Cocoa Dulce Aquino

We were wine tasting and sharing a picnic during a beautiful summer day. Along came a winery dog and politely sat down beside our table. When a pick up truck parked at a home further down the road this dog got up to leave. It appeared that she must have recently had puppies. We assumed that must be where she lived so we followed her home hoping to see her puppies. The owner let us meet and play with her 12 puppies. They were only 2 weeks old. Cocoa was one of those puppies and when I picked her up and cradled her she wrapped her little legs around my forearm. It felt as though she had chosen me and I fell in love at that moment.The puppies were to young to leave their mama so we arranged to come back at the appropriated time to bring her home. We had her for 16 1/2 years.
We are mushroom foragers. And Cocoa so loved going to the forest with us for our mushrooming adventures. We would dress her up in her orange vest and she would run through the forest back and forth between all of us. She had Australian Shepard in her and it was her instinct to keep track of us as though she was herding us. It was great exercise for her and she would sleep the entire hour+ ride back home. Our motto is “A tired dog is a good dog.” So we kept her busy and well exercised. She wasn’t able to join us for our mushroom adventures the last couple years of her life.
There are so many little things that happen every day that make us miss her. For example, she pre-washed our dishes for us before we put them into the dishwasher. And when we were eating she would politely sit under the table and put a paw gently over our feet to remind us that she was there. She was such a polite little beggar. We miss her and think of her many times daily. She was the best dog.

A donation was made in Cocoa Dulce Aquino's memory and the memorial was created on March 6, 2017.