Presidente (the local beer).
For a few years, I’ve been working to find a worthy cause for me to spend my time and resources helping, and I’ve always had an affection for animals – in particular, dogs. While on our trip this time around, we came across an incredible group of humanitarians who, among other things, have dedicated their time and effort to rescuing and helping stray, homeless and abandoned dogs in the Sosua and Cabarete area of the North Coast.
Raylene is as much of an animal lover as I am, so she was thrilled to be able to spend a few days volunteering and helping out at Judy’s Pet Lodge, which has become the default ‘shelter’ for the area since there is no government-run animal shelter. Judy, a truly amazing woman, runs a pet boarding business, and ends up getting all the local strays and abandoned animals. She takes care of them and works to get them adopted out to worthy families, and pays most of the cost out of her own pocket.
Raylene and I are going to be helping out in the future, trying to further the efforts that Judy and her staff are making.
While we were there, Raylene fell in love with a little puppy that had been recently dropped off that was abandoned. He was only about a week old, and was infested with fleas, ticks and his skin had been penetrated by parasites. After the parasites were surgically removed by Dr. Bob, the vet, Raylene spent a lot of time bathing him and nursing him back to health.
And thus, a new addition to the Habstritt family!
We ended up making the decision that we would adopt this little critter, and bring him back to Calgary with us.
This proved to be a bigger decision than we thought, since it required buying Raylene a new plane ticket home on an airline that would allow a dog to fly with her.
In the end, we got our new little baby home, and he is doing incredibly well and getting along with Sophie, the queen of the house.
He already knows his place, and it’s a lot of fun to have another puppy running around.
His name is Bear, (full name is “Bearo Perro as “perro” is spanish for dog) and when you look at the photo, it’s easy to see why. He looks a lot like a bear cub, and we expect he’s going to be about 30 pounds. People ask, “what kind of dog is he?” And the answer is, he’s a Dominican.
Street dogs are very common in the DR, and over time so many different breeds have been bred together, that there really isn’t a breed associated with dogs in the Dominican. They’re a mix of breeds that are generally very smart, calm and tough because of the need for them to be able to survive on the street.
I’m sure his pampered surroundings in Calgary are a big change for him from what he saw back home .. but I don’t think he’s complaining!
Bear is now a constant reminder of the Dominican Republic for Raylene and I, and yet another reminder of why it is I love animals so much.
I’ll post in the future about our efforts to help the animals in the Dominican Republic, but in the mean time I’m glad to be back and I promise I’ll be posting on the blog more regularly!]]>