“What’s Going On?!”

I do have to say that I’m pretty proud of Bourbon’s guard dog abilities. Last night I would have been pretty annoyed, but I couldn’t help but be touched that he was looking out for me.

I was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep and Bourbon kept flipping out. Apparently, he was hearing stuff that I wasn’t picking up, but that’s to be expected. He’s been sleeping in the other room recently and it started out with him lying there and growling. At one point, I did hear the metal sheet that I have temporarily blocking the porton (so he doesn’t get out) fall down. Our reactions show the differences in our natural instincts:

Hannah suddenly becomes motionless in bed and pulls her covers up to her ears. I honestly was thinking, “If I don’t move maybe I can hear better and they won’t realize I’m in here … “

Well that was blasted all to hell when Bourbon went nuts and started barking and growling. What was cute was that he came into my room and to seemingly check on me. He stayed in the room with me, until, encouraged by his brave behavior, I crept towards the front door to get a feel for whom or what was out there. Actually, his reaction probably had me more worked up than anything. But, after a while it was clear there wasn’t anyone/anything out there and I went back to bed. Bourbon, on the other hand kept growling for a while and then randomly barked again right as I was starting to fall asleep!

Great story, right? That was only part of it. Well, as has become my new custom, I woke up and let Bourbon out at 5 am and then crawled back into bed. I slept in really late this morning and when I woke up again I realized that he hadn’t been bugging me most of the morning like he usually does. Well, I spring out of bed, ready to find the next clothing casualty to sharp puppy teeth, but as I walk out the back door I see Bourbon chilling in the sun with … a friend!

There’s German shepherd looking dog chilling on the back porch. Upon seeing me he jumps up and makes to leave the yard and I encouraged him by following, “tssst tssst” all the way behind. The “tsst tsst” is a bad Honduran habit that I’ve picked up to chase away dogs. I hate when Hondurans do it (especially to my dog), but then I find myself doing it all the time, although in my defense it’s really all they listen to.

Well, Pablo (that’s what I named him) comes back almost immediately. He’s well fed and doesn’t seem to have any weird infections or bugs, so I let him chill out. This also indicates to me that he has a home and that he might actually be loved because the family apparently feeds him. I don’t know why, but there’s something about the way he was acting that was just so desperate and I felt bad for him.

Today I finally painted my room! I was in the house busy painting and the dogs chilled outside for most of the day. It was warmer today than it has been and I found Pablo sleeping in my kitchen under my broken horno (wood fire) where I’m to store my wood. He wasn’t bothering anyone so I let him chill there because it’s cooler.

I have to admit that I did feed Pablo a little bit. I know I shouldn’t have, but I was feeding Bourbon and I felt bad! I just gave him a little bit …

Nothing all that remarkable happened all day. I don’t know what Pablo’s deal is, because he doesn’t seem all that interested in Bourbon and he’s been whining a lot. I left at one point to go run some errands and he followed me. When I came back to the house a few minutes later he was already here, but I think he’s adopted me more than he has adopted Bourbon. Whenever I would go out to check on them he would start whimpering a bit, which I thought was odd. He acts as if he might be in pain. I started freaking out that he had come to my house to die and what in the world was I going to do with a dead dog?!

Towards evening I had finished painting and made dinner. Now that I was moving around more he tried to come farther into the house and I wasn’t having that. Also, Bourbon was trying to play and Pablo started growling at him. At one point, when I sat down to eat, I heard Bourbon yelp and Pablo start growling really loud. I think Bourbon was probably being annoying (he generally is) and Pablo was telling him to knock it off, but I chased him out of the yard anyways. I stood there for a while, making sure he wouldn’t knock down my escaping-puppy-blocker, but the minute I walked away I heard the metal clang and I knew Pablo was back. I kept yelling, “Go home!!” but he didn’t seem to get the clue.

There’s nothing I can do to get this dog away! I brought Bourbon inside and shut the doors to feed him (I felt bad feeding Bourbon and not giving any food to Pablo) and he was still around! Not only that, but he’s guarding the house now too! He’s pretty vigilant, because every few minutes he was barking at something!

I let Bourbon out a little later and there was Pablo on the front porch! People have been setting off fireworks a lot recently (no idea why) and Pablo really doesn’t like that. I was standing on the front porch and the fireworks went off and he came and hid behind me. All of the sudden I was getting tripped up by dogs as Bourbon was trying to play with Pablo and Pablo was trying to hide. Then, it struck me at how absurd this whole situation is … I have a puppy that I can barely handle and now an adult dog has decided to adopt me? I even threw a rock at him earlier (didn’t hit him!) and he came back! Why is he here?

I’m not that annoyed because he’s a nice dog and seems to understand me when I talk to him (usual dog commands) but what I’m really afraid of is myself. If this dog keeps hanging around my dog-liking-self will be tempted to adopt him too and I just can’t afford that! Imagine trying to find someone to dog sit TWO dogs? Impossible! Not only that, but I creeped myself out by imagining that it was Tucker in another dog’s body, coming to visit me now that he can (meaning that he died and that his spirit can now possess other dog bodies, naturally). I’m painting my room thinking about all this and march outside to run a test. Pablo and Bourbon are just lying around and, without looking at him directly, I say, “Tucker!” Now, he didn’t exactly act like that was his name, but he did perk up his ears and move his head. This was more of a reaction than what I got earlier when I tested typical Honduran dog names on him (Doggie, Chucho [which means dog in Spanish] and Toby). He didn’t react to any of the Honduran names.

Anyways, so this is my adventure for the day. I have been adopted by a Honduran dog and I don’t know why. He seems to need something, but I can’t figure it out. I’ll tell you what though, Bourbon is happy to have a companion even if Pablo doesn’t play with him. I’m sure he’ll move on eventually, but I still wonder why he picked us?

- - -

Next Morning

So, do the usual wake up and let Bourbon out, and then I hear the metal sheet clang, “He’s still here?!” Well they’re just playing, a joyful reunion, so I let them go and go inside to sweep and grumble about being up too early on a Sunday. Well, totally forgot that the metal sheet was down and in about 40 minutes I remember. I run outside and of course they’re nowhere to be seen.

Pull on somewhat suitable clothes to go traipsing around Corquin in and grab the leash and I’m off. I haven’t the slightest clue where these two could be and I’m worried that someone has picked up Bourbon and drove off. It didn’t take long for me to find them on the main street eating trash. I grab Bourbon, yell at him, and put him on the leash, all the while telling Pablo he’s a bad influence and to go home. Then, I realize that, not only am I speaking English, but I’m talking to two dogs…
:AHEM: Straighten up my clothes … And to Bourbon, “Bad dog! We’re going home!”
To avoid going through the Sunday crowd in the plazita I take a longer route and the more we walk the more Pablo gets upset. He starts running ahead of us, whining a little bit, but then as we get closer to my house he starts jumping on me and biting the leash. He kept running around us and then tugging on the leash and there wasn’t anything I could do to get this dog away.

We got home and I tried to scare him off, but rocks and brooms aren’t working anymore. He’s determined to stay. Now he’s made me angry and I don’t know what to do. That’s the update. You buys probably don’t care, but I think this is absolutely absurd. Maybe someone will admire Pablo and I can sell him for a lot of money! Just joking … Kind of.