​​    Welcome to my very first blog! This morning while pondering the content of my very first post while sipping coffee on the back porch with the dogs it dawned on me, Moco. Moco will inspire my first blog. Moco is my nearly 13 yr old Pit Bull mix or so this is what we were told. Truthfully he appears to be more American Bulldog which he matches in both looks and personality.  Moco came to me as a 12 week old puppy in December of 2007. He was a Christmas gift from my now husband and my new lifelong friend. At the time we lived in Iowa and were only two months into our relationship. Having "met"online many months prior; on October 20th 2007 we met in person at a Greyhound bus station in Kansas City, Missouri. When I was supposed to send Chris back on a bus from the Springfield Station I had refused to go inside to see him off. I feared I would never see him again. While spending his last moments with me out front of the bus station his bus to Omaha was departing. As fate would have it, I had to take him back home to mom. Darn he had missed the bus. ​
     Within a week or so we packed our bags- back then all of the contents of our life could easily be packed away in two duffel bags and headed to the top of Iowa. Estherville to be exact. Chris' parents lived in a house that ​had been split into two apartments. They got us into the apartment above them. Thinking back on it, both apartments were more like a house. We were broke and we didn't know how we were gonna make it but we were sure we were gonna figure it out together. Having grown up with dogs all of my childhood, I longed to have my own. It had been years since our family had a dog and I was ready. When Christmas came around Chris blessed me with my first puppy of adulthood!  I don't think he realized at the time] that he created a monster that day. Coupled with my parents raising, training and trialing stock dogs and my now boyfriends willingness to give me what I wanted my love for dogs only got....larger. 
     What I haven't mentioned is that fact that "Pit Bulls" are prohibited in Iowa. Not knowing then what I know now I had worried that animal control might take my puppy and kill him for his breed. At the time I hadn't known that he wasn't likely a "pit bull". My knowledge on pit bulls and the issues with improper identification of dog breeds didn't come until much later. Being young and irresponsible didn't stop me from getting my "pit bull" puppy but instead forced me to walk him in the cover of darkness and made potty breaks something to be laughed about looking back. It is here where the poor boy learned to pee on command. 
     Moco was a tenacious puppy. His first night home he ate our just purchased RCA cables from the DVD to the TV, the only entertainment besides our new puppy we had at the time. Our apartment was nearly completely empty other than a twin air mattress I had brought with and a small tv stand. We eventually found two twin sized mattresses in which we graduated to and then there was our couch we found on the curb. Not long after Moco joined us Chris crushed his hand in a hydraulic table which required surgery and pins and time off work. The cost of living up there is ridiculous compared to rural Missouri in which I was used to. There was no way we could make it so we were forced to move back home to mom. Mom lived in a duplex at the time and though she loved dogs they had not been allowed in the duplex. My heart sank when she told me I must get rid of my little Moco puppy before I got back home. I could bring Chris home but I couldn't bring Moco. 
      To say I was devastated was an understatement. I was crushed. We had talked to Chris' brother Michael and he agreed to take in Moco. Michael lived in Omaha and it was somewhat on the way down. I remember being crushed at the thought of giving up my puppy and scared of the thought of showing up to mom's with him. What would she do? Would I still have to get rid of him? I couldn't afford to take him back to Michael if my ploy didn't take. Who would be willing to love him like I do? Sure it was irresponsible to get him in the first place but it was too late for that now. He was mine and he had claimed me. I swallowed my fear and all three of us left Michael's house for mom's that day. 
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Arriving home to mom....
     I was scared. I didn't even call and tell her. I just showed up with this puppy. Mom was not pleased when I entered the house with a puppy. Within a day though she was commenting on how thin he looked, how he needed to be neutered and what we were gonna do with him to make this work. Not long after that she was cooking him chicken and rice to fatten him up. He was fine and he was healthy but he has always been on the more athletic side with a lean body. She worried him to the kitchen to cook him delicious morsels of food. He was ok with that. 
     Moco became the protector of the house. His American Bulldog traits showed more and more. While gentle with the family and friendly with visitors he had to qualms about backing someone off that may appear threatening. This helped me feel secure being home alone in what would be our last move to Iowa. Chris had landed a job at a slaughter house that had previously been raided by immigration. The job was sadly back in Iowa- where my dogs labeled breed was forbidden. We couldn't say no to the money. Chris took a bus up there to start working and find us a place. Once again my dog was not allowed. Once again.... I wasn't gonna give him up. 
       After our new home was secure Moco and I packed up and headed to join Chris in Iowa. Postville was where the job was but Calmar was the town in which we lived. Again we were living somewhere that didn't welcome my dogs labeled breed but I had refused to part with him. We had a yard this time. Not fenced but it was a yard. It was also a small little town and there was a walking trail right by our house. I would risk taking him for walks and playing in the yard. It wasn't but less than a year when the plant that Chris had worked at went under and again we were once again in need of mom to rescue us. Back to Missouri we went. This time mom knew Moco was part of the family and she wouldn't dare not welcome him back too. She loved him. 
              It was March 2009 approximately. I remember this because my little sister got married in April of that year. On the way to her wedding I got so sick and it did not let up. Chris had stayed back home to work. I had a feeling but wait...I am not ready for this, I don't wanna. When we got back home I had taken a pregnancy test. There was a thin faint pink line. I remember telling mom, "but it is just a little pink", Mom replied with, "Well Lindy, you can't be just a little pregnant. Touche Momma...Touche. 
          Moco was soon letting me know that he knew we were soon gonna welcome a new family member. 
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        We welcomed home our new little baby girl, Kali on Christmas Eve 2009. Having been born four days prior but needing a short stay in the hospital we were happy to be home in time for Christmas. Moco's first introduction to Kali was Chris taking home a blanket that smelled of her from the hospital. I am sure he was confused and wondering where his family went for those days.  I imagine that blanket brought him some comfort. Moco's intuition of the baby I was carrying made many worries melt away of any fears I had of how this 2 yr old pup would handle the new family member. Any worries I had left melted the very second he welcomed her with a cold nose and caring eyes. I remember their first introduction as if it were yesterday. I carried her in, tucked in her car seat and let him sniff her. I knew right then I had gained a best friend in a little girl but I lost MY dog. 
      Moco was a rambunctious ornery two year old pup but with Kali he was the most gentle soul. As Kali got older day by day her bond with Moco grew. Of course I had concerns of him stepping on her, bulldozing over her or bumping into her, accidentally of course. Those concerns also quickly diminished just as fast and smoothly as my fears each time she lay on the floor and he walk so delicately around her, would nuzzle her with his nose and sleep beside her crib. Never once did Moco trample, step on or run over Kali. Never once and he never seemed to mind when she trampled, stepped or ran over him. 
​        Moco has been with us for many moves, almost our entire relationship and now our marriage, the birth of our daughter, the purchase of our first home, the start of a rescue, multiple jobs, the purchase of our second home and  and the adoption of our son. He has been a surrogate dad to many foster puppies and kittens and showed many foster dogs the ropes. He has loved on kittens and cuddled children.  Moco will be turning 13 years old this year, Kali will be turning 11. To this day she will not let me claim Moco as my own. He may truly love me more, but he is her dog, her childhood best friend and even in his old age a protector to our family.