In my cover photo the tan dog his name is Scotty. That is my father in law’s dog. The black dog is Koko. He’s our dog. We have had Koko for three years and he is a purebred black Labrador, he also eight years old.

First I am allergic to animals that have fur which is like a lot of them. Here how my symptoms go: itchy, watery eyes, hives then I can’t breathe because I have asthma as well. I hate it because I love animals.

Three years ago I told Jeff I really wanted a dog. So I suggested of getting a Shih Tzu because I had one when I was growing up and bonus not allergic to them because they have hair instead of fur. Jeff’s like no “I want a big dog” because while Jeff was growing up he has a lot dogs mostly German Shepherds and Saint Bernard’s which are both big dogs!

I was like “I don’t know” I really didn’t want a German Shepherd because the one they had when I met Jeff hated me. Really she hated me! So I didn’t really want one of those also HELLO I am allergic to both of those dogs.

We both thought about the pound because there are so many dogs at the pound for adoption and we both knew we really didn’t want a puppy. But the pound is also expensive. That is where my in laws got Scotty. Also I probably want them all!

So we looked on Craglist and that is where I saw him. I am like that’s it, I want him! Just something about his picture I had to see this dog. Jeff’s like “you will be allergic to him” and I was like “I don’t care we have to see this dog. “

So on the weekend we went to Green Bay and saw him. He was so hyper! But we just really cute! You know when you get that feeling that “this is right?” I had that feeling like this dog is right for us. I was like yes we will take him. Want to know how much we paid for him? Nothing! He was free! Not like that matters, I would have been gladly paid them for him. But it’s still cool!

And ever since then he has been the perfect dog for us! It was like he was meant to be part of our family. I am glad that my allergies aren’t really bad around him. But sometimes he does make me breakout but I give him a bath and we are good.

Also Koko is on the large size. They say some purebreds labs can be larger than the normal size and that is Koko. So in the end Jeff got what he wanted a large dog. (I like to point that out to him, lol!) Even people that come over just can’t believe how big he is. It’s funny to me because he doesn’t look all that big to me but I see him every day.

Also Koko is very mild dog. At first he was really hyper but that’s the breed. But when he turned seven he started to slow down. I love his personality, he doesn’t bark all that often, he loves children or people in general but he will be defend me if I get scared. Like when one of our landlords came over unannounced and started working in the yard scared me half to death because I wasn’t expecting anybody to be around Koko growled and barked at him.

I do call him my gentle giant because he really is, expect for his tail. That thing is lethal! When he gets excited that tail will whack anything! Have to be careful especially around children because he can knock them down or hurt them even though he doesn’t mean too, he just gets so excited. Also he has knocked down a lot of stuff in our house.

But all in all, he is makes me laugh. He’s does funny things and has many funny faces! He is also very clumsy. He trips over himself a lot! Which is kinda funny to see, but I also read that Labs are clumsy. It’s just funny!

Also Koko parent’s his mom was a yellow lab and his dad was a chocolate lab and he turned out black. It’s cool because in the sunlight you can see the brown show through but on his head you can see gold.

It’s nice because Koko loves Scotty they are best friends. They play together and hang out together. So it’s a good meld.

We love Koko very much and we are so happy he is part of our family!