Even though I know the meaning of the word Loco, I popped it into Google to see what came up. Let’s see, it means crazy, mad, batty, frenzied and eccentric. It is also used in music and there is even a botanical use for it. But our son named our chocolate and white Border Collie Loco. I LOVE it!!
People have said we should have called him Zen. But I think the right name was chosen for the little nutter, who turns 3 this April.
Generally, we have always adopted animals into our family quite unexpectedly & with zero planning, as suddenly one crosses our path in need of loving care and 5-star accommodation.
This is how Loco, like the rest of God’s little creatures became part of our little nut house. A client mentioned she had Border Collie pups on the farm and my ears pricked up as I said, “Puppies, where can I have a look at said puppies”. She sent us photos & we chose this little soul. A drive out of Port Elizbeth brought us to puppy haven & our precious soul Loco, who was 8 weeks old at the time. A small bundle of fluff, with ears that flopped over cutely while he slept and a big appetite.
I could easily write a book about him, but will try to condense some of the most precious things about him in this blog post.
At the time of his arrival, we had another black & white Border Collie named Smudge, rescued from shocking circumstances at the age of 2. It took us about 18 months to calm the poor soul down & teach him to trust people again. But he became my running partner, cuddle bunny and, of course, lover of balls that he would fetch all day if you were prepared to stand and throw it for that long. We lost him a year ago this April to old age and I can still feel him here with me all the time. I think he follows me around in his spirit form.
Loco is clever, very clever, too clever for his own good. Border Collies are famous for their intelligence; they are easy to train and they have enough energy to power the whole of South Africa for a decade or more. We would not need an electricity supplier of any kind.
Loco is tuned into everything about me. He knows when I am happy, sad, stressed, sick, well, angry with someone, filled with joy and when I am at my wits end. He has sensed medical problems with me before the doctors have even realised something is wrong and run the necessary tests to confirm a diagnosis. We hear of many dogs like this, that are used as service dogs, guide dogs, dogs that can sense someone has a problem with their sugar or is on the brink of seizure, trained to bring medication to you and raise the alarm.
Animals are good for our souls. They bring happiness and healing on a level much deeper than what we understand. I salute those who take dogs into hospitals to visit patients or into old age homes to visit residents there, or to children suffering from life threatening illnesses. I believe it brings them so much joy, takes their minds off the challenges they are facing and makes seem ok again, even if only for a short time.
Loco must have been a little over a year old when he started waking me up countless times during the night. He would pounce on me, with both his paws on my chest as if he was starting with CPR. I would get up to let him out, thinking he was needing to respond to a call of nature. In the meantime, I was plagued with serious fatigue on a daily basis. I chatted to the doctor on numerous occasions, insisting that one of the chronic medications I was on was the culprit, with her adamant that it was not.
Eventually, she said to me that she thought that I was suffering from sleep apnoea and referred me to a physician for sleep tests in the lab. Well, I was diagnosed with chronic obstructive sleep apnoea, having stopped breathing no less than 87 times during the night in the sleep lab, with the longest episode lasting 67 seconds. The light bulb went on and I told the doctor about Loco waking me up repeatedly through the night. I thought he would think that I was a little Loco, but without skipping a beat, he said that he had no doubt that that is exactly what was happening. He said that in the medical profession, they hear a lot of stories like this & he was sure that every time I stopped breathing, he would wake me up.
Since then, he has always been able to sense my physical, emotional and mental state, from having an ankle repair after a bad fall, to massive back surgery in January of this year.
If you have a dog in your life, you are blessed, with a friend, with your most enthusiastic supporter, with unconditional love, with a protector, a play mate, a walking buddy, a running buddy, a cuddle bunny. He or she brings comfort and a life full of laughs and eccentricities of their own that keeps you on your toes and helps you to see the beauty of life every day, even when you don’t see it.
My Loco will never be Smudge, but he is unique & beautiful and I don’t want him to be Smudge. I love him with all my heart. I could say he has big shoes to fill after Smudge. But I’ve never really thought this was something one should say. We all have different shoe sizes, we all walk differently, run differently and bring our own unique magic to this world and the people in it.
Now I need to find “a round thing”, also known as a ball and have our first game of today.
He has worked out recently what you are talking about when you say “round thing”.
Don’t close the door on him, as he will simply jump up, pull the handle down and come right on in. He would hate to miss out on anything!!!
