Good Samaratan

Let's talk dog
Fluffy white clouds float over a calm caribbean. The sloshing of the surf is minimal compared to the two previous days. The wind weaves its way through the palms cooling skin warmed nicely by the winter sun. Our vacation in Patillas has been delightful. The Caribe Playa Beach Resort is charming in a fifties Susan Hayward movie kind of way. The rooms are a few feet from the beach which has plenty of palm trees for shade. It's small and intimate.
Tourists comb the beach to see what last night's tide washed ashore. That seems to be the most stenuous activity here or maybe snorkling. We are having a contented, relaxing vacation. It is the perfect counter balance to last week in my animal control officer class. Actually this is the perfect counter balance to any type of stress. When my husband says I'll get tired of the surf sounds, I have to wonder if he means in this life time.
I haven't seen a dog since we arrived at the resort. People in the room next to us are from Oswego, New York. The wife and I sit on the balcony in the morning talking about not missing snow, but missing their dogs. We share pictures of dogs like some people do of kids or grand babies. Once people find out I am a dog trainer it gives them permission talk about their furry friends. Mary told me about rescueing her Yorkie. How her friend knew it was the right dog for her. I could see that, she is the kind of woman you could picture with a Yorkie. Smile.

I find myself thinking about a lady I met at Playa Crash Boat in Aguadilla. She is one of the good samaratans of the island. Four years ago she and her husband moved here from Cape Cod. She carries food and water in her car so she can feed the dogs wherever she goes. I meet dog guardian angels where ever I go, but she was the first who carried water. I admire organized people like that. God bless her.

A Day In A Life

  These days I don't know too much of anything; how in the world is it that I was such a smart teenager?
  Last Saturday's animal summit was informative, however due to my minimal Spanish I missed alot.
  One of the panelists, a very pretty lady with big kind looking eyes, talked about a large number of dogs being killed at the shelter each day. I remember how sad it made me feel, thinking about putting the needle into the arms of sweet doggies. I bit my lip to keep from crying. "How can you think you could become an animal control officer, you'd have to do what needs to be done.", I chided myself, "Get a grip."
  The lady's warm, sweet demeanor won me over to thinking that they knew what was best and I'd better learn to deal with it. After all I am a new comer and know little about how things are done here in Puerto Rico. I respect the work the panelists are doing, so I let it go to the universe to guide me.
  Today we took our good friends.to the coast. We love showing off our island. We ate at El Anzuelo Grill & Cantina in Isabela across the road from the ocean. Food was good, price ditto. A nice young couple run the place and could not be sweeter. After lunch we hung out on the beach and watched a young man teaching a boy how to ride a horse. Actually the boy was a good rider, we enjoyed watching both of them.
  Later we went to the Eclipse at Villa Montana an open air restuarant right on the beach to watch some surfers ride the waves. Beach dogs are regulars at Villa Montana. There are always different dogs there, never the same, so I am guessing that dogs are picked up at some interval.
Today's trio of canids were vocal young min pin x chihuahua females. They knew everything that happened on the beach or they zoomed down to investigate. Everyone was greeted with low head postures, rapid low tail wags,ears folded back. In a wink they'd be too excited to control themselves so they'd rear up on hinder legs waving front paws in the air, then just a quick back to submissive control and up again. 
 The way they would work their ears to zero in on sound was beautiful to watch. Before long we forgot about the surfers entirely. The minis greeted a couple of beauties strolling the beach, then became fascinated by fishermen. A guard walked on the beach and pet one. 
  I began to have a conversation with the girls. The dark one decided rather early than she didn't want to bother with me. The most I could get from her was an occasional glance. The two light girls came over and got some head petting. Lip licking & little tails flying we visited briefly before they darted to the next point of interest.
  One light girl wouldn't come close enough for me to hand her a tostone, so I tossed it to her, she missed. The look on her face as she picked up the now sandy tostone was pure communication. She held her lips so far away from her teeth, she looked like the joker. A quick head shake did not dislodge enough sand for her, so she dropped it and walked away.
   The other light sister got close enough to take the food from my hand. We got along so well until I ran out of tostone.
  Pretty much I think we'd all agree that the life of a stray is hard, but its a life.
  As I watched these beautiful little dogs napping on pillows, I reflected on what one of my classmates told me today. She said that the large number of dogs that were euthanized each day were brought in the same day an instant death sentence, no hope of redemption or adoption.
Could I round them up and.....

