So we have a dog named Sniper. He is the guard dog here at the farm. He is a big ole dog! He spots everything that moves around the farm, whether it is a dog, cow, or a person near the gate he doesn’t miss it and is off barking and running to see what is going on before we even see it. He walks me home every night across the farm to my house. He goes up to the school with the girls and watches the gates there and he stays up all night with the watchman walking around the farm, keeping things safe. He serves his purpose well and he is truly an awesome guard dog. Every once in a while he has the tendency to get a little bored or hungry (not sure which one) and mess with the rabbits, ducks, or chickens. Then there is Princessa. She has been on the farm for about 2 weeks now. She was bought to breed with Sniper because he is getting a little older and we want his blood line because of his size (dogs here in Honduras are little). The day she got on the farm was a little crazy for Sniper. He was all excited about a female and a little spunky and unsure of everything. In a freak accident one of the girls was petting him and another stepped on his foot and he turned around and bit the girl petting him. Nothing too bad and really didn’t even pierce the skin barely.
Just to be on the safe side we had to take her to the doctor to get a Tetanus shot. In doing so the doctor told us that we needed to lock both dogs up and observe them for 10 days. After 10 days we would have to bring them in for a rabbis shot because they were having cases of it around here. So we did just that. OH MY GOSH I WANTED TO SHOOT (yes I said shoot) PRINCESSA!! She whined the entire time. All day long for 10 days. I thought I was going to go crazy. It was sooooo loud. At one point she jumped over the inside fence that divided the cage in half. She was tied on a rope because she can break out of the cage. When she jumped over it she was whining and when she got to the other side she wasn’t. I honestly thought she hung herself and I was not upset at all (harsh reality). But she didn’t and she soon after continued to whine. So on the 10th day Natali and I loaded the dogs up in the truck to take them to the doctor to get their shots. Princessa was tied to the truck because she’s unpredictable. Sniper normally stays in so we put a rope on him and just put him in the truck and as soon as we got out of the gate he jumped out. To keep him from running off me and Natali both step on the rope and it tightens around his neck and he starts choking. We hurried to untie it and got him back in the truck (changed our method of tying him so he didn’t choke) and tied him to the truck so he would stay in. Im learning to drive a stick and so we take off in the truck and I stale out right in front of the doctors office (just thought it would raise the stress level a notch, why not).
The doctor comes out and is going to give the dogs the shots right there in the truck so thankfully we didn’t have to untie them and get them out of the truck. He tells Natali to hold Princessa’s head while he gave her the shot in the back leg. Then Sniper’s turn… Sniper whipped his head around so fast when he stuck that needle in that Natali lost hold of his head and he almost got himself a bite of the doctor. He then looks at Natali and says, “he almost bit me… we would have had to start the 10 days over.” I said nothing but I’m sure my face said, “yea right. You would have had a newly donated pair of dogs.”
So we get in the truck and are on our way home and we look back and Sniper has jumped out of the truck (remember, he is tied to the truck at this point) and is kind of sitting/laying in the middle of the road. We stop, run after him, and he takes off running. He will generally follow the truck home but we didn’t want to take the risk because we were a little further from home than normal. So we put him in the back seat of the car and made it home safely.
So we let the dogs out on the farm. Yes! No more whining dog in the cage, shots are done, and all is good. Not an hour later, one of the workers comes and gets us and says that Princessa just trotted by the kitchen carrying a rabbit. She has killed 2 rabbits in a matter of minutes and has earned her way back into the cage. More whining! They always say it takes a lot of discipline to discipline because it normally is just as painful for the one disciplining. Whoever said it was probably talking about children, but I am here to tell you the same applies to dogs! Only a few hours later the girls come and get us and are in a panicked state … Sniper has massacred all 6 ducks. Yes, it’s true. Feathers everywhere, bodies on one side, heads on the other, the worse murder scene I have ever experienced (this trumped the rabbit murder scene only hours before). So then Sniper earned his way back into the cage. That night Princessa broke out of her cage and killed another rabbit. We are now duckless and down to 1 rabbit. Poor rabbit, I’m sure she fears her life at this point after watching all the others be killed.
After only hours of freedom these dogs (and all of us having to suffer through the whining) were right back where we started 10 days ago. We experienced 9 deaths in one day and for all that we know there has been no reproducing of dogs happening thus far (this may be God’s sovereignty over these 2 bloodlines ending). Who knew that while Mrs. Pam was gone to the States it would be the animals causing all of the drama and the girls behaving rather nicely.
Men, you can have your dang best friends…
