CancúnTom's Mexico

Introducing Charlotte (Charly) the newest addition to our household here in Cancun. This is the story about how we came to know about her and adopt her.

For the prequel to Charly’s story Click HERE

Click HERE to read Ashlie’s part of Charly’s story, then come back to read our part………written by Suzie

This is our second adoption and hopefully our last for the foreseeable  future.  As we put it, we are all “dogged up”. The dogs in our household outnumber the people 3-2.  Our first adoptee was brought to our gate by a young man looking to make a few pesos for himself.  I fell in love with the 5 week old puppy so we paid him and began our life with ” Dylan”.  He is now 2 years old.  I mention him because he is the reason we found Charly.

I walk Dylan twice a day in various areas of the neighborhood.  My evening walk takes me by some nearby condos.  For the past month or so, I had noticed a young female dog living in the parking lot under an SUV.  She was very shy but was attracted to Dylan.  She would follow us awhile and stop at the corner to return to her “home”.  Again and again I saw this puppy and became more and more saddened with how she was living.  Three weeks ago I came home in tears and said I couldn’t look at what I had been referring to as “the brown puppy” any longer without doing something.

I took some food over but wanted to do something more.  When I came home, my husband Tom said “Come on.  I’ll go with you.  Let’s go see the puppy”.   We took a leash so our intention was clear.  We tried and tried to catch her, cajole her, and entice her with dog treats but nothing worked.

A couple that lived in the condo happened to return home while we were trying to catch Charly and when their car pulled in she ran right over to them.  The couple was Ashlie Dove and her husband.   I walked over and asked if she was their dog.  They said no but went into the following explanation.

They said that a number of people in the condo complex had noticed the puppy and had begun caring for her.  No one could take her in for various reasons but they were feeding her and she had even had a trip to the vet for worming, heart worm medication, and flea and tick treatment.  They indicated that she had an appointment to be spayed the following Tuesday.  That appointment was canceled by the vet and subsequent tries to reschedule have failed.  Ashlie was very gracious to give us 500 pesos toward the spaying since she had planned on paying for it with the other vet.

We decided to take her in temporarily to get her off the street.  Ashlie and her husband  rounded her up and brought her to our house since she was very wary of strangers.  The first night we let her sleep outside thinking she would be more comfortable since she seemed afraid to come indoors.  We have a wall completly surrounging our home. During the night she chewed a hole in our car gate and returned to her “home”.  In the morning, having discovered she was gone, Tom walked down to the condo, picked her up and brought her back to the house.  We then spent many hours reinforcing the gate.

Day by day she became less afraid and more comfortable indoors.  She has a very sweet disposition and is more than happy to let Dylan be the Alpha male.  Once he established his position, they have become great friends and spend much of the day playing with each other.   The picture below was taken on the maid’s day when Charly disassembled the feather duster.  I think her attraction to birds was the reason.

I’m not sure when the decision was made to keep her permanently but I suspect it was the moment we picked her up.

The third day she was with us, Tom  gave Charly her first shower.  She tolerated it well and came out all shiny and clean.  It took no time at all for her to begin to play with toys.  The trick is to define what is a toy and what is a shoe, shirt, hat etc. that is not to be chewed on.  Because Dylan has been such a playful dog, we have plenty of toys to keep her busy.

Early on in our relationship, Charly developed a swelling between the toes on one foot.  We took her to the vet and he determined that it was either an infection or a fungus and gave her a shot of penicillin to get her started. In addition, we needed to give her antibiotics 3 x day for six days, an anti-inflammatory drug once a day for six days, Isodine to wash the area 3 x day and an ointment to apply 3 x day.  Fortunately, she was a very good patient and the problem was resolved.  The vet said that once this was cleared up and she completed her series of immunizations, we could schedule her to be spayed. We went back to the vet in six days to have her foot checked and to get her first immunization.  She will return in two weeks for another and then the rabies injection will follow.  Hopefully we can get her spayed before she goes into season which could be a any time since she is 8-9 months old.

While we were at the vet, we ordered her a name tag which you can see in the first picture.  Hopefully she won’t get loose again (she has no reason to leave) but if she does, perhaps someone will return her.  Mexican families prefer pure bred dogs, and “street dogs” not so much.  often times  the “mutts” are really the smartest and most loving ones.

Our first attempt at trying to walk her on a leash was a failure.  She didn’t seem to understand the concept of walking on a leash.  We came to realize that she walked just fine if Dylan, her pack leader, was walking with her.  So I walk them together every morning and evening.  One of their favorite stops is at a restaurant on Yaxchilan Ave. where they have fish swimming in a stream outside the restaurant.  Charly tries to catch the fish.  She may jump in one day………….?  They also enjoy going with my amiga, Louise and her dog Sombra for coffee on Friday mornings at Tradiciones cafe.  They take good care of us there.  The dogs get a big bowl of water while Louise and I enjoy our coffee.  As spring approaches, we look forward to taking them all to the beach.  Dylan and Sombra love the beach and I’m sure Charly will too.

Charly has brought her unconditional love into our lives and this is now her “forever” home.