of, and eventually putting the house on the market. My days were full. I'm sure CoCo knew something was going on but she was such a little trooper!

The house sold faster than I thought it would and I needed a place to stay for about 2 months before the move! My dearest friend, Stacy, offered me her mom's empty townhouse for as long as I needed it! Such a blessing! So CoCo and I moved out of our big house (which I had lived in for over 40 years!) and into a place that CoCo had never seen before. Once again, she was such a good girl! She seemed to realize that if my luggage was there and her bed was there then she was safe. There was no yard, just a small back patio area, so we got used to sitting on the front porch with her on a long lead so she could enjoy the grass and do her thing. She was always really good at going potty on cue! If I was gone, she was so good about staying in the townhouse and watching for my return.

I had to get her into the vet for a certificate of international travel. It stated that all of her shots were up-t-date and she was healthy. Then I had to make an appointment at the USDA office in Denver so they could certify that the vet was a licensed vet in the US and then I received another certificate from the USDA that would be recognized at customs once I landed in France. For a fee, of course! And all of that had to be done withing 10 days of our international flights. After many months of preparation we were ready to go. I had two large suitcases, a backpack and CoCo in her carrier. I had sent a couple of boxes ahead of me to my rental cottage in France. I was soon to find out how blessed I was with the friendship of my landlords! Cindy came four days before my departure. During those days I sold my car, had one last visit to the zoo, had my going away party at the Stroup's house and did final packing. Cindy, CoCo and I stayed our final night in a hotel close to the airport as I had an early morning flight. Andy met us at the airport so he and Cindy could see us off. I was so excited I didn't have time to be sad at leaving the two people I love most in the world! Somehow having CoCo with me helped the transition on this epic lifetime journey on which we were embarking. Goodbye USA and bonjour France! I guess I'll need one more blog post to actually get CoCo to France and eventually to Paris! Until then, thank you for joining me on this written memoire. Part 4 coming soon!