Reason #363: Hell Dog

Posted at August 12, 2010

Dokie - which means "Dog from Hell" If you have been following this blog you might know that I lost my dog recently. He was a two year old beagle named Cash. He was hit by a car right in front of the house. Sad, but life goes on. So much so that Lily convinced me to adopt another pet. He is a dachshund (here we call them “salchichas,” or “sausage dogs”). The previous owners claimed that they could no longer keep him in the condo where they lived. After a few weeks with “Dokie,” it is beginning to become painfully clear why they wanted to give him up. By the way, I didn’t give him the name Dokie, but I think it must mean, “dog from hell.” In short, the dog is a terror. First of all he is completely disobedient right down to the core. You call him, he runs the other way. He is still young, so he wants to gnaw everything down to sawdust. He pees everywhere. He constantly barks at the slightest movement or noise and won’t stop for hours. Finally, he is what we call in Costa Rica, a “perro bravo.” In short, he bites. He is extremely territorial and anyone new that comes around is viewed as an enemy and a threat. In fact I believe he might also be blind, because he keeps mistaking me as someone new that comes around. He bit the housekeeper. I have never really been enamored with little dogs. They often seem to try to make up for their size by being as mean as possible. Come to think of it, little people often do the same….just kidding! One thing Dokie does have is personality. He trots around on those four little legs with his head held up high and nose to the air as if he were Louis XIV, or some similar audacious monarch. And he will not eat dog food, oh no. He demands the stuff right from the table, or garbage can, or else he goes on a three-day hunger strike. Personally my attitude is, hey if he gets hungry enough he will eat. But there are others who are more sympathetic and who sneak the damn dog table scraps, further ingraining his high-falutin habit. Is there anything I like about Dokie? Well, let me think…sure. When he looks up at you with those big sad eyes that disguise the deviously wicked thoughts that are lurking just behind them, you can’t help but love the little guy.