Bonding Over a Dog

So I may have mentioned in another post that we ran into a stray dog at one of the places we visited.  It is kind of out of the way although relatively close to the resorts.  But it isn’t marked so it doesn’t draw a significant number of visitors.  We tend to look for places like this thought so maybe it was fate.

We noticed food and water dishes that were full so obviously someone was taking care of him.  But we decided to first buy him some dog treats under the assumption that all dogs like treats, right?  I guess the fact that he does get food and water means that he can afford to be picky so he took the treats but buried them in the dirt.  He didn’t really come close to us but he didn’t run too far away either.

There were some other guys there and one of them was one who feeds him on a regular basis.  We found out that he was about 1 year and four months and had a brother with him but that his brother was hit by a car so he’s been living in this place all by himself for some length of time.  It was clear that he knew this guy though because he did come running over to see him and got some attention which was good because all dogs need people.

I did look at several websites for dog rescues.  One thing that is nice to see is that the treatment of strays everywhere has improved since there were several places.  Found one site that would actually work with you to get a stray back to the states.  We actually did consider it but decided he might have a hard time adjusting and we don’t have a fence and I could see him bolting and that would just be awful.

We did end up back at the grocery store to by cans of dog food rather than the treats.  We stopped by today and gave him a can. When he saw us move towards his dish, he came running but kept his distance until we moved away and then went full force on the food.

Later in the day, since our room hadn’t been cleaned, we stopped back to see how he was doing.  We ran into another guy who had also just fed him and we chatted some more.  Turns out there was a female with five puppies and they caught her and three of her puppies but this one and his brother avoided capture.  He told us that they had tried several times to trap this one so he could be brought in an adopted out but had no such luck.

It was funny because he saw us and instantly figured we were the ones who brought the dog treats that he hadn’t eaten.  We ended up talking some more and I think this guy is eventually hoping that the dog will come to him so he can bring him home even though he has six other dogs.  Right before we left, he called the dog and the dog came up to him and actually sniffed at the two of us and licked my hand.  He does seem friendly and gentle and obviously likes human attention although he’s been feral for so long that he’s still skittish around people.

We said goodbye to the dog and our new friend and went on our way.  We had booked a place for dinner and it finally hit me that the shirt this guy was wearing was the same restaurant we were going to eat at.  We thought it would be so funny to see him again and, as luck would have it, he was checking people in when we arrived and saw us and did a little double take but gave us a very warm greeting.  Turns out he actually owns the restaurant.

He came by to see us a couple of times during the night as he worked the room and we talked some more.  We actually asked him if he wanted the remaining dog treats for his dogs since our stray didn’t seem to want them and he said that would be great.  At the end of the evening, when our bill came, the waiter told us they had given us a 30% VIP discount.  Not at all what we expected and my wife was a little embarrassed.  I told her that sometimes people want to do nice things for you and sometimes you just have to take it and say thanks.

So, we did leave him the dog treats and a hope that he would eventually find a way to take the dog in.   Sometimes, we introverts can actually connect with strangers.  But it helps when there is a dog in the middle.