Tag Archives: sniffy

The First Week

Posted by on January 11, 2006 No comments

When I got into the country and all through customs with my dog Sniffy and a few extra boxes of belongings (I didn’t get searched, I think they just wanted me and my barking dog, who had to pee, out of the airport). I was wheeling down the ramp to my waiting friends.

They both arrived in separate cars because of all the stuff I had. Good thing, it would have never fit in one car. Of course Uncle Juan had to reprimand me for being s stupid moving to DR when most Dominicans want out. But then he knew me well enough by then that I had a hard head and would do as I wished anyhow.

We got all loaded up and Carlos had the back seat all covered, don’t want to mess up his fine leather seats!. We were on our way to a big adventure.

They made arrangements for me to stay with an Aunt because she had dogs and would be OK with it. Of course first we had to stop and get a Presidente beer. Sniffys first time in a Colmado. She was right at home.

We arrived at the Aunts home and first thing she wanted to tie my baby out back with her dogs. Sniffy would never go for that. She would howl all the time she was chained up. She has never really been tied outside. She’s part of the family. Where I am she is. We discussed it for a while (which I have since learned that this is the Dominican way also, everything that one does or plans to do has to be discussed, “what if this happens”, or “maybe this might happen”, instead of just doing it and moving on. I kept telling them that I could not stay there if Sniffy had to stay outside.

So after it was dark outside, and we were still sitting there discussing where I was going to sleep, I finally got out the number for the hotel I always stayed in. I finally got them to let me use the phone after more discussion that the hotel probably wouldn’t let a dog stay there. I say just call the place and ask. Carlos decided he’d call because my Spanish wasn’t good.

The girl in the hotel remembered me and she asked the boss if I could have my dog, since it never came up before. She came back and said it was OK I just had to stay in a room in the back. Thank God for Apart Hotel Millenium! And also that I do work hard making myself be a memorable person..LOL!

Sniffy was right at home in the place. We went to the cafe and had a late night snack. Then we walked to the Colmado to say hi to some friends. Of Course drank some beer with them. Went back to the hotel, we both got our shower and went to sleep. She on her pillow and I on mine. Not sure if the hotel knew she slept in the bed too! But she is cleaner than a lot of humans I know!

We woke in the morning to Carlos calling to see if all was OK and he couldn’t take me around to look for apartments. So I started making phone calls to people I knew with cars, made arrangements to meet, got my paper and was off to look for a place for me and Sniffy to call home.

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 DR continued

Posted by on January 5, 2006 No comments

Juan Antonio and I went to his cousins home for New Years Eve. They were really nice people. They made me feel very welcome, like I was family. Even though I couldn’t understand much that was being said.

There was a few things that happened that I had to ask Juan to explain. One I remember well was around midnight the women started crying. I was sort of shocked at this. I have always laughed and had fun when the New Year came. I finally got Juan Antonio off to the side to ask what happened. He explained that they were crying for the dead people in the family. All the people that passed. I understood but yet I didn’t, why cry when its supposed to be a happy time. It is some Dominican tradition that I needed to learn to accept, never understand.

One thing I remember well about that night was they took me to see some Cacatas or the Dominican tarantula. I was saying I never saw one. They told me they go out and kill them because they come into the house at night and scare everyone. We went out with a stick and some water. They found a little hole in the ground and dug around. They were so close to the hole! I was really jumpy cause I expected this giant tarantula like the one my son had for a pet, to jump out! I was told the spiders are slow in the day time. I still didn’t trust them. I wanted to put my spider armor on and have a large can of bug spray in hand! Finally a spider came out of the hole. It was the most anorexic and spindly tarantula I ever had seen. Not that I had seen many, but if I was to describe an anorexic tarantula that one would have been the prime example. He same out and looked around (it seemed that was what it was doing) and the stick came down on it and that was it. On to the next hole. I’m not really into killing spiders. I usually put something over them if they’re in the house and let them free outside. But this was a real experience. I was a little jumpy the rest of the night thinking one was crawling in the dark under my chair.

But we had our New Years Eve celebration. We returned to Juan Antonios home and went to sleep because I had to wake as soon as the veterinarian was taking phone calls to check on my Sniffy.

