I Got a Puppy!

So after all the waiting, I got a call on Wednesday evening from the Pastor asking me to come over to the house. We were waiting for the first 2 months (8 weeks) to pass so the puppies could be separated from their mother. When I arrived, there he was all tiny and helpless, because I'm sure he hasn't hit 2 months yet. Though I've been feeding him milk (not cheap), I haven't bottle fed him or anything and he's eating solid food. The first major problem was he had fleas... a lot of fleas. This meant he was definitely not staying the night in the house. I grabbed the box from my blender that was laying around, put a couple sheets of newspaper and a hand towel inside and put it on my fenced-in porch. Yesterday, I got some anti-flea anti-tick shampoo and gave him (another) bath. A handful of the fleas escaped to his head (both times) and I've been picking them out and killing them one by one. I think my dog is almost afraid to scratch now because he knows I'm going to grab him and comb through his hair where he was just scratching. I think there's maybe 2 or 3 left at this point, so it's not too big of a deal.

I thought I would be more excited when I got my puppy, and I am happy, but just realizing life is different now. Not entirely different, but I have to be more responsible, especially now while he's so small. Add that to the fact that I didn't get to choose the day I got the puppy and I wasn't exactly ready that day for him. But here he is. Fortunately, he's pretty easy-going. Putting him to bed outside on his own the first night was challenging with all the whining, but I made myself a little noise deterrent and he slept the entire night (until about 5:30am). I did wake up at 3:00am thinking I heard him whining so I got up and went to the door only to find him still fast asleep. Just a worried parent I guess! I did the same thing this morning at about 5:30am. but he slept until 6:00.

He still has no name and he's pretty timid, but I'm attributing that to the fact that he's still tiny. And I'm trying to figure out what all his whimpering means; "I have to go to the bathroom" "I'm hungry" "I want to play" "I want to sleep within 5 inches of you". The distance thing is cute, most of the time, especially when he follows me around town. But he tends to get lost or confused whenever another person or dog crosses our path. He ended up following some lady for about 20 yards before I could get him to stop and come back.


All that said, I have a dog. I'm very content. And though it's a sad reality, pets can and do die here due to whatever kinds of illnesses they might have. But I do hope this one survives. He has a lot of potential and I think he's kind of attached to me...








I would also like to mention that I had my first visitor, Nancy, visit me from El Negrito down the road. She came just in time to see my dog, too. She left alive and well-fed. Come one, come all.

Also, shout out to all those who participated in Pueblo Crawl in Olancho. Getting there is half the battle. Venga si quiere; Salga si puede. Viva Olancho! And just a little visual for those of you wondering about Honduran travel... you have to take the good with the bad: