Hey everyone, it's me Cocoa writing to you all with some fantastic news....are you ready? I found my forever home!!! How cool is this, I will have two really nice moms, a sweet, playful 5 year old Goldendoodle sister and a cool bird in my new home. I met my new folks a month or so ago and have visited with them three times. First they came to my foster home to meet me and then foster mom took me over to their house twice so I could meet my new sister dog and make sure I was not afraid of the bird that lives in the house. All went pretty well, I was a little afraid of them at first and did not let them pet me but wagged my tail and stayed in the same room most of the time. I also showed them that I know how to bark and that I am still a pretty shy boy until I get to know you. When I visited at their house, I was relaxed enough to climb up on the couch and to check out the house. 2nd time I was even more relaxed and let them pet me a little and climbed up on their bed to check things out. I even came in the house by myself, which foster mom said was a huge step and I let my new moms feed me treats. According to foster mom, these are all really good signs that I will do ok with my new family. Oh, and I love, love, love my new sister dog. She loves, loves, loves to play and can play hard like me so we are a good match. I really like girl dogs and female people so this is a really good family for me. I will move to my new house in just over a week, as my new family is going on vacation next week. Foster mom will bring me to my new home so she can make sure I am settled in and doing ok.

This week was really fun as I had two visiting foster puppies at my house. Ruby 12-416 and Jewel 12-415 stayed at our house for 4 days. Boy, I sure do love those girls. I played and played and played with them. Ruby really liked to wrestle with me and both Jewel and Ruby loved to play chase with me. We had so much fun....I was sad to see them go back home with their foster mom but I was also tired, boy those girls sure do have a lot of energy. Now I am back to playing with Willow 12-112 and my foster brothers. We love playing in the new snow and running around the yard. The puppies found all the toys I had left in the yard, so now I have a bunch of toys that I thought were lost outside!!

I want to thank Nikki, Sam, Betty, Cooper and Bauer for the sweet Valentine's Day icon on my page. It was so nice of you to think about me and help RAGOM pay for my care. It is because of nice people like you that RAGOM is able to help dogs like me. I have been in foster care for almost one year and had 4 foster homes before I found my forever home. Thanks to everyone at RAGOM for sticking by me and helping me. I will send in an update once I'm in my new home. Thanks for reading about me and following my journey to my home.

Your pal and friend, Cocoa.

Hi everyone, it's me Cocoa sending you an update from my foster home. I had a busy day yesterday. I went to a meet and greet at one of the PetCo stores. Foster mom had me wear a Thundershirt and that made me feel more comfortable. I was still scared and spent an hour or so hiding behind the chairs and people but I did not shake like the last time I went to a meet and greet. Foster mom asked me to come out from behind the chairs and I walked around the store a bit and then hung out in the middle of all the people and dogs. I even took a few treats from strangers and let a few people pet me. I saw a Golden named Cleo that looked just like foster sister Willow and I gave her a kiss. Foster mom thinks Cleo might be Willow's mom as they both came from the same place and she looks a lot like Willow. Foster mom was very happy with how good I behaved and I got a nice chew bone when I got home. I brought a chew bone home for each of my foster brothers and sisters so they would not get jealous over my special treat. I liked wearing my Thundershirt so much that I wore it all the rest of the day and did not want to take if off when I went to bed.....but foster mom took it off as she thought I'd get too warm at night. Well that's all for my big adventure, time to go play with the rest of the gang here at my foster home.

Your pal, Cocoa

Hey everyone, it's me Cocoa sending you an update from my foster home. Everything is going great here and I have settled in nicely. I no longer have to wear a leash unless I am going for a walk or a ride in the car. I come in from outside on my own all the time now, usually I run right in with the rest of the dogs. If I don't come in right away, all foster mom has to do is say "Cocoa, come get a dog cookie" and I come right in!! I love my treats and line up with the rest of the dogs for them. I take them from foster mom without a problem.
My favorite things about my foster home are the dogs!! I love, love, love to play with all the dogs and race around the back yard with them all the time. I also love chewing on sticks (outside) and chewing on antlers, tennis balls and stuffed toys. I especially like to pull the plastic squeaker out of the toys and chew on that. Foster mom does not want me to eat that so she trades me a treat for that piece of plastic or for my antlers when I want to take them outside. I know how to trade without a problem!!
I am getting more comfortable with foster mom. At night I sleep in the bed, sometimes I even snuggle up to her once she is asleep.....especially when it is cooler in the house. I will also stay on the couch when she sits there and a couple of times, I've climbed up on the couch when she is already there. I've rested my head on her arm and on her leg a few times and even gave her a few kisses on the face a couple of times. In the mornings, I love to be petted all over my body, if foster mom is still in bed. I rarely run from her, and have even let her touch me a couple of times when she is standing. I'm ok if I know she is going to touch me, not so much if she just reaches out and pets me.
I've only had one accident in the house and that was when foster mom was not paying attention to me. I bark when I need to go outside and sometimes I bark just to talk.....she thought I was just talking and didn't realize I was telling her I needed to go out. I do stay in my crate when she leaves the house. I am fine with my crate, she always gives me a few yummy treats and I have toys and stuff to chew on plus the other dogs are around to keep me company. I can stay in my crate for an entire work day without a problem. I did not get to go to Goldzilla as foster mom had to volunteer all day and she could not hang on to me and do her other stuff so we all stayed home. I was very happy when foster mom came home as it was a long day for me but she brought treats and tennis balls and the next day we got to have home made frosty paws!!
I am going to my first RAGOM event on Sunday. I will be at the Apple Valley PetCo from noon to 2pm. I will be bringing my foster brother Raven 11-173 with as foster mom thinks I will do better with another dog that I know. Come out and meet me. I am shy at first but I do love people, just takes me a while to warm up to you. I do best with other dogs, so if you have a dog or two that loves to play, a fenced yard so I can run and no kids, I'm the guy for you!! Foster mom said I should also say that I shed less than the typical Golden or Lab as I have a shorter coat and don't require much grooming. Hope to see you all on Sunday.
Your friend, Cocoa, aka Cocoa Puff or Puff the magic dragon.....foster mom likes to give us nicknames!!

