Life with the dogs...or "Why Jennifer is covered in dog hair and smells like Alpo"

"Please don't touch me!
Well, ok... that feels niiiice..."

You asked for it, here are some more "tails" from the rescue dogs at the Puppy Palace.

CANDY

 Candy arrived the day before Halloween, hence the name "Candy." She's a mixed breed -- part German Shepherd, part Tasmanian Devil. We have since discovered that "Big Bertha" or "Grisnelda" or "BRUTUS" would have suited her better. She's more like a Sherman Tank than a sweet little sugary treat. You know how in school there was that one big burly girl that was not very fluffy or feminine and would've been a great right tackle on the football team? Well, that's Candy. It's not that she's not sweet -- she gives "Candy Kisses" to the other dogs (and to us) every chance she gets -- it's just that she doesn't know her own size. She literally bowls over the other dogs and knocks 'em down when she's playing. Saying she likes to play rough (or ruff -- ha ha -- I'm such a dork) is an understatement. The only dog that can handle her body-slamming is Chowzers, and that's probably because he's covered in a 4-inch layer of thick fur (sort of a built-in "fur koozie") which provides a cushion from her blows.

When Candy arrived, she was about 7 months old and couldn't open her eyes. It's a wonder she didn't walk in front of a car and get hit. She had a terrible eye infection in her tear ducts which made it painful for her to open her eyes. Candy was afraid to be touched, but allowed us to approach only because she couldn't see well enough to do anything about it.



"I seeeee yoooooou..."


After some antibiotics and some TLC, she is up and around and as active as any dog I've ever seen. And I do mean ACTIVE. Her favorite thing in the world is to run free at the finca with the other dogs. You should see her go! Her Tasmanian Devil really comes out when you set her free.

And she is a scrounger -- on walks, her head is 3 inches off the ground the entire time, sniffing away looking for any little crumb or snack that someone might've accidentally dropped on the ground. Candy would scale Mount Everest if she thought there was one tasty piece of kibble waiting for her. Typical of most street dogs, she hasn't quite figured out that she doesn't need to scrounge for meals, because she will get fed at the Puppy Palace. Then again, her obsession with food makes it easy to train her, since she will do anything (sit, stay, lie down, do a cha-cha, moonwalk, etc.) for a snack.
 



"Mime mot mad. My mip mistuck..."



Say "cheeeeeese"

Oh, and here's something funny about our Candy Girl... Her upper lip sometimes gets caught under her gums and it looks like she's smiling. One of the funniest things I've ever seen is Candy looking up at me with her lip stuck. Linda jokes that we will use these as Candy's "adopt me" pictures.

"I am so much more
 than just a street dog."

AMIGO

Little Amigo is near and dear to my heart. Joel and I rescued him one night in November when we were out eating street food for dinner. (I'm a cheap date -- a street food dinner costs about Q27 -- for both of us -- roughly $3.25.) It's not unusual for a street dog to come begging for scraps when you eat street food (the temptation to steal food must be overwhelming for them) but there was something about this little dog... He was so tiny we thought he was just a puppy. He was skinny. He had these awful scabs on the back of his head. His ears were crusted over. He had a deep gash around his neck where someone had tied a rope. He was so dirty we couldn't tell what color his fur was.
But he had these lovely eyes that said, "I am so much more than just a street dog."

We couldn't leave him behind.


We desperately tried calling Terry and Linda to make sure it was ok for us to bring another dog to the Puppy Palace, but couldn't get in touch with them. UGH! We decided to take him anyway. I had a gut feeling they'd be ok with it and I was right.



Amigo's head wounds --
and you can see where the
rope was around his neck

We named him "Amigo" ("friend") because we knew that he would make someone a great little friend. He was very timid at first, but he let us pet him after he figured out our intentions were good. (Most street dogs have never been petted in their life -- the only hands they ever see are the ones reaching out to hit them or shoo them away.)

 

On the car ride to the Puppy Palace, we were surprised at how well Amigo did considering it was probably his first car ride. No puke, no pee, no nervous poops and no trying to claw his way out. (He might have had a little gas...or maybe it was just Joel blaming it on the dog, I dunno). During the ride, I told him what I always tell our new dogs, "I know you're scared right now, but believe me, your life is going to be SO much better." (Some of them believe me, others are skeptical, but in the end they all agree that yes, their lives are better...)

When the vet checked him out a couple days later we found out he was a YEAR old from looks of his pearly white teeth. He was tiny was because he was so malnourished. And the scabs on his head (and chin, we discovered later) were from him being hit by a car. Luckily for Amigo, he was so small the car dragged him instead of crushing him. We think he may have had a broken rib, too. Sheeeesh. Poor Amigo! 

"Don't even think about
taking this ball away from me."



After giving him a bath, we found out Amigo was a white dog with grey accents. He was sooo happy to be clean, he actually pranced. Maybe it was because he was lighter without all that dirt and goo, but he acted happy and frisky.

  

"Yeah, I know I'm a good looking guy..."



Well, fast-forward to January 2011 -- I can't believe it's only been a month and a half -- and look at him now! He looks great and he is SUCH A NICE DOG. I mean it, he is a great little guy and a friend to all people and dogs that he meets. And I shouldn't say "little" because he's doubled in size since arriving at the Puppy Palace. And WOW -- what a good looking guy! He was always cute, but now that he's clean and his ribs aren't protruding and his head and ears are healed, he is really handsome. He looks like a baby wolf. He loooves to play with the tennis ball and barks and growls at it as if it was talking back to him. A typical dog, but again, sooo very nice. And happy.

See Amigo? Your life really did get better!

GUS

Check out those soulful eyes!

