10/19/2026
š MEET KOKO SIX MONTHS LATERš
Some dogs arrive ready for us to find them a family.
Others arrive needing us to give them enough time to remember how to be a dog first.
Koko was the latter.
On April 15th, a young mama we called Korraline, then Korra, and somehow eventually Koko š arrived here with her one surviving puppy, Stryker.
Sandra with Rovers Return and Alexis with Feeding Perris Strays had watched this mama and her puppy trying to survive in the hills. They believed she may have originally had an entire litter, although weāll never know for certain. What we did know was that coyotes were in the area, the location was dangerous, and when they were finally caught, Koko had Stryker tucked underneath a rock.
She had kept that baby alive.
And six days after arriving here, I learned exactly how seriously she took that job.
I had set Koko and Stryker up together in a private run in my office. She could have her baby, they were separated from the other dogs, and I even installed a camera so I could make sure she wasnāt stressed.
Day one?
Perfect.
I remember thinking, Wow. She figured this out quickly.
Famous last words š¤Ŗ
On April 21st, I checked the camera and saw Koko standing against the kennel@@ fencing. I told her to get down, she did, and eventually the camera stopped sending notifications.
About an hour later I thought Iād better go check.
Koko had apparently decided my kennel configuration needed remodeling.
She had grabbed the sheet separating her run from the neighboring run and pulled it through so hard that sheād basically accordioned an entire rectangular kennel into some kind of Tetris configuration.
And I couldnāt find Stryker.
For one horrible moment, I genuinely thought something had happened to him underneath all of it.
I tried to get inside to straighten everything out and find him, and Koko made one thing VERY clear:
Do not mess with my baby.
Teeth. Growling. Guarding.
Once I had Stryker safely in my arms and tried moving everyone downstairs, Koko circled me the entire way, nudging me and keeping tabs on exactly what I was doing with her puppy.
She never bit me.
But she absolutely wanted me to understand that she could.
Later, when I gave her a bite stick rather than putting my hands into a situation neither of us needed to escalate, she flattened the damn thing.
Message received, maāam. š
And that was when I realized something important:
I didnāt need Koko to like me.
I didnāt need to win some battle with her.
And I certainly didnāt need her to become āadoptableā on anybody elseās timeline.
I needed her to feel safe.
So Koko and Stryker moved into kennel #4.
Bed. Food. Water. Her baby.
And space.
I stopped asking anything of her beyond peacefully existing alongside me. I fed her. I cared for her. I let her decompress. And unless something was necessary, I kept my hands to myself.
About a week later, we started again.
Thirty foot long line.
Freedom to run.
Nobody approached her. Nobody tried to pet her. Nobody demanded interaction.
She just got to be a dog.
Eventually, I moved Koko and Stryker into the house, into the run near my front door. She could watch me. Watch my dogs. Hear normal life happening around her. When it was potty time, Iād open the door and she and Stryker could go outside together.
And thatās where something started changing.
Koko chose Betty White as her best friend. š
Then she started meeting more dogs.
Then playing.
Then letting that guard down a little more.
Meanwhile, Stryker gave us a scare of his own. He became sick, tested positive for parvo and fought his way through it.
And on June 20th, the tiny puppy Koko had worked so hard to keep alive got exactly what sheād been fighting for all along:
He got his family.
And Koko?
She was okay.
Actually, something remarkable happened.
It was almost as though once Stryker was safe and her job was finally finished, Koko gave herself permission to become somebody other than his protector.
She became her.
Today, Koko is about 18 months old.
She runs with my pack.
She plays.
She comes when I call her.
She sleeps in the barn every night with everyone else.
She and Xena are besties and apparently Koko believes her name may also be Xena because calling one frequently produces both. š
She had a granuloma removed from her nose this summer, followed immediately by her deciding to do something ridiculous and splitting her freshly repaired nose back open.
Roughly $900 worth of veterinary work, and she stood there bloody like Carrie looking completely unbothered while I contemplated putting myself up for adoption.
So yes.
Sheās still Koko. š
But the dog who once wanted nothing from me except please donāt hurt me and donāt touch my baby now absolutely CUSSES ME OUT when I dare go somewhere without her.
If I leave the yard and come back?
I hear about it.
If she thinks sheās being excluded?
I hear about it.
She throws her whole body around when she sees me. She gets excited. She wants to be included.
Sheās happy.
Not managed.
Not simply tolerating life here.
Happy.
Sheās still shy. Her future family needs to understand that. Trust may not happen instantly just because sheās learned to trust me.
But now I know whatās waiting on the other side of that trust.
A goofy, social, playful, loving young dog who wants friends, wants to belong and very much wants to know why the hell you thought you were going somewhere without her. š
Koko didnāt need to be taught how to be a good dog.
She needed enough time to understand that she was finally safe enough to be one.
So no, Koko wasnāt forgotten.
She hasnāt gone six months without an introduction because nobody noticed her.
There was never a deadline hanging over her head.
She didnāt have one week to become adoption ready.
She had however long she needed.
April became May.
May became June.
Summer came and went.
And now itās October.
For almost six months, weāve simply let Koko tell us what she was ready for.
And I think sheās finally telling us something new.
āOkay. Iām ready.ā
So after nearly six monthsā¦
Meet Koko. š
Welcome to Your Love Unleashed, sweet girl.
Weāve known you for a while.
Weāre just really happy the rest of the world finally gets to know you, too. š¾
Video in reels coming next since Fb Hates me .
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