Dogs of all types are everywhere in Sayulita.
Big. Small. Wearing a collar. Strays. Playing with other dogs on the beach.
Laying on the street. Almost getting hit by cars. You name it, I’ve probably
seen it here.
Even though they’re everywhere, one still managed
to creep up on me. The four of us were walking home from school last Thursday.
We passed a few dogs and I didn’t think anything of it. But after a few blocks,
it became apparent that we picked up a new friend—an older German Shepherd. He
followed us along the cobblestone paths through town, up the giant mud hill,
along Punta de Mita Highway, and finally to outside of our house.
Erin and Alyssa being followed
home by a new friend.
Cynhia and I were giddy with excitement. After
the Princess fiasco we had kind of given up on finding a dog. For those of you
who don’t remember, we had gone out of our way to take a dog in, only to find
out that she already had an owner. But now, a dog actually followed us home. He chose us!
I guess he's here to stay!
Erin and Alyssa were not thrilled, went inside,
and slammed the door on poor Charlie’s face. He just looked up at Cynhia and I
with his tongue hanging out of his mouth and won our hearts over. We ran inside
and scrounged up a bowl of water and any human food we thought dogs could eat.
When he rejected our tortillas, Cynhia tried feeding him the remains of an old
block of cheese, which he LOVED. We later found out that dogs are not supposed
to eat cheese. Oops! At least he enjoyed it in the moment…
The new dog enjoying water and
posing with his not-so-favorite tortillas.
He sure liked cheese...He sure
would fit into Wisconsin!
The walk was perfect. We brainstormed names for
him and finally settled on the perfect one: Juan Pablo Max Piper
Charlie, AKA Carlos! He didn’t respond to it, but followed us nevertheless.
During our walk we discovered that people LOVE Charlie. An American man started
speaking to him in Spanish, saying things like “hola viejito” (hello oldie). When
we stopped at Wa Ki Ka for ice cream a father and son started whistling at
Charlie, trying to get his attention. Once they lured him over and started
petting him the father asked Cynhia “Is this your dog.” The look on his face
was priceess when she said no, and then he proceeded to look for a bathroom to
wash his hands.
Charlie followed us to the beach, where we
watched the sunset. Because he was being such a good companion, we stopped at
the grocery store on our way home to pick up some dog food. He waited patiently
outside for us, and walked home with us with his tail wagging. Along the way we
kept stopping to try to teach him how to sit, and then would reward him with a
handful of dog food.
Charlie enjoying the sunset in the sand.
Cynhia attempting to teach Charlie how to sit...
The next morning Cynhia and I were overjoyed to
find that Charlie had stayed outside of our door all night long. Finally! We
have a dog! He walked us to school, and we left him outside. We thought he
would wait for us until the end of the day, since he had already done so the
night before. But at the end of the school day, Charlie was nowhere to be
found. So even though Charlie was more promising than Princesa, he ended up
being another dog that didn’t quite pan out as a pet.
Over the next couple of days we thought every dog
we saw was Charlie. Over the weekend though, Cynhia actually did see him. The
way she talked about the interaction made it sound like she ran into an
ex-boyfriend. “He wouldn’t even acknowledge me” and “I think there’s somebody
else” were phrases she used to describe the Charlie sighting. We now know that
Charlie does in fact have other “owners,” or rather, people that feed him. One
man feeds him consistently and is seriously considering taking him back to the States.
So I guess Charlie is just another dog that wasn’t
meant to be ours. But there is still hope! Two of my students have a dog that
just had 4 puppies over the weekend…
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