Meet the Real Cocoa: The Royal Queen Behind Spicyville
Every kingdom needs a queen. Spicyville has Cocoa.
If you’ve read Spicy Sal and the Duplex of Drama, you already know her: the Royal Cockapoo Queen of Spicyville, tiara slightly tilted, judging everyone in silence. What a lot of readers don’t know is that Cocoa is real. She’s my dog, a mini black cockapoo, and she has been running my life long before she started running Jalapeño Street.
From my couch to the page
Cocoa almost wasn’t Cocoa. We drove about three hours outside Toronto to a Mennonite farm to meet an apricot-coloured cockapoo puppy, and she was the cutest thing ever. Then the owner mentioned she also had her sister, a black one. I said sure, let’s see her. The second she was in my arms, I melted. She had a little white chin and a white streak on her chest (she’s since outgrown both). I said, “This is the one,” and we’ve been inseparable ever since.
When I started building Spicyville, there was never a question of whether Cocoa would be in it. The only question was how much of her the world could handle. (The answer, obviously: all of her.)
How book Cocoa is (and isn’t) the real Cocoa
Book Cocoa has a few upgrades. She wears a crown, and her tiara changes in almost every illustration, because a royal canine never repeats a look. She has satin booties and a red cape for special occasions only. She doesn’t bark at people; she judges them, and the book translates for her. One look from her can say more than a whole paragraph, which is why the narrator sometimes has to step in. My favourite translation so far: “’Bout time, bhitch.”
She’s funny, but she’s also the heart of the series. When Ridnaj quietly admits he’s afraid he isn’t enough, Cocoa is the one who sets him straight: “Honey. You are absolutely enough.” In Book 2, when a glamorous stranger moves in and the whole town starts whispering, guess who walks over and sits beside her, uninvited? Cocoa doesn’t care about gossip. She decides for herself.
And yes, the judging is 100% real. Real Cocoa is always judging me. If I get up to grab something from the kitchen, or even just stand up to stretch, I can feel those eyes following me across the room. Book Cocoa’s side-eye didn’t come from my imagination, honey. It came from my couch.
The daily negotiation. Her Majesty has not yet accepted the offering.
Why pets make such good family
There’s a reason Cocoa sits at the centre of a found-family series. For a lot of us, especially those of us who didn’t always feel accepted at home, a pet was the first one who loved us without conditions.
The research backs this up. In a survey of 4,000 people by Mental Health America and the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI), 98% of pet owners reported at least one health benefit from their pet. 79% said their pet makes them happy, 73% said their pet has made them feel less lonely, and 77% called their pet their best friend.
Less lonely. That’s the whole point of Spicyville. Cocoa never asked me to be quieter, smaller or less sparkly. She just asked for treats, and occasionally for the good spot on the couch.
The Bhitch Brigade is growing
Cocoa isn’t the only pet in Spicyville anymore. Patty has her kitten, Marshmallow. Book 2 brings Tara, a Great Dane who belongs to the mysterious Anoushka, plus a whole neighbourhood of four-legged characters with opinions. In Spicyville, the pets are often sassier than their owners, and honestly? That’s accurate.
Long live the queen
So the next time you see Cocoa in her crown on a book cover or an illustration, know that there’s a real little black dog behind her, probably asleep on my lap, completely unaware that she’s famous.
Want to meet her properly? Her royal debut starts in Chapter One.
Stay spicy,
Spicy Sal (and Cocoa, who did not help write this)
Sources
•Mental Health America & Human Animal Bond Research Institute. MHA and HABRI Survey on Mental Health and Pets: Fact Sheet.
•Spicy Sal. Spicy Sal and the Duplex of Drama (3rd ed.). Spicy Academy, 2026.
