Mocha is the newest addition to our family. He is a chocolate Labrador Retriever, and very much a member of the family. As the baby of the family he gets lots of pampering. Like most Labs Mocha is extremely intelligent and has learned a lot of tricks. My favourite of all the tricks he has learned is saying "I love you". Though he can't enunciate it as clearly as a human, of course, he does sound it out in a way that is unmistakable. Other people are amazed when they hear him do this. Now that he knows to say "I love you" he will often come up to us while we are sitting, put his head on our laps and say it to us. Not only does he say it, but he knows what it means....at least he knows it is a sign of affection to say it.

   Mocha is a sweet, loving boy, like most Labs are, but his personality is very different from the chocolate Lab we had before. For instance, Mocha is very vocal. I don't mean he is a nuisance barker. I mean that he uses his voice to tell us what he wants. When he wants to play he gets one of his toys, drops it on the floor in front of whomever he wants to play with, and proceeds to "speak". I often wonder if in his mind he is trying to talk to us in human language. That is what it sounds like. I've known some cats to do this....Siamese cats are known to be "talkers", but Mocha is the first dog I've known to be a "talker".

   So far, Mocha's health has remained excellent. He is over 4 and a half years old right now (as of Sept. '08). We hope he will live a long full life and be with us until he is an old doggy. :-)