Belizedragonfly

The Dogs

The next imminent undertaking was to look in to getting some dogs. We really didn’t want anymore animals since we had already brought three cats along for the move, but we were also being warned on almost a daily basis that we must have dogs for our own protection. Okay, well, as I said before we really weren’t scared for our safety but I suppose that with so many people telling us the same thing at some point we really should listen. Also Will wasn’t feeling very safe overall so he really thought it was a good idea. The three of us agreed that getting a dog would be the best move.

There is a little email network here in Corozal amongst the various gringos called the “Friendship List” and it is sort of a method for ex-pats living here to stay in communication with each other and advertise anything that may be of interest. I got signed up for this email network the first couple of weeks I was here and one day while checking my email I ran across one from a couple living here who were trying to get rid of two dogs. They had five and wanted to scale down to three. The three of us discussed it for a couple days and then decided this was our best option; the dogs were already grown and somewhat trained and they were outdoor animals so it was just what we were looking for. So I sent an email off to the owners and asked them if the dogs were still available. They were and we arranged a time to go to their home and meet the dogs first. Only one dog, Coffee, was at their house for us to look at because the other was at the vet. We figured that we could make a decision based on seeing one dog - it wasn’t as if we were planning to breed these animals. So we got a cab (still no working car) and headed to their place.

When we pulled up to the house it was totally covered in mud due to all the rain water still standing so we cautiously made our way to the front gate. Their dogs started barking at us, all five were giving us their most ferocious sounding barks and, to be honest, it was slightly intimidating. Especially considering one of their dogs was about the size of me - probably taller than me if it stood on it’s hind legs. That was not the dog they were letting go of though. The owner of the dogs came out quickly once we had arrived and greeted us. She told us not to mind all the barking - they were just doing their job. She told us that she would invite us in but their yard was currently a mud hole so we just stayed behind the gate to look at the dog. She brought Coffee around, a blonde dog with pretty brown eyes and a little timid. The owner told us that Coffee was shy around new people, but would quickly warm up to us. She looked nice enough and we were told that the other dog, Maya, was just like Coffee except a darker, reddish-brown color and a little slower - whatever that meant. Both dogs were local Belizean dogs, or pot-lickers as called by everyone in Belize (most dogs owned by the gringos are brought in or bred from dogs brought in). We agreed that we would take both Coffee and Maya so the plan was for the owners to walk them over to our house the next day.

So now we were going to have vicious dogs to protect our fences at night - ha! Likely. The next day we hear a chorus of barking dogs about mid-afternoon and automatically assume that it must be Maya and Coffee walking to our house with every other neighbor dog barking at them. Sure enough, our assumption was correct and we see the dogs on their leashes coming around the corner as happy as can be. I felt a little sad for them since they were going to be leaving the owners that they knew and loved. We got the dogs in the gate and saw Maya for the first time, sure enough, she was a dark brown color with some reds sprinkled in. This is when I became a little concerned because unlike Coffee who had eyes with a little character behind them, Maya’s eyes sort of looked blank. Maya was definitely the more dominant of the two, they were both about a year old and female. Coffee took the backseat to Maya and their owners told us that we may even have to feed them separately because sometimes Maya doesn’t let Coffee eat her food. What it really boiled down to was an extreme jealously problem. Maya can not handle Coffee to have anything that she doesn’t, including attention.

We quickly learned what it meant when the previous owner of the two dogs said Maya was “slower.” That blank look in her eyes simply meant that she was not, at all, an intelligent dog. She did bark though and that was the main goal so we were fine with it - for a couple weeks - then it got very old. I love animals and I hate to say mean things about my new dog but I have basically encountered the dumbest dog ever. We were told that she is un-trainable. So now we basically have two dogs that eat a lot of food, bark only at other dogs, children, passing horses and the neighbors. Oh, and the cats are completely traumatized - they used to go outside all the time and they loved it. Now, they sit at the screen doors looking out and hissing whenever a dog comes in to sight. It may take awhile for them to warm up to the dogs. So we have a situation where the cats all want outside and the dogs both want inside - neither is getting their way at the moment. I guess the dogs are all for perception. If we have them behind the fence people think that they are guarding the property - little do they know that if someone were to hop the fence those dogs would probably quickly become best friends with the would-be thief.