A New Dog and Beyond

The weekend went along rather well. I tried to rest, and for the most part I was able to. My wife, as usual, cooked the best dishes in the whole world, and I just sat with her, talked, was available, joked, laughed, etc., with her all weekend long. We sat in our porch, watching the sunset while drinking tereré. She had some discomforts on Sunday, and we decided it was time to see the doctor. Please pray for her health and safety.

When we married, we had two dogs: Loli, a female poodle, and Keeper, a very old German Shepherd, a gift from my in-laws. A month after our marriage we bought Raisa, a beautiful female mutt-like Rottweiler (she looks like a mix of Rottweiler, Doberman, and German Shepherd). With time, Keeper the German Shepherd died because of his old age, so Loli and Raisa became the two only dogs we had.

Later, one day both Raisa and Loli got in heat. All of a sudden, we had Canine National Convention in our backyard ;). Every stray dog from miles around got into, or at least tried to got into our home (Unsuccessfully, I might add; the bitches were all locked up). One of the dogs wanted somehow to stay at our home, and my wife took a special liking to him. This was a smallish dog, with long body, very short legs, and a long, curled tail. He had the peculiarity of making some noises with the throat, so we called him “Ronqui” (from the Spanish roncar, to snore). He liked us and was a very good guardian. The funny thing was that he was collared, but showed no intentions to go back to his home.

Problem was, Ronqui liked the streets too much. One day he escaped, only to come back two weeks later. We admitted him back, but with the understanding that if he escaped again, we would not let him in back. We took a dog from nowhere, without a clue about his health, his vaccines, and so on; if we were to have this dog, I told my wife, we could not afford him to go back to the streets, where he could pick all kinds of parasites and diseases back. Well, last Tuesday he escaped again, and we knew that we wouldn’t let him in.

Meanwhile, my brother in law, who bought Hummer (Raisa’s brother), asked us if we could have him in our home. He was getting married and moving to an apartment, and he liked our expansive backyard for his dog. At that time, since we already had a male in house (Ronqui) we had to turn him down. He called again while Ronqui escaped, and yesterday he came with Hummer, who at once was very happy to see his sister and having a big backyard all to himself.

Now, guess what: While I was waking up today, at around 6.30 am, I heard a ruckus on the front. Hummer was barking like mad. And there it was, Ronqui, trying to get in. My wife noticed him, and asked me to get him back; and with a very heavy heart, I had to tell her no. We made our choice and the dog made his, too. She cried, and I comforted her. I understood the heavy heart she had.

My wife loves her pets. I know and understand; she was raised in a family where the dogs were real helpers in the house, and very protective of the children. I also share her appreciation, because I was raised in a similar family, and I had the opportunity to raise a Dalmatian who had won all the possible awards in its lifetime, including the title of FCI International Champion.

I am going to call my wife now, to see how she’s doing, and comfort a little more that tender heart of hers. Thank you, Lord, for giving me such a precious gift; allow me to be a good steward of our marriage.