We had to pick her up to take her back to Santo Domingo with me. I had to get home. She wasn’t walking yet. The vet put a newspaper around her foot so she didn’t scratch her face open. In USA they would put one of those cones around the head. But this way worked just fine. I could imagine the headache poor Sniffy had. The way she was bashed into the road.

Her missing eye hole was draining. It was a mess. I had to keep putting drops into it. Her other eye was swollen out of her head so I had to keep dropping that to keep it moist. Her face that was sown up wasn’t pleasant to look at. My poor girl.

When we got her home I let her have my bed. I slept on the floor. I didn’t leave the house for over a week. Then I went out once for a few hours to get some food. Thank goodness for Colmados that deliver. They were such a life saver. My back was killing me having to carry her around. And sleeping on the floor wasn’t very good for the back either. But I had to take care of my girl.

Just a little note here. She did survive all this. She was blind. I was her seeing eye human. People couldn’t believe she was blind because she got around so well.

Now back to work on the web site.
I’ll try and put some Dominican Traditions on the site today. (Hope I can. I’m still feeling yucky after the little operation I had on Tuesday.) I added a few words to the list and some more history stuff.

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….

The Week of the Big Move

Posted by on December 18, 2005 No comments

The final week to be in USA arrived. Everything I had left at the flea market I sold for $50. I didn’t sell my Mobil home so I abandoned it. I sold my shed I built for $1000. All my credit cards had a forwarding address. Had my accounts all in order. All bills paid up. All was ready.

Preparing Sniffy, my humane society dog and best friend. I gave her a breed, a Miniature Barrel Shepard, because she didn’t have one and I didn’t want her to feel bad about that. I got her her flying crate filled with her favorite blanket and her cat bowl. All labeled. She had her traveling pills to relax her. She had all her stamps from Dominican Republic. She was already a Dominican citizen. I took her to the Vet for her papers to state she was healthy for the flight. When we came back to my parents house. My mother was sitting in her room. I went in to tell her Sniffy was all ready. She started crying,”Sniffy is going to die on the plane, she won’t like it there”. She cried over the dog! She never worried if I was going to be OK (this was a family joke for a long time)!

My friends had a going away party for me at the old local bar. My friend, Patty, took a video of it and I’ll cherish that video forever. It was a good time. An end to one life and a beginning of another. When a person moves all the promises of keeping in touch and visiting are forgotten in time. With the exception of a handful of special friends we have all lost touch. But its all OK. Memories of past times are always good.

My family also had a going away-Birthday party for me. It was a sort of picnic in the yard. Then we did a family dinner. It was nice. When we left the restaurant I hugged my grandparents good bye. I’ll never forget this in all my life. When my grandfather hugged me, and he hugged me tight. He whispered in my ear to go and do what I dream. Don’t worry what anyone says about what I do. Then he said, in a broken voice “I’ll probably never see you again. I love you”. It took everything in me not to cry. I didn’t want to break down in the parking lot. *My Pappap is now 93 and I have seen him again. Even when I think of this now I still feel tears welling up.

The day to leave came. Billy Jay and my dad took me to the airport. My mom didn’t want to go, she didn’t want me to go and didn’t want to cry in public I guess. I had Sniffy, the dog, who weighed about 80 lbs. I had my 2 check in suitcases which I weighed to make sure they were exactly the correct weight, I had my carry on piece of luggage, correct weight. I had 2 a large plastic tote box filled with my computer and all that went with it. Got weighed in but it seemed that the scale was a bit off. They let the luggage go but I had to unload some of the things out of the plastic tote. No fax machine and a few other things. Standing there emptying out the box with all the cases and the dog barking in her cage surround me. I’m sure I was a sight to be seen.

So all was done and proceeded to the line to enter the airport. Hugged and kissed my dad and my son. I didn’t cry. It was hard not to when my son and dad both had tears in their eyes. But I did it. Even as I had to stop to get my carry on luggage checked out. I had a box with all my jewelry in it. There was porcupine quill jewelry, coon peckers, a few coyote teeth. Not your normal jewelry pieces. They inspected, questioned and let me through. As Billy Jay and my daddy looked on.

As I flew away from USA I didn’t feel sad. I was so excited to start a new life in Dominican Republic. Then when I saw “my island” I cried, as I always did and knew I was home. The Dominicana Gringa has arrived!