What can I say about Mr. Gus? If you were to ask me what kind of dog he is, I'd simply say "a brown one." He's your basic brown dog. We all agree the only way to describe his eyes is soulful. He has wise and soulful brown eyes. Gus is an old dude and has had a hard life. When he was first brought in, all he did was sleep. And eat. Sleeping and eating were Gus' #1 and #2 activities. (I'd tell you what his #3 activity was, but I think you know.) It was as if he was amazed and relieved that he had a soft bed and was afraid that if he left it for very long, we'd change our minds and take his bed away and put him back on the street. So, for the first few weeks we left Mr. Gus to his sleeping and eating duties and though the other dogs were romping around him, Gus didn't budge. Linda bought him a special bed full of cedar shavings, so for the first few days of him lounging on it, he'd smell like a cedar hope chest. (Kind of nice!) He'd growl if one of the dogs got too close to his bed or invaded his space, but he never bit anyone. Gus is your typical "my bark is waaay worse than my bite" kind of guy.

"Don't touch my bed! Mine! Mine!"

Gus is warming up to people. At first, he lowered his head when you reached down to pet him, but he's starting to let us rub his chin and has started to roll over and ask for a belly rub. And when he's really into it, he'll start making happy grunting/growling noises while you pet him. If you stop, he'll put your hand in his mouth -- he never bites down, but it's his way of saying, "Me likey the petting. You keep petting now, please."

Gus has come out of his shell in the past couple of weeks. And boy oh boy is he a different dog! Toss the tennis ball to him and he's bounding after it. He's super uncoordinated -- he's got these long gangly legs -- but damn, he is determined to get that ball! And once he has the ball, it's game over. Gus = 1. You = 0. Gus wins.

Oh and did I mention that part of coming out of his shell means Gus likes to BARK? Yeeees, he barks and he barks and he barks at nothing in particular. One of the dogs gets a drink. Gus barks. A loud car drives by the house. Gus barks. The sun is shining. Gus barks. A leaf blows by. Gus barks. And so on. We joke that we will rename him Bob...as in Bob Barker.

JAKE



Beautiful, shy Jake

Poor, beautiful Jake. I mean it -- he's really a looker. He has the most interesting multicolored feet I've ever seen. He was one of the street dogs Candy played with before she was rescued, but it took longer to snag Jake. By the time we got him, he had Distemper. Not good. Seriously NOT GOOD. The other dogs had been vaccinated (whew!) so they were safe. Linda and Terry medicated him with everything on the market and we are keeping a very close eye on our new friend. Jake has the body twitches associated with Distemper, which are permanent, and we are hoping that's the extent of the damage.  

Like Gus, all Jake wanted to do for a while was sleep. But unlike Gus, Jake didn't want to eat. Terry and Linda did everything they could to make his food appealing. He needed to eat! He was skinny skinny skinny, but had no appetite. (Another side effect of the Distemper.) Amigo would come and lie down and keep him company (gotta love that Amigo!) while the other dogs romped and tackled each other. We coddled him and cuddled him until the Distemper had run its course.



Jake and his buddy, Amigo



Luckily, Jake is feeling better now, looks forward to feeding time, and eats with gusto. And he's up and around and playing with the other dogs like he was never sick. His twitchy leg will always be twitchy, but he's feeling much, much better.

HOBO


Baby Hobo sitting in the toy box



Hobo, Hobo, Hobo... He's the littlest and youngest addition to our pack. His name is fitting, as he was homeless and out wandering the streets alongside (though reluctantly) a true hobo.

 Hobo's first few months of life were hellish. He was somehow "obtained" by a crazy homeless guy. Luckily for Hobo, the crazy homeless guy decided to wander by the Puppy Palace one day while Terry and I were outside. He was dragging poor Hobo around by a shoestring. OUCH!

Terry struck up a conversation with the crazy homeless guy and ended up convincing him to sell Hobo to us for Q10 (about $1.25). The crazy homeless guy happily took the money and handed us his dog without a second thought. We immediately cut the shoestring off of Hobo's neck and gave him food and water. I've never seen a dog drink and eat so much, so fast. He had probably never had a good meal or access to clean water in his entire life.


He's cute, huh? A great bargain for $1.25!



Hobo's belly was protruding (a sign of worms) and he had fleas and doggy dandruff. All were taken care of within the first couple of weeks with shots, a bath, and Pepto Bismol. (Yep, it's not just for humans anymore.)

Hobo is a sweet little guy. He's a great little lap dog (for now -- he's gonna be big later) and will happily fall asleep while you're holding him. At first, we were concerned about putting him with the older, bigger dogs, but soon found out that Hobo can hold his own. I used to feel sorry on him, watching him wrestle with the other guys (ie:  BRUTUS, I mean CANDY) but after watching the dogs for a while I realized nooo, Hobo is the instigator in most of the wrestling matches. He nips at the other dogs and they say, "One more time, Hobo, and I'm going to kick your butt..." and of course Hobo pushes his luck and gets tumbled and pinned. You can tell when Hobo gets really riled up because he gets what can only been referred to as "Hobo's Psycho Bark" -- a high-pitched craaaaazy constant bark-bark-bark. When we hear that, we try to give everyone a break... from Hobo. Ahhh, but it's all in good fun.

See the little black dog in the middle of the action?
Yep, that's our little wallflower, Hobo!

We hope to send Hobo and Amigo to a rescue group in California together. I will miss them dearly, but their lives will be sooo much better there.

...And for your viewing pleasure, here are some other photos taken at the Puppy Palace...

Chowzers in his "tent" -- we discovered that Chow
likes to feel "covered" so we built a little hideout
for him with blankets

Candy giving "kisses" to Gus (whether he wants them or not!)

Believe it or not, this is what it looks like when they're playing.

Sweet Jake laying in the sun

Until we meet again, stay thirsty my friends!