Coco: Backup Pack

Coco, our little domesticated wolf, may look more like a bag of rope but he’s a pedigree toy poodle underneath it all. Though, come to think of it, more than one person has remarked that he has the heart of a terrier … you should see him with that soccer ball, tireless.

He sprung from the Scottish Highlands, but has been shipped to Australia and back and is now quite settled in Edinburgh … where he’s giving the famous Greyfriars Bobby a run for his money with the tourists. Yep, Coco stops traffic.

The most common questions are:

Coco’s a common poodle name, but we chanced on it by accident. We were trying a few on him for size and he seemed to recognize this one, so it stuck. Later, when we got the pedigree papers, we saw his line had a previous Coco, his great-grandawg … it’s nice to be keeping tradition alive.

The breed’s known for its intelligence, second only to the sheepdog on most lists, but does suffer reputation-wise from some dumb-ass haircuts. Coco seems to like his dreads though, and they fit his spiky personality down to the ground. I couldn’t imagine him running about all bouffant … he’d have the look bust in a nanosecond!

Our little bloke’s one hell of a guard dog, too. He won’t let a breeze within a yard of our front door without letting rip with that bark of his. And don’t think he’s more careful with bigger dogs — no — he’s been known to take running jumps at anything from a lab to a German Shepherd if they get too close to my wife … what was that about intelligence?

That’s our Coco.

— Tony Black, crime writer, Edinburgh