Jocko has a long and loving story, that sadly will be coming to an end shortly. I’m crying my eyes out as I type, but I want someone besides my family to know how special our little boy was. He was the joy that came out of dark times.
I bought Jocko from our local shelter 10 years ago using the “inheritance” money I received when my grandpa died. I wanted a dog so bad, but my dad was very adamant that we were not getting another dog (at the time, we had one dog already). But of course, when you walk into a shelter, there’s no way you’re leaving without falling in love.
My dad found something wrong with every dog until we saw Jocko (who was at the time named Cotton). He was skinny, thin haired, covered in fleas, and had terrible dandruff. But the moment I saw him I just knew. Through all the fleas and dandruff was the cutest, most love-able dog in the world.
The shelter believed he was some sort of Pomeranian mix. He always looked like a little black fox to us. We were able to go sit in his kennel room with him, and he immediately came right up to me, let me pick him up, and fell asleep in my arms like a baby. Even my dad couldn’t argue against that.
So after he was vaccinated we were able to bring him home. When we took him to the vet to get his skin problem helped, even the vet said that he was one of the cutest dogs he had ever seen. Jocko was my best friend growing up. He was MY dog, but he loved all of my family. And as I grew up and became more independent, Jocko started to love everyone equally. But after my dad was diagnosed with cancer, that’s when Jocko really became my dad’s dog.
Jocko was always so good at telling when someone didn’t feel good, and made sure to give them lots of snuggles and kisses to help. My dad had lots of health problems over the years, and Jocko was always right by his side. Jocko eventually went blind, and my dad would joke that he was Jocko’s “Seeing-eye Todd”. He always bumps into walls, but even when he boops his own nose, he always has a goofy grin on his face as if telling us “oops!” and we can’t help but laugh.
Now that my dad has recovered from his health issues (and is now cancer free), he takes Jocko to work and everywhere else with him. Jocko loves car rides, and is the best little passenger. He even has his own little bed in the truck. My parents like to keep me updated with my little boy now that I am married and have moved out, and they text me cute pictures of him all the time. He still looks like the cute little boy we adopted 10 years ago, just with a little more grey around his muzzle.
Jocko has really started to slow down recently, and the pictures are more and more frequent. I’ll spare you the heart breaking details of his decline. We hate having to acknowledge that his time has come, so we’re holding on to every last moment we have with him. I hope that this is comprehensible, I was having a very hard time writing all this out. I know you will appreciate his story though. Jocko was the best little boy in the whole world, and he will always live in our hearts and memories.
As much as it breaks my heart, we had to put him down two days after I sent in my submission. My dad and I didn’t work those two days, so we spent every last second holding him and petting him and telling him how he was the best little boy in the whole world. We’ve had more than our fair share of death and sickness through the years, but there’s something different about being in the room when it happens. I know that’s terrible and morbid, but it’s true. He had his family with him until the very end, as it should be.
My submission is essentially the most condensed version of the 10 years of love we had with Jocko, and I feel like if I added anything more I would have to write a book to include everything. In the pictures though I am including a letter that I wrote to the humane society soon after we adopted him.
I’m sorry for this wall of text, I’m just so happy that you guys saw just how amazing and special our Jocko was. I am so thankful for both you and Ashley for having an amazing podcast, and shining a spotlight on the best dogs out there as well ♥️