Added to that, although here in the DR, we enjoy at least 300 days a year of glorious sunshine, we also get our fair share of rain too which keeps the country so lush and green and, every now and again, and often at the end of a very hot and dry spell which we have just experienced during one of the warmest summers I can recall since moving here almost 8.5 years ago, we are not only getting pleasant evening showers but several full days and nights of storms with pouring rain and a fair amount of thunder and lightning.
Now, whilst I have no problem with the storms myself, my delightful dog pack have other ideas and many of them are totally terrified of the lightning or the thunder... am not sure which. Others just hate the rain so it's a period of spending far more time indoors meaning muddy paw marks, shuddering under my desk or hiding beneath something where they feel a sense of safety and security.
So, I thought this would be a good moment to introduce you to my current group of furry friends.
Firstly, comes George. He travelled from England with us in 2006 and, at the age now of 12, has decided to retire from his rat catching career and remains a house cat and he is also aware of a large Ridgeback outside (who I will introduce shortly) who would like to eat him for dinner.
First of the 10 dogs are Wally and Nelly who are father and daughter and they also travelled with us from England to live here along with Nelly's mum, Wally's wife, Patsy (RIP). Being typical black Labradors, they are soft as shit, very loving but useless as guard dogs as would probably lick any intruder to death rather than attack them! Wally is now almost 11.5 years old and Nelly just exactly a year and one day younger - Wally was a very young Daddy!
Lassie joined us as a puppy found wandering on the track beside our finca by the gardener who proudly brought her home - she is the lucky one who spends a great deal of her life indoors with me and sleeps on my bed every night. Less than a few weeks after Lassie was found and brought to us, my husband was out on a mission is his big Dodge truck with our farm worker, Tuly. Tuly suddenly shouted to Charlie to stop the truck as he had spotted a tiny puppy in the long grass at the side of the track. At first they thought she was dead but, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that she was merely sleeping. They picked her up covered in ticks and fleas guessing she was about 5/6 weeks old and brought her home and we called her Lizzie. They are both now approximately 7 years old.
We believe that Shaka, the beautiful Ridgeback, was abandoned by former owners who just upt and left the country and he was left to roam in the area nearby to their home somewhere in Cabarete. Fortunately, he was taken to Dr Bob, veterinarian, in Sosua and, knowing Charlie's love of truly big and bold dogs, we were invited to take a look at him by Judy at the Pet Lodge as he had remained in Dr Bob's kennels unclaimed for almost 3 weeks. There were no discussions needed and we brought him home the same day. He has been loved and adored by everyone ever since but, if you are tempted to own a Ridgeback you need to be aware of some of their inherited traits, i.e. what they don't jump over they climb even up to 12 ft fences! Shaka for one has a fetish for birds and was almost returned to Dr Bob's after being with us a couple of days as he killed Charlie's precious tame parrot, Lola. He also got out of our gardens (almost impossible for most dogs) and killed chickens and ducks in his younger days. We believe he was 3/ 4 years old when we got him and is now far more subdued at the age of 8/ 9 but still a handful due to his size, power and weight but I think, at long last, he sees me as the pack leader so we get on fine. Tuly regularly takes him on walks on the lead and he is a totally submissive and calm dog but I am still wary of taking him myself as once got dragged across a field behind him when he took off!! He is a beautiful dog as I am sure you will agree and he also loves to dive in the pool when in the right mood.
Introducing Meribel, believed born in January 2011 and as just a pup of a few weeks old was darting through traffic along Pedro Clisante in Sosua before she was picked up and rescued by Jessica de la Cruz. Where Jess was living at that time, she could not keep her more than a few days as there were no dogs allowed so she posted the photo of her as a puppy and, I admit, I could not resist giving her a home here. Margo and I rushed down that very same day and brought her home.
I won't go into to the long story here of how I came to be the proud owner of a beautiful pure bred
Siberian Husky called Mischa as it might take another whole blog story but, needless to say, she is gorgeous and will be 2 years old later this month.
To cap it all, Mischa's brother, Lobo, who lives with my good mate miles away mated with her female who is Rottie/ Chow mix - looks like neither but more like a small German Shepherd. Nine puppies were born on 21st July this year and I committed to take one which had some distortion in her eye and I could get veterinary advice here. When we went to collect Bonnie, we also brought back two other pups from the same litter, one of which has gone to local people and the other to a well reputed family in Puerto Plata. I am very happy to say that Bonnie's eye now seems back to normal and just needs careful monitoring as it may have been damaged by a scratch in play with her siblings or some other minor injury which now seems to be resolved. The photo is me with Bonnie last week.
Last but not least by any means is my newest addition. Just 2 weeks ago, I saw an appeal from Dogs and Cats of the Dominican Republic who had a number of dogs for rehoming for a gentleman who has to have treatment for cancer in the US and therefore unable to keep his dogs in his DR home. One of the dogs reminded me so much of my precious Annie (story to be told about in another future blog) that I offered to take him. His name is Fluffy but my Dominican workers cannot pronounce that correctly so he is now Fluffly!! He is far tinnier than I imagined, being half Chihuahua and half Poodle but has the most incredible jumping ability and is also already 'boss' of the pack. I believe that Fluffly is about 2.5 years old and now has a new home with me forever....
