from tour guide to puppy whisperer

I've neglected my blog for several days, and while I doubt it's caused you to lose sleep or made a major dent in your days, I do apologize. I really enjoy blogging and I've missed writing and updating photos, but you see, I've been a bit busy. Bill's parents arrived on Tuesday for a brief visit, and between playing host, tour guide, mom, and foster parent, I've had zero time for anything on the computer aside from puppy placement efforts. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Since Bill's mom (Wilda) had never been to Vieques before, and Bill's dad (Bill Jr) hadn't been here in ages, and never as a tourist, just for work (military), the kids and I showed them round. We went past the famous chapel (see a previous post for that funny history), to the former military bunkers where munition was stored, the huge ceiba tree, the lighthouse, the Fortin (where Robert Rabin, the curator whose history class I had attended a few weeks, approached us and a really interesting encounter ensued since Bill Jr told him all about how he had testified in his confirmation by the US Senate a few years ago, when being confirmed for his position as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, that in his opinion Puerto Rico's status as a commonwealth is unacceptable for so many reasons...), lunch at El Resuelve, an impromptu stop at the archaeological site where the 4,000 yr old human being's remains were found, and where we found abandoned puppies, a trip to the Humane Society with said puppies, an afternoon at Media Luna beach with our friends, and then off to Esperanza's Malecón (boardwalk) to see the sunset over a piña colada. Good thing we did all that their first day because if you were paying attention here, or if you are a Facebook friend of mine and get my updates, you know that once we stumbled across the puppies my life as a Tour Guide came to a grinding halt.

Now, if you've known me for more than a year you know I am not a dog person. I do not appreciate dogs jumping up on me, or dogs shedding on me, or slobber, or barking. I don't have much patience for people whose lives are dictated by their pets (eg people who give up a chance to go to Paris because their dog will have separation anxiety). The kids always begged for a dog and I steadfastly replied "OVER MY DEAD BODY." It was as non-negotiable as their eating Lucky Charms for breakfast or getting a Wii/Nintendo DS for Christmas. As unlikely as my ever running for political office. Well, I guess 2009 was the year for me to pull a Senator Kerry move and flip-flop, because not only did I agree to take in Penny the Puppy but I also ran for office (and lost, thank God).

The Humane Society told us they could not keep the puppies - if I left them that day (Wed.), they would euthanize them before nightfall. Now, remember, I am not a dog person, but I could not imagine killing these poor things and I figured surely I could find them homes so I begged them to pardon the puppies until Thursday (24 hours) while I worked on finding them homes. They sadly agreed. The whole thing cast a somber mood over us and Bill and I agreed that night to foster the puppies until we found them homes. This was no easy decision, because as I said, I'm not a dog lover, but on top of that, we are living in a borrowed home and the owner (who, incidentally, owns the W Hotel here as well as the Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona) just might have a cow if she finds out. On top of that, my MIL, Wilda, is allergic to dogs, and it was a hardship for her (she had an asthma attack that night), but she was incredibly gracious about the whole thing.

I have had several inquiries about the puppies, but so far only one person has committed - the friend of a friend of a friend, who got the email chain. She lives in Torrington CT so I will have the puppy flown to her on March 26th. Turns out that to get the pups to mainland US, it's Puerto Rican law that they receive a medical health certificate from the vet exactly 10 days before their flight. The Humane Society has volunteers who get the dogs to San Juan, and the new owner pays for the flight (in cargo) from San Juan to wherever they live. Apparently Continental Airlines is the best for this, as they allow dogs to fly without a human chaperone. Bill's colleague, Stephanie, who is also working on this W project, is a complete angel and has agreed to be a mule to bring pups to CT. Her first voyage as a Puppy Carrier will be March 26th.

I have to admit that these puppies are absolutely adorable. Three seem to be from the same litter (2 blondes and one black); these 3 are probably about 7 weeks old, the multi-colored one (we call her "Feisty") is a bit older. Willo absolutely loves Negrita (black one) while Jackie is partial to Honey (blonde with white strip on face). Feisty is the only one with a committed owner - the others are still up for grabs. They are incredibly sweet, affectionate, great with children, healthy (they've had 1 round of vaccines and I've de-flead and de-ticked them). We can't keep them here indefinitely though (we'll be here till April), so if we don't have committed owners/fosters for them within a week, I'm going to have to come up with a Plan B (a no-kill shelter on the main island, eg). I admit I'm tempted to keep one of them (I'd keep all of them if money were no object!), and I suppose I must at this point come to terms with the fact that I can no longer claim to not be a dog lover. *SIGH* Yesterday Bill and a couple of his colleagues came over and we had a beer and watched the dogs frolicking round the yard as the sun set, and I thought, there's nothing better. But this whole thing has also made me even more conscious of how important a cause the whole dog/cat thing is for a society. I used to be in the camp that said, help people, they're more important! But now I realize that while Puerto Rico has several crises on its hands (pitiful schools, drug addiction, gangs, unemployment, domestic abuse, teen pregnancy, trash... the list goes on and on) - the Pet Issue is a major one. It reminds me of back when Giuliani was NYC's mayor and he decided to clean up the graffiti and people criticized his decision, saying there were much worse problems. True, he said, but if you clean up the buildings and show people how important it is to have pride in your environment and take care of it - this pride and concern spreads to other areas such as crime etc. If Puerto Ricans made sterilizing their pets and treating them properly a priority, I really do think this sense of humanity would naturally flow over to other areas and issues. And it's an issue that can be tackled relatively easily and whose effects can be felt relatively quickly. I'm thrilled to hear that the W here has a fund to support the local pet sterilization efforts. One can almost understand the tendency to litter, be lazy, and generally settle for far less than mediocre, when the place is overrun with cats and dogs and even something as adorable as a puppy or a kitten is considered disposable.

OK, must go jump in a pool now. If you can think of anyone interested in a puppy (they just need to pay its airfare), please send them this link!