The Tale of Two Dogs

This lovely house that we have in Choma (remember I cried when we moved in!) came with 2 stray dogs.  Yep.  The last people to rent the house had left them.  The guy (Caleb) that rents that small house in the back yard, this small white house pictured below, fed them when he had a bit extra; which by the looks of them wasn't very often.  

When we arrived at our new house there was a dead dog carcass just outside our gate and they had been eating it.  EWWW.  Yeah.  Gross.  The landlord told us he'd get rid of them (I didn't ask what that meant.  I didn't want to know nor did I care).  The kids were scared of them and wouldn't go outside.  The dogs didn't bother us much as they were pretty scared of humans and you could say "boo" at them and they'd run away.  (I'm guessing people probably threw rocks at them when they were out scavenging).  

We slowly learned a bit more from the Caleb, the guy that lives behind us.  We could tell that one was the mom dog and the other her puppy.  I assumed all the other pups had died of hunger.  I found out there were 4 that were given away by Caleb to homes, but this last pup he could never catch.  So it stayed.  The puppy was sort of cute (once you got past the fact of what it had been eating to stay alive).

Now, I'm not a dog person (as my friends know) but still it was hard to see these (more than) half starved dogs around our place!  It was also a pain since my kids finally had this huge yard and they were scared to go out by themselves!  After a month we realized that the landlord probably wasn't going to get rid of them.  Then one day a new dog came into the back yard from the street (our gate is just cast iron bars that they could get in and out of easily).  We figured that this dog was probably the father of the puppy (now when I say puppy- it's an older puppet, but it's still in the puppy stage - but probably just barely).  Andrew was out with the kids when this strange dog came by.  The strange dog was not quite as fearful of us and was more bold and aggressive.  (Nothing happened - but Andrew had to scare it away and bring the kids inside).  So we decided we HAD to put chicken wire up on the gate to keep something like that from happening again.  But then "our" two dogs couldn't scavenge.  We found out MCC's policy is that we could keep one dog.  ONE dog as a guard dog.  We were encouraged to put up the chicken wire anyways and feed the dogs a bit until we could figure it out.  We waited a few days as we didn't want to feed them and have them get too attached to being fed!  I talked to our gardener to see if he knew anyone that wanted a (wild) dog. I was joking.  Who wants a wild dog?! He said he'd take one of them. I knew he had a few dogs already, wants to be a vet, and lived on a farm, and actually fed his dogs real dog food.  Not a bad home for a wild dog so, I asked him which one he wanted… and he said either.  So we decided to try to keep the puppy and sent him with the momma dog.  (I was still picturing her eating that dead dog… and I figured good for her for keeping them alive but I put the scavenging blame on her!)  

The mom dog

Our gardener, Lwiindi, came back on a Saturday morning with a friend to get the dog.  They ran ALL over our yard (front to back mostly) trying to catch her.  For at least 30 minutes (do I have to mention it was hot even at 7am?!) It wasn't a pretty sight and luckily the kids didn't really look until after the dog was caught.  Andrew drove them all back to Lwiindi's in the car as we knew they'd never get that dog way out to that farm on the bike they brought!   I asked Lwiindi what he named the dog a few days later and he said "Cookie."  :)  I'll have to ask him again to see if it's changed.

The day the mom dog left us happened to be the Saturday that we went up to Livingstone (Victoria Falls) for our 10th anniversary.  We felt bad leaving the other dog by herself right away after taking the mom dog away, but we got the neighbour kids to give her some food.  (We're pretty sure it's a her). 

So, now we have this dog, Cookie. (Named by Kate).

Our dog, Cookie, on the back step.

She's kind of cute but she's still untamed.  We figure that she's NEVER been touched by a human.  I thought the following Monday after we got back from our trip that we'd load her up, take her to the vet, get her vaccinations, get rid of the fleas that I'm sure she has, and the worms too?  And that would be that.  I realized really quickly that wasn't going to happen.  There's no way we could catch her to take her to the vet!  So now we're on project "Chan the dog" (Kate wrote it on paper and it's on our wall - Train the dog).  We bought dog treats and we're slowly getting her to come closer and closer to us (Andrew or I).  I was making progress - I had her getting it from about 6 inches away from me.  But then she started barking at me like crazy (she wanted another) and I didn't like it.  Andrew took over.  (I think I lasted like 3 times!)  He's slowly been working with her.  And now Cookie follows Andrew around like a puppy dog…. LOL!  He got her to lick the treat in his hand just before we came up to Lusaka.  She didn't actually take it out of his hand though so he eventually had to put it down on the ground for her again.  She still barks at the kids when she thinks she might get food.  Malachi doesn't seem to care as much but it really scares Kate.  I'm not so fond of it either.  It sounds really scary (she growls too).  Though I finally taught Kate to say "STOP" firmly and WALK away when she's scared.  (She used to run - so you can all guess what the dog did right?! At least, right now, the dog is to chicken to get close enough to touch anyone)!  However, the other day Kate was calling the dog to follow her (though she wasn't so sure when Cookie actually was following her!)    Cookie's started to sit at Andrew and my feet (a couple feet away, with an eye open) when we're on the porch.  Though Cookie was actually almost sleeping near us the other day (without that eye on us).  So it seems like there has been progress.  I told Andrew he has until the end of December to train the dog.  (AKA: get her tame enough to go to the vet!)  In some ways it would be easier to get rid of this dog (easier said than done) and find a new puppy to grow up alongside the kids (and bonus if it's one that was handled as a pup)!

So, Andrew's been reading some tips online about how to train a dog.  They all assume that the dog has been touched by human hands before though!  LOL!  We should be looking up "how to tame a wild dog!"  We figured feeding it is the first step!  When we get back to Choma I'm going to buy some de-worming treatment to put in the dog food.  The dog doesn't seem to be gaining weight even though we've been feeding it for almost a month now.  Though she is getting pickier about her food! :)  She gets dog food for breakfast but because it's expensive she gets Nshima - the cornmeal ball that the Zambians eat - but cooked with chicken broth, and some chicken for supper. 

I also noticed the day before we left that she has what looks to be tics on her back.  It was a good reminder to keep my kids out of the longer grass!

So - prayer request this time is for our dog, Cookie.  That she could become a pet AND get to a vet! And I'm always afraid she's going to get comfortable around us AND still be wild and perhaps bite?  (I told you I'm not a dog person right?!)

You can also continue to pray for our time in Lusaka and our drive back home next Saturday (Your Friday night).

We'd still like a cat.  (Kate seems to be more of a cat person too).  There is a wild one up for grabs... LOL!  But I think we'll try for a nice kitten that we can take to the vet right away!