[Gpdd] Misc. My first guinea pig....Koko

[Jim and Margaret Lynn]

This is the story of Koko, my first guinea pig.  I sent this story to the GPDD 
back in 2001 so some of you ol' timers will remember it:

I thought some of you slaves might be interested in what happened to me soon 
after I adopted Koko from a family who suddenly developed allergies to guinea 
pigs.

The first exciting thing was the fact that when I picked up Koko from the former 
owners she was a female.  You talk about a miracle....by the time I got home and 
did a little investigating on the underside of my new friend I found out that 
Koko was a male!  But, I loved him just the same.

Koko was very tame and liked to be held.  He would always sit for just a moment 
on my lap and then would suddenly run up my chest and sit looking at me with his 
nose just an inch or so from my mouth.   Sometimes he would then reach out and 
give me a gentle kiss on my cheek.

After I had Koko for a few days I thought it would be a nice treat for him if I 
took him outside to the middle of my garden and let him nibble in the grass for 
a while.  I planned to stand beside him to make sure no other animals would 
bother him.

I took Koko out to the garden and placed him on the ground.  He sat there for a 
moment looking all around, sniffing the air, nibbling on stalks of grass, 
scratching behind his ear......just doing normal things that guinea pigs do.

Suddenly, without any warning, Koko started to run for the woods which was about 
100 yards away.  Well.......let me tell you.....I never in my life guessed that 
a fat little guinea pig with short legs could run so fast!  My physical 
description of Koko is pretty much how I am built (rotund with short legs) plus 
the fact that I am in the sixth decade of my life; I am not exactly a "spring 
chicken".

I knew that if Koko made it to the thick woods I could never catch him because 
the trees and brush are too thick.  Koko got to the edge of the garden with me 
"huffing and puffing" hot on his heels.  I made a flying tackle (literally) and 
caught him but ended up flat on my belly with a squirming guinea pig held out in 
front of me at arm's length.

Koko wiggled out of my grasp and again sprinted for the woods.  By now he had 
covered half the distance to the trees and I am still flat on my belly in the 
garden.  I got up and the chase was on again.  By this time I am thinking to 
myself.  "is a heart attack worth catching this little fleet footed critter?"  
With heart pounding and gasping for breath I picked up the chase and caught up 
with Koko just as he approached the edge of the woods.  There was some very tall 
and thick grass and as soon as he entered the grass he stopped with his rear end 
sticking out on my lawn.

Evidently the long grass confused him (or maybe he ran out of steam too just 
like I was doing).  Anyway, at this point he let me pick him up and take him 
back to his cage in the house.

Well, that was the last time Koko was given any "free range time" in the 
garden.  Soon after that I constructed a 2' X 4"  outdoor pen with a top and an 
open bottom so he could occasionally enjoy some outdoor time and nibble grass.

*******Note...It was 12 years ago when I got Koko and of course now he has long 
gone over the Rainbow Bridge but he will always be loved in my heart.  Since 
then I have had about 10 guinea pigs and now have only Princess.

Jim............and Princess and Benny the Golden Retriever