Cocoa
chihuahua/miniature pinscher Mix | male | 3 years Old | 16 Lbs
QUICK FACTS: ✔️ Crate trained! ✔️ Housebroken! ✔️ Good in car! ✔️ Good running buddy! ✔️ Walks well on leash!
❌ Likes his personal space! ❌ No young kids!
Updates
Adopted on December 31, 2020!
PUPDATE 2
Cocoa has continued to settle in and get more comfortable in his foster home. As the temperature drops, he is happiest snuggled under a blanket next to me on the couch in true small dog fashion. Even though he loves being a couch potato, he can also keep up with me on a short run. Those little legs move pretty quickly! Cocoa is also showing that he is a pretty typical Chihuahua - he packs a lot of spirit and attitude into his small body. It’s pretty funny to watch him try to chase the bigger dogs around the yard. He’ll act all tough and bark at them but you can see on the big dogs’ faces that they’re just humoring him by letting him run the show. He’ll sometimes even steal a Nylabone toy (his favorite!) from the big dogs and chew away while they look on. Cocoa loves treats and food and will eagerly run ahead of me to his crate where he is expected to sit nicely before I’ll give him the food or treat. While his size would make him a good apartment dog, he does tend to whine in his crate if I put him in there while I’m still home. So he’ll need continued work with that. Once I’m gone, he just curls up quietly and sleeps the day away in his crate. If you’re a small-dog fan looking for a spunky little guy, Cocoa just may be the one for you!
PUPDATE 1
Cocoa is a cute little guy looking for an adopter with a quiet home and has the experience to help him overcome his insecurities, build his confidence, and enforce rules so he knows he is not in charge.
We get up around 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. and go outside to go potty before Cocoa eats breakfast in his crate. If it’s a work day, he gets some more time outside before going into his crate while I’m away at work. If it’s not a work day, he usually spends some time on my lap on the couch before going on a midday walk. He walks really well on leash and can go quite a distance on his tiny little legs. He does like walks but he is otherwise low energy and doesn’t require a lot of exercise to get his energy out. He doesn’t play a lot with my resident dog but will sometimes run after him as he tries to chase squirrels. Dinner is around 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. and after more lap snuggle time, he goes to bed either in his crate or under the covers in the bed.
Cocoa is very particular about how people touch and interact with him. He completed a board and train for a month with a trainer who really helped give him a routine and expectations to help ease his anxiety before I started fostering him. His current foster home has experience with dogs and this helps.
While he is a small dog and does like to sit on laps, he does not like to be treated like a small dog in many other ways. It took many weeks to get him comfortable with being picked up. This guy just needs some time to trust. Cocoa would do best with an owner who can respect his boundaries but also hold him accountable and not let him run the show. He definitely should not live with little kids. He barks at new people so it is best for him to have slow introductions and have people ignore him and let him come to them. When he knows his place in the pack, he really is a sweet little dog who follows me around and likes to snuggle up under blankets on the couch as you can see in some of his pictures.
Cocoa does well in his crate when I leave. He’ll usually whine a little bit to start but eventually curls up to nap. If I put him in his crate while I’m still at home, he tends to whine because he’d like to be out with me on the couch or following me around. I have used an e-collar with him when I need to get him to stop and he responds fairly well to a couple taps on the remote on a low setting.
Cocoa does ok with other dogs but he’d prefer to be alone. He tends not to want to interact and play with my resident dog and other foster dog. He’d rather follow me or sniff and explore the yard on his own. I recently had to put my cat down, but when she was alive, Cocoa didn’t really interact with her since she didn’t like dogs. They saw each other through the gate a few times and he did bark once or twice but then lost interest.
Overall, I know Cocoa can be a great little dog with the right home and adopter(s). It is pretty cute to watch him try to cover himself with a blanket but then give up and have his butt sticking out uncovered. :)