 

Barb & Bonita

My friend, Barb, is visiting us with her husband, Keith. When I returned from grocery shopping, I retreated to me room for a bit. Unaware of her audience, the lovely lady with the big heart was seducing shy Bonita. "Come on pretty girl, you can do it", she cooed in a voice that would be at the top of my list for non threatening.
So far Bonita will only allow me to touch her muzzle with my finger of the same hand that is feeding her. Socializing this puppy at this juncture is more than a tad difficult. I am the first human to touch her other than to kick at her. Any touching is purely a trade of you can touch only so much in a minimal way so she focuses more on the food. Any infraction changes the whole dynamic..
We're working with her on two platforms. 1st Is a straight trade, food for touch. 2nd Is social stimulus. She wants to be near us. The other dogs hang around for attention, play and grooming. Frequently I do do soft tissues on Blondie and Storm. She watches and I imagine, she wonders. As close as she gets, I believe that when she gets her courage up she will ask for it. I'll keep you posted because I don't see it any time soon.
The social platform I'm working on with her tells me more about her. The food thing is just so basic. When a dog you have no control over trusts you enough to do something to them that feels different and maybe momentarily somewhat uncomfortable, that's a decision the dog is making.
As of now I have never used any restraint on any of the street dogs. In a couple of months we will be taking Blondie and Bonita to be spayed, so it will be leashes for two.

Here's Blondie

  The dogs can get in & out of my neighbor's yard at will. From where I stand it looks impenetrable. Blondie comes bouncing up my driveway, she looks happy. Her taill is wagging and she's doing a silly half ass canter. She takes a friendly "rrhagg"nip at Stormy as she goes by her friend and companion with a semi playbow she's back on course to our house.
  With low tail wags & squeals she greets my husband. She jumps up and licks the air. We don't allow the dogs to jump on us. Blondie knows the rules. Her happiness meter seems high today; maybe it's all the post partum hormones. Kirt goes into the house to get her some breakfast. She knows I am outside. She races around the house to me. When the yellow girl greets me her tail wags are lower, but her head higher. The sound she makes is more of a " yyaurrgh" It's not as squeaky as she does with Kirt. She wiggles and squirms between my legs, then around me a couple of times. Her condition is good. No signs of mastitis. Looks like she may have finished expelling the after birth. Her vulva looks clean nothing oozing.
  Stormy remains down by the neighbor's guarding the gate. He hears the feeding going on at my house and doesn't come up to join. He is still in front of the gate where Blondie left him.
  Sometimes I think that many years from now when we are a much wiser race, we'll understand the language of our cousins the dogs. I've studied dog behavior for years. I thought I knew so much, but since coming to Puerto Rico I've seen the dogs behavior when they are left to their own devices. Their communication is so much more complex than I could ever guess, when we humans run the show.
  Back in Illinois I've seen my dogs be cooperative in amazing ways, so I should have been more aware, but here the things I watch aren't colored by my wants and expectations, so its different.
  Blondie is back whith the puppies and here comes Stormy. His style seems to be the standing there staring at you. "I am here. I am hungry. You know what I want. Read my mind." Lord, he is such a guy. I'd better go take care of him. I' m well trained and he knows it.

Good To Be Home

As wonderful as last week was, it was fantastic to sleep in my own bed. Getting up looking at the lake in our quiet section of the island is what I sorely missed.
Nature is so controlled, so manicured in San Juan. The wild somewhat unkempt look of Cibao suits me fine.
For five nights The Puerto Rican prince, a.k.a. indigenous guy, slid across the lagoon standing on his board . His solitary siloette became part of my sunset experience. On Friday he was not alone, his arm was wrapped tightly around the waist of a beautiful woman, you know the kind that every man looks at when she walks into a room and other women say,"Oh, shit, she's here."
There is a little bodega across from La Concha that has the best home made food at cheap price. Given how much this last week cost, that was a very good thing. This is the kind of place the locals go in, but the tourists don't so much because it doesn't look good compared to the high end stuff that surrounds it. We found it to be a diamond in the rough. The vegetable salad was the best I've had here bar now. We ate at a couple of "better" restaurants. I found the food disappointing, overcooked seafood, yuck.
The fountains, the statues, the cleanliness, the beautiful buildings, the warm night air, the ocean made our evening in Condado very enjoyable. There are some really great buildings that if we go back, we'll have to find out about the architects. This area had a fine selection of pure bred dogs out for a walk. It looked like a couple of pet sitters were doing good business. The number of street dogs in this part of town surprised me. Yes, even in the expensive part of town there are homeless dogs. One young man was sitting on the sidewalk. He looked to be homeless. His little bundle of belongings was next to him. In front on him curled up in a doggie bed was his dog.
Stormy was his usual self. Bonita was a little more shy. Blondie was still leaking after birth. She has her puppies hidden on my neighbor's property and she wasn't home, so I fed Blondie, then she went back to take care of her puppies. Hope my neighbor is home tomorrow so we can take a look at where the pups are. It looks like the pups are in a grove of banana trees. No one has seen them. We don't know how many or anything. Blondie was happy to see us, so I thought she might bring her puppies to the house, so far she hasn't.