Tag Archives: love

Teli Greeting Me

Posted by on May 19, 2012 No comments

I went out to get some fruit across the street. I left the apartment door open but did lock the gate. I wanted to see what Teli would do with the door open and being alone.

I was only gone at the most 5 minutes.

When I to the second floor I could hear her. She was waiting at the gate.

As soon as she saw me she got excited and ran into the apartment. As I steeped onto the 3rd floor she came running back out of the apartment.

Then I saw her big smile. I so love it when she smiles. I couldn’t wait to unlock the gate and greet her. She was just too cute. I was only gone for a few minutes and got a wonderful greeting.

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE MY DOG?!

You can read about Telis’ own stories on The Dominican Dog Blog


Views From My Balcony – Doggy Love

Posted by on June 24, 2007 No comments

>Can dogs fall in love? I never really saw doggy devotion until I observed these 2 semi-street dogs from my balcony. Semi-street dogs meaning that they belonged to someone but they were not considered to be a real part of the family.

They slept in the front of their owner’s door and were fed but not really an integral part of the family. They had the typical street dog look. Skinny and lanky, short haired non-breed dogs.

The main boss dog was the lady. I thought for the longest time that her name was Latrina and could not understand why someone would call his dog the name of an outhouse. Thank goodness that her name turned out to be Ladrina. I never knew the name of the man in Ladrinas life.

They were always together. She was much more presentable than he. She would go into the Colmado for a treat and he would wait outside. She would walk the street and he would follow close behind her. Anywhere you saw Ladrina her man was close behind.

Once the man-dog was hit in the street. My guess is he was sleeping under someone’s car and his leg got damaged. Someone put a few sticks on his leg and tied them with cloth. That was his splint. He hobbled around as best he could. But mostly he just lay around in the park. Ladrina was never far from his side. His leg healed up and his walking returned to almost normal. He had a little limp-drag-swagger to his gait but he did just fine.

At night when Cezar, the burger man, was cooking the doggie lovers were near by but never interfered with the cooking. They were even very discriminating on what they ate. My dog, Sniffy, ate anything. She loved pan de auga (the bread) and she would even eat rice. But these thin dogs of the street were never caught eating these things. (only once did Ladrina eat some bread and that is because she saw my dog eating some and she had to give it a try). One would think that they would scarf up anything they came across but this was not the case.

One day Ladrina was alone. Lying in front of her feeder-humans door. Alone. She looked sad, sort of lost. Very rarely was she ever alone without her man-dog. She walked the park alone. She went to the Colmado alone. She lost the spring in her walk.

Other dogs in the area started coming around her but she would chase them away, which she never did to her man. She looked so lost and sad. Where did her love go?

Finally after about a month Ladrina disappeared. No one saw her. She, along with her man, had just stopped existing.

Did she die from a broken heart? Did they join each other in Doggie Heaven? Did she wander off in search of a new love?

After seeing Ladrina and her man I do believe in doggie love and true doggy devotion.

New Years Eve – When Sniffy Lost her Eyes

Posted by on January 6, 2006 No comments

I forgot a few important things…

When I went to visit Sniffy the first time. I was so afraid. She was laying on the patio. Not moving. I came onto the patio she heard me. She tried to get up. I bent down and she started kissing me. Her head didn’t move much but her tongue was very active! I was so happy. Juan Antonio took pictures. I cannot post them because I do not have them here, they are in Dominican Republic.

Another thing , the veterinarian, he was so good to me. Even though I was American, and supposedly had lots of money. He knew I didn’t have much and he saw how much I loved my dog. He only charged me $600 pesos for a 3 day stay including the medicine! That was unreal. That was maybe $25 US Dollars. Unreal.

OK..back to the present. Gotta go to the Doctors. My hospital visit the other day didn’t seem to work. Something doesn’t seem right so off to the doc. Just my luck!

My first New Year in Dominican Republic

Posted by on January 4, 2006 No comments

Present:
The web site www.colonialzone-dr.com is coming together more and more everyday. The problem now is that I keep thinking of more stuff to add but can’t find all the info I would like to include. I guess I shouldn’t complain as the site hasn’t even been on the net for 2 months. But as always, when I want something I always want it YESTERDAY!

PAST:
My first New Year in DR was going to be great. My friend Juan Antonio came and took Sniffy and I to his home in Bani. We were going to go to the beach relax. Since I don’t have my journal with me I’ll try and remember the events as they happened but I’m sure I’ll mess up on the time line a bit, sorry.

The day before New Year’s Eve Juan Antonio came and picked Sniffy and I up in his Guagua. Sniffy loved it because she had not ridden in a car since we arrived in DR. She loved riding in cars. When I went anywhere she went with.

