The short story is ... we now have a German Shepherd named Raisa. She used to live on the other side of the fence ... one of three houses that border two sides of our yard (crazy lot lines). On Friday, Saul was kneeling in the grass, hacking a coconut with his machete when he met Raisa's eyes. She beckoned him, so he brought a piece of fresh coconut to share with her. She gobbled it down as though starved, so he ran into the house to tell me. My friend from Colorado, Susan, was visiting for the week - so we both ran out and saw she was skinny, had no water in her drinking bowl, the yard hadn't been "scooped" in a long time and she was generally living in a mess. So, we fed her ham and cheese sandwiches and lots of water thru the chain link fence.
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As it turns out (and there is much, much more to this God-story), the owner had not been home for 15 days and she was left unattended. At some point during this time, our gardner learned that Joachin was in the hospital with broken ribs, broken hip and other assorted injuries from a fight. We don't know how often she was fed or given water during his absence. All we know is she was in bad shape when we first saw her.
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Joachin's cousin drove him home from the hospital on Friday (the day we saw her) to get some things he needed to stay with the cousin to recuperate. At our request, our gardener asked if Joachin was willing to give up the dog. He agreed to let us keep her if he could breed her and keep two of the pups. We said NO - she will be spayed - soon (if you give her to us). I am not positive he will let us keep her, but adjoining neighbors told us to say "no" if he asks for her back. Pretty simple in their minds, but we are considering this simple plan. We don't think he wants to get in a fight again.
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Reports from other neighbors regarding his treatment of Raisa are not good, so she is a rescue of all kinds (hunger, abuse and neglect). We gave her a flea bath, removed some "fat" ticks, powdered her, gave her a pink collar (yea, another female around here). She stood for the bath, and the boys and John and I all particpated in soaping her up and rinsing her off. Our friends, Wil and Karen (big dog fans) helped us flea/tick powder her and advised us about dog nutrition and many other valuable nuggets (hahahaha). We had a BBQ last night and ate on the lawn on a big tablecloth with three candles, and Raisa didn't storm through it or even try to interrupt. She sat at a distance and smiled.
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Earlier in the day, the neighbors who told us to not give her back immediately noticed that she was in our yard. They told each other, "Look! There's Raisa in their yard, and she's smiling!" We don't know how old she is, but we believe she's pretty young - still a puppy in many ways - great teeth - and she has had one litter (her last).
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Join us in praying that she's ours and there is no contest over her. We don't want to give her back. We hope that during the time Joachin's body heals, he will make a connection about what it feels like to be kicked and hurt.
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We are John, Helen, Nahum, Gener, Saul, Louie, Isidro and RAISA.
