The origin of Koko Jones

The kids made "vote for Koko" signs to campaign
for us choosing that name for the dog.

Adrianne and Koko enjoy nice weather on the back deck.

The ride home for the yet-to-be-named Koko. She likes the truck.

Last Saturday, we had nothing going on. It was great. No soccer games, nada.

Adrianne said to me in the morning over breakfast (I love making breakfast on Saturday), "You need to run to Office Depot, I would like to go to Tuesday Morning... so let's do that. And then, want to stop by the pound?"

A couple hours later we were in Lawrence, and I kind of forgot about it. Evey went with her grandma, so it was just Adro, Boyd and I in the truck.

We debated stopping, but we had time, so we popped in. Saw my pal Gaus there with his family, his boy and my son are now classmates at Montessori. We entered the kennel...

I thought we were done. I saw a few dogs I liked, but I wasn't going to make any recommendations. It was nice to look. Lots of nice animals there.

Then I said to Adrianne, "See anyone you like?" This was after we had finished the tour, and were standing at the next-to-last dog kennel.

"Yeah, this one!" Adro said. "Will you see if we can get her out?" So I did.

Adrianne fell in love right away. She's a sweetie. Approximately two-years-old, a labrador retriever/beagle mix. Adro liked the dog's demeanor (real mellow) and thought maybe it was a sign that the shelter acquired her on Adrianne's birthday.

The dig was great with Boyd, so I was interested. It's been a year since Snickers died. Felt like the right time to try again.

Koko enjoyed the drive home, and explored the backyard. Our day of no plans turned into a day of sitting in the backyard on a beautiful day, day-drinking, smoking meat, hanging with my sister, surprising Evey and Judy, and watching the dog explore the backyard.

I traveled this week, so I was only around her for a day and a half and then I left. When I returned on Wednesday night, she barked at me when I entered the house — the first time any of us had heard her bark.

We kicked around names for a while, and I kind of think I was the first one to suggest "Cocoa" or "Coco" or "Koko," but I may be wrong. We were sitting on the back deck, enjoying the weather, and we were bouncing around names. Evey really liked Lea (after the princess) but Adrianne and I weren't as excited. There were a few others, I can't even remember them.

She's changed the dynamic in the house, mostly good. Boyd really adores this dog, and Koko allows him to put her in headlocks, to lay with her, etc. Evey's quite fond of the dog as well, and likes taking her for walks. Koko sleeps in Evey's bed at night, which means now Boydee sleeps in Evey's bed at night. There's enough room, and the kids really enjoy this, so we're cool with it. And me and Adrianne get our bed back to ourselves (Boyd oftentimes would come over to snuggle with his mom.)

The dog has chewed up a few items in the house, a couple stuffed animals and one of my old T-shirts. So we've got to be careful what we leave on the floor.

She's only had a few accidents and she doesn't beg for food, or hunt for food under the table. She does not like other dogs, so when we're walking her we keep her separated from other dogs eager to sniff her butt. She has tried to run out the front door a couple times, even though she doesn't know where to go, but we've got to kind of watch her getting out the front.

All in all, she's been a really nice addition to the family.

Welcome Koko Jones!