We went to Juans home in Bani, beautiful place. Sniffy was, of course, afraid of his cat. But she made herself right at home. She never thought of herself as a dog. She was 100% human in her mind.

Juan was going to take us to the playa for the day. So we got all organized and hopped into the Guagua. We were half way there and we got a flat tire. He was fixing it and I was hanging with Sniffy on the side of the road.

There was a house across the street. She spotted a dog and wanted to go and take a sniff. I told her she could go and she was so happy. There was no traffic in the road so she crossed the road all happy. She and the other dog spent a few minutes sniffing and she had enough.

She was crossing the road all smiles (yes, she did smile) when this jeepeta(SUV) came over the crest of the hill, moving fast. It never even slowed down or swerved. Sniffy didn’t even see it coming. She went from a split second of being all happy to being hit with the truck. And there was nothing I could do. I was screaming for her to go faster. It all seemed to be in slow motion. Even by the time Juan got up to see what I was screaming Sniffy was down and had crawled under the Gua gua. The damn jeepeta didn’t even slow or stop!

I drug Sniffy out from under the van. She was covered in blood. One side of the face was hanging off and her eye was gone. The only place that had blood was her head. The jeepeta hit her dead center. It was high of the ground so it didn’t smash her. It hit her head then she was bashed into the pavement and she went under and out the back of the truck. Not one tire hit her! Even though she was hit God was with her. It was a miracle that not 1 tire touched her. She did not have 1 broken bone. It was her head.

The man from the house across the street came running with a bucket of water and I got my towel. We wrapped her head and I held her on my lap. She just laid there. I was trying not to cry cause I didn’t want to upset her. I was talking to her and telling her I loved her.

Juan finally got the tire changed. We got her and I into the back of the van, on my lap of course. She wasn’t moving much.

We got into town and started looking for a veterinarian. There were none open since it was holiday. We drove to 3 different vets and finally he remembered a vet that had an office in his home.

We went there and the vet was home! I got Sniffy into the house and laid her down. I was covered in blood. She wasn’t moving much. Her 1 eye was gone and the other was white and swollen about 3 times its size.

After the vet started looking at her I lost it. I was shaking and almost passed out a few times. That dog was my baby. I brought her with me to live in Dominican Republic. She was about 10 years old at this time. I got her from the Humane Society when she was between 1 and 2 years old. I gave her a breed because she didn’t have one, she was a Miniature Barrel Shepard. She was a bit fat, 13 inches tall and 60 pounds. Funny looking, her back side was a little higher than her front. I worked with her a lot to get her to be friendly, to get her to listen, even to get her to bark took time. After all the work I had me a best friend. She went on vacations with me. The policy was “love me, love my dog”. She went jet skiing and boating with my friends. Even when I received an invite Sniffy was included.

Anyhow…the vet kept her. He said he fed her chicken because he saw she was a special dog. We met up with the vet later that night at the park and bought him a few beers. The next day I went to visit her and called the vet about 4 times to check on her.

We went out that night to Juan Antonios families home to celebrate New Years Eve. I tried to join in, it wasn’t easy. I just couldn’t stop worrying about my baby and feeling guilty for being out and her being in the hospital.

More later….

Some of what I love of DR

Posted by on November 16, 2005 No comments


Couldn’t sleep last night. Who knows why.

I’ve been trying to make a web site but just can’t figure it out so a friend told me to start with a Blog. The big problem is I have no idea where to start…I was born…LOL!

Lets see…Why did I move to Dominican Republic. The weather? The beaches? The people? The beer? Yea..That’s it! The beer is great! But really, I think its the life style there. So many ask me why I would chose a third world country when there are so many other places. I can’t really answer that with a solid reply. It’s just after visiting this country I fell in love with it. When I left my heart stayed behind. Its still there now. As far as I know it always will be.

It wasn’t a man either. Even though those Dominican men are pretty great. Maybe its the attitudes of the people. Most are friendly and giving people. The lifestyle is slow, tranquilo. In general, things move slow. Takes a while to get used to taking life slow. Walking slow is especially difficult. The Dominicans say they can spot a tourists just by the way they walk. Long strides. Walking fast. After living there for a while I noticed this and concentrated on walking slow. It was work at first, very deliberate on my part. But I achieved. When I had to return to USA I really noticed this in the humans here. It’s not easy trying to keep my “Dominican stride” here. But I’m trying.

Anyhow, all I do know is that Dominican Republic is my home. Even if I’m not living there at this time. It is the place I call home and always will. Its not easy living there but then life anywhere has its ups and downs. For me the good out weighs the bad. The good people outward the bad. I love it. I love my life in DR. I can’t wait to return.