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Hi, I am Kojo, at least that's what I was called by the women in the same coloured shirts at home. I was born in a small room with a wired door, my mom would tell us that one day we will live somewhere else and have another mom or dad. I thought that it was ridiculous, because I already had a mom, and already had a home, where women in the same coloured shirts would come and play with us and give us cuddles. I love cuddles with humans, they are warm and nice. They would also give us treats.
One day, a sad woman came, with a little girl, and they took me away. The girl was happy, really smiley and loud, and the woman was sad, but smiled too. The girl called her mom, so I thought, that's what my mom meant. When we arrived at their house, there was a man, he too was sad, the girl called him dad, and ‘mom’ called him Steve. He called her ‘Hannah’. That confused me, because I thought they were my new mom and dad, but suddenly they were Steve and Hannah. Steve was always mad at me. I don’t know why, but every time I tried to play with him, he would yell at me. One day I thought that it was because he was going somewhere every day, so I chewed his boots, thinking that he wouldn't go. But he got really mad, and in the evening I was sent back home. Mom wasn’t there anymore, and my brothers and sisters too. I was really sad, but the women in the same coloured shirts would keep me company. At night I hoped that my mom and siblings were not with Steve, because he wasn’t very nice.
As days went by the women in the same coloured shirts became sadder and sadder. They would take me in the park with other dogs, where a lot of other humans were playing with them, but not me. For some reason, people avoided me, didn’t want to play, or cuddle. And I became sad as well.
One day, I heard a voice. A woman, she was nervous, but was smiling and laughing. She smelled really nice. They called her ‘Lucy’ and ‘Ms. Chen’. She gave me cuddles and kisses and treats, and we left home. I was afraid she was taking me back to Steve and Hannah, but she wasn’t. Instead we arrived at an apartment, where we immediately went to her room. I smelled another human and barked. “Shh, Kojo, Jackson’s sleeping, you will meet him in the morning”. That night I slept in a bed for the first time. It was warm, soft and cozy, and Lucy was cuddling me. In the middle of the night she woke up crying, but I was there and she fell back to sleep. In the morning I met Jackson, he was scared of me, like people in the park. It made me sad, because he smelled nice too. Then they left, like Steve did, and I got scared again. Lucy closed the door to her room, so I went to Jackson’s and chewed on his things, it brought me comfort. But then Lucy came back with another man, and I thought she brought him to yell at me, but he didn’t. She called him Tim. Lucy was sad, I chewed Jackson’s stuff, and I was really sorry for that, I was just scared.
In the evening, Tim came back and took me away. Lucy was hugging me a lot and gave me lots of kisses. “Tim is going to take care of you, and I will visit you as often as I can”. When we left I was scared again. Tim was quiet, not like Steve, Steve would always yell, Tim wasn’t yelling, but he was scarry. But then we met another man, one of his legs smelled funny, and after he left I saw that Tim’s eyes were wet. “Not a word”. I wouldn’t tell anyone, Tim. That was a relief, before I’d only seen water in the human's eyes when Hannah or her daughter were crying, or when Lucy cried that night. And they were nice to me, so Tim also might be nice to me.
And he was. He gave me lots of toys and treats. When I obeyed the command he would call me “good boy”. He took me on long walks, and after that I would sleep through the entire day, until he came home. He yelled sometimes, but I never felt threatened by him. At first he didn’t allow me on the bed, even though I really wanted to be near him, but soon he gave up and I slept at his feet. Sometimes he was waking up in the middle of the night, every muscle of his body tensed, and would not go back to sleep for a long time. But I would come closer, and he would pet me, until he fell back to sleep.
One day a woman came. She was warm and smiley. Tim called her “Rachel”. She made Tim smile a lot. They would close the door to the bedroom, but then always give me treats and kisses. Well, mostly the woman, Tim would always say something, like “you spoil him”. One night Tim gave me treats and scratched my head, and said that I am a good boy, and Rachel said that he is a great dog dad. That confused me. Is Tim my dad now? Is that what my mom was talking about? He didn’t correct her. Later Lucy called him my dad too. He looked really annoyed, but still peted me on the head. I liked Tim a lot, he was nice to me. I would even say, I loved him. So I started calling him dad.
Lucy would come around often. She was always happy and I loved when she visited. One day she called herself my “mommy”. It was before I started calling Tim dad. She called herself that often, and dad always laughed, when he heard. I loved Lucy, so I started calling her mom as well.
Dad let me meet other people, like uncle Nolan and uncle Jackson, and aunty Angela… Uncle Jackson would play with me. I think he wasn’t scared of me anymore and it was nice. He called me Kojo-Mojo. It was funny.
One day mom and dad arrived home together, which was unusual, and mom was sad. I have never seen her that sad. I tried to play with herб bringing my favourite toys, and showing her the new ones dad had bought me, but she just smiled and scratched my ear. “Kojo, Jackson is gone”. And she started crying. I didn’t understand what that meant, but I’d never see uncle Jackson again. I think he went to a different home.
Mom was sad a lot after that. Visited more often than before. She and dad would take me on hikes and runs. They smelled weird when they were around each other, which reminded me of Rachel. One day they came home and closed the bedroom door. After, mom started to stay the night, and she gave me lots of treats and love. Dad would say “you are spoiling him”, but he would give a treat later, when mom wasn’t looking. Mom became happier, then ever. She would still cry at night sometimes, but I would be there, and dad too. One night dad woke up again, and mom hugged him. He petted me a little, but fell asleep quicker, then before.
There was a time, when mom and dad were very busy, they would bring home a lot of new smells, a lot of flowers and paper things, cakes. One night I snuck into the kitchen and ate some cake. Didn’t feel good afterwards and mom and dad were very worried, so they took me to the doctor where they put needles in my legs. After that night they would hide the cake, which I didn’t like: I still wanted more cake.
Then one day dad put a bow tie on my neck and I was given a basket. There were a lot of people and chairs, it smelled like home smelled for the past few months. I saw dad and mom near the arc, mom looked pretty, and they smelled like flowers. I ran towards them, and everyone cheered. Mom hugged me and dad scratched my ears. Mom called me her handsome little gentleman, and dad said I was a good boy. And they were so happy, and I was happy with them.