Hey everyone it's me Cocoa and I have some big news to share with you all. I've moved to a new foster home that has 4 other dogs!! Thanks to my previous foster family for taking such great care of me and for helping me overcome some of my fears. They felt they had taken me as far as they could and thought a change in environment would help me to grow plus their resident dog really did not want to play with me. My new buddies are Jimmie, a 10.5 year old yellow Lab, Rocco a 5 year old chocolate Lab, Raven a 4 year old Golden Retriever Black Lab mix (adopted from RAGOM) and fellow foster Willow 12-112, who is a 2 year old Golden Retriever. I love all my new pals and I think they all like me too!! The three younger dogs all take turns playing and running with me in the big fenced in yard.....Jimmie does not play as she is older and her hips do not let her run much any more. My favorite new buddy is Willow as she and I both came from commercial breeders and have some fears. Willow loves to play and wrestle so we spend a lot of time together. I think she is my new girl friend!!

Willow is teaching me that humans (foster mom) are not so scary and that I can trust her not to hurt me. I'm still scared of humans for the most part but am curious and want to get pats and attention from them but am just a little too afraid to let them do much with me. I will lick foster mom's hand and feet if she is in bed and I will come up and sniff her but if she reaches out to pet me I move away from her. I don't run away, just move out of her reach. I've let her give me a few treats and will take them from her hand as long as she does not try to make eye contact with me when I take the treats. I also licked yogurt from a spoon so will get close enough to do those things. Foster mom can change out my leash too......I wear a leash 100% of the time so foster mom can get me in the house and move me from room to room if needed. I do not like to come inside so foster mom has to pick up my leash to get me back in the house. I walk fine on a leash so I can go for walks and I ride fine in the car. I do best if I can follow another dog, especially Rocco, so for sure I need at least one other well socialized dog in my forever home.

I am completely house broken, have had zero accidents and will bark when I need to go outside. I love to sleep on the love seat and couch and have gotten on the bed for a little snooze.....not much room on the bed with foster mom and 4 dogs, but I snuggled up with Willow and had enough room to sleep. Otherwise I sleep on a dog bed at night. So far foster mom has not crated me, she just let me hang out in the laundry room and exercise room with Rocco and Willow when she had to go to work. I did fine, nothing destroyed and no accidents.

I like to chew on bones from the butcher shop and play a little fetch with a tennis ball. Foster mom says we will be taking a trip to the vet next week as she wants me to start some medication for my anxiety. I've been in foster care for 5 months or so now and while I've made some good progress, I still need a little bit of help so I am not so afraid of humans. Foster mom says living with me is like the movie Groundhog Day, everyday we start over again with my fears so she is hoping the medication helps me get past that part of my fear. If you are looking for a sweet, lanky, goofy Lab/Golden/Doodle mix boy please contact your placement adviser. I need to live with at least one well socialized dog, no kids under the age of 12 and I need a fenced yard. Foster mom says I'm an easy foster and will make a great companion for some nice person who is willing to help me learn that humans are ok.

More later, need to go run around the back yard with my new friends, your pal Cocoa.

Cocoa is getting more comfortable in foster care. He will crawl up on the chair or couch to lay down. If he is laying down we can go up to him and pet him, at first he tenses up but once he realizes that we will not hurt him he will relax and seems to enjoy our pets and touch. Cocoa is a great guard dog, he will bark when he hears a knock at the door or if he hears someone come home.

Cocoa is more comfortable with foster mom than the other family members. He will come up to FM and lick her hand or toes. But don’t try to go up to him, that is very scary to Cocoa. He will come and take treats from all of our hands, his mouth is very soft when taking treats from us. We do feed him by hand as well, but he is very cautious while doing this. Cocoa enjoys treats in kongs and chewing on Nyla bones.

Being outside is a favorite for Cocoa, he loves running. We do not have a fenced yard, so have him on a long lead. He will occasionally pick up a tennis ball and carry it around, drop it, and may go after it if it is thrown. Cocoa will get spooked by other people, noises, and even himself and will bolt away.

Cocoa is house trained and crate trained. He tolerates being brushed and having his feet wiped. He will let us know when he needs to go outside by ‘talking’ to us. He looks at us and gives a bark, and if we say ‘you need to go outside’ he barks again and goes to the door. He also likes to greet us when we come home, says ‘Hello’ by barking. Cocoa does know his name, we have not been able to work on sit or stay as he is scared if we approach him.

His forever home needs to have a confident dog who is comfortable in the house, children age 10 or older, a fenced yard is preferred, patience and a family that is committed to Cocoa’s continued success.

Cocoa is not a ’perfect’ dog, but he may be perfect for you!!