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Elsa – Until we see each other again

Published on February 22, 2025 by ibindarteLeave a comment

Ah Elsa, I really thought she would outlive the others. I had visions of her as a grumpy old lady walking the streets of Sicily with me in the early morning. I would dream of putting her in one of those doggy backpacks and a helmet while Rodrigo drove us around Europe on his motorbike.

She was so healthy and fit. I was not ready for this. Although, I’ve been preparing myself for the day when each of them would die one by one, but I never thought Elsa would go so soon. The Fantastic Four is one less.

We were not planning to keep Elsa. However, When Belafonte died, we decided to keep her. I just looked back at the first post about Elsa. I can’t help but laugh at how she was compared to how she grew up. Elsa was always the healer. Whenever anyone had an injury or feeling sad, Elsa was right there giving licks to ease the pain.

Impish Elsa

She was also very intelligent which meant she became bored easily. As many know, a bored dog gets into trouble. In the house she was fine always sleeping. Outside her high prey drive would cause me grief. Marvin would always follow her and that’s how she became “The Brain”. Marvin being “Pinky”. On walks with the 4, Rodrigo and I had to be on the lookout for any small animal; cats, small dogs, and of course city rats. We had to be ready to distract Elsa or she will try to escape and chase after the small animal. This would of course get Marvin excited. Suddenly, they all are barking and jumping causing a scene. Even when we were not with the dogs Rodrigo and I would still spot small animals and comment on how Elsa would love that one. Elsa was a true Giant Schnauzer. The Schnauzer was bred for pest removal, cow herding, and guarding. She wasn’t much of a guard dog. However, she did try to herd cows when we were in the country. Unfortunately when she saw a cow or herds of cows or even horses, she would herd them far away from us. Well, maybe it was more like she chased them for a half mile or so. There were so many times when I thought she was lost forever because it would take her some time to return. She never never came when I called her. She locked in on her objective and didn’t stop.

She also LOVED to swim and fetch sticks and tennis balls. She could play fetch all day long. Elsa and Flora didn’t get along often but when they were fetching they were the perfect team. They were true sisters. They had an inseparable bond, but they also had their intense differences. Flora typically instigated the disagreements. Oftentimes it was because Elsa was lagging behind and Flora would push Elsa along to keep up with the group. Typically Elsa would walk away when things got tense, but there was one day when Elsa had enough. I noticed things were tense and I jumped in at the wrong moment. I put my leg in between them and Elsa bit me. Years later I still I have a scar from her bite. It’s my forever memory of her.

You could give Elsa a Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon and she would sniff it, think, sniff again, think, sniff, then slowly take it and put it aside for when she was ready to eat it. The others would try to go over and check to see if her Filet Mignon was still there. She would growl, protecting her food. No one messed with Elsa.

One of my favorite stories about her was with this pack of street dogs. Several years ago, we would have to deal with this pack of 5 dogs. We called them Chico and the gang. There was Chico, Pretty Boy, Whitey Bulger, Adolfo, and Kevin Hart. (I named them obv.) They would bark and follow us for several blocks each morning. They never got too close to us but it was stressful. One day Kevin Hart, a short, black, muscular dog, nipped Elsa. She swung around and yelped. I pulled her away and shooed Kevin away. The next day we were at Plaza Colon. The dogs were off leash. Chico and the gang showed up. Elsa started to display subservience towards Kevin. I thought it was odd. Rodrigo started to get nervous. We moved towards them ready to intervene if Kevin or the rest of the gang attacked her. However, once Elsa was able to get Kevin’s guard down, she attacked him! Flora, Zena and Marvin surrounded the two, keeping Chico’s gang from helping Kevin. Obviously after Elsa gave Kevin a few bites we pulled her off.

Elsa had that way about her. Everyone underestimated her. She was the runt of the litter. She had a maternal twin, Persephanie. The two of them were always pushed away by the other pups in the litter. Oftentimes, I would have to pull either Bela, Marvin, Apollo, or Dmitri off of Zena to let the twins eat. When they weaned off of Zena I made a separate bowl for Elsa and Persephanie. They eventually came to expect me to assist and would wait patiently for me to feed them.

As Elsa grew older, she got her revenge on her greedy siblings. While everyone was eating, she would growl at a location. This would alert the others. She would get more intense which would case the others to run and bark towards the direction she was looking. Once they all left to see what it was that concerned Elsa, she would steal all their food.

Hole in My Heart

Elsa has been gone only a few days. After 11 years, it is hard to explain the hole that sits in our house. For 11 years, she would sleep stretched across our pillows with her paws hitting our heads, and snoring in our ears. God, did she love to sleep which she earned the nickname Sleeping Beauty.

Eleven years of playing ball with her. Eleven years of trying to call her back from chasing something. Eleven years of her barking when it was time for treats. Eleven years of her coming home from a walk and sitting on our back stairs to bark at all the dogs on our block. Eleven years.

I keep thinking about something Janis Joplin said at her concert in Calgary July 1970 just after she sang “Ball and Chain”. My dad inherited this album Joplin in Concert from his best friend Jimmy Reed. I would listen to it all the time ever since I could remember. She had many life anecdotes but this one stuck with me. “If you got a cat for one day man, say maybe you want a cat for 365 days right. You ain’t got a cat for 365 days. You got it for one day man. Well I tell you that one day man better be your life. Because you know you can cry about the other 364 but you gonna lose that one day and that’s all you got. You gotta call that love.” I got 11 years with Elsa. I’ll cry about the missing other years later.

Details

I am assuming some of you would like to know the details of her death. So here it is:

February 1st Saturday night, I noticed Elsa had swollen glands, conjunctivitis, and a serious ear infection. We called our vet. They said to watch her and if it seems serious to take her to a 24 hour hospital. If not, come in on Monday. We saw the vet on Monday. She started to have trouble walking. Based on her swollen glands on her throat and legs, they assumed it was lymphoma. They took X-rays, ultrasounds, blood samples, and biopsies. They give her a cortisone shot. They gave us a couple more shots to give her while we wait for the results. Few days pass and the exam results show that she doesn’t have lymphoma. We celebrated. We booked an appointment with an oncologist for the upcoming Wednesday just to confirm. Continued with the medication.

Saturday night February 8 Marvin won’t stop bothering Elsa. He keeps licking her. We check out Elsa to see what is Marvin’s obsession. Elsa has lesions all over her back and sides. She is having issues walking.

We go to the vet on Monday. They give her more cortisone.

Tuesday her lesions are worse. We go back to the vet. He suggests we go to a dermatologist.

Another week of visiting various veterinarians taking blood, biopsies, giving us medication, and waiting for results that show nothing. On Saturday February 15 the dermatologist asked us to go to this special blood testing place to see how her white and red blood cell numbers look. Sunday we get a call from the dermatologist telling us to rush her to the nearest 24 hour hospital because according to her blood tests she has kidney failure.

So on Elsa’s 11th birthday February 16, she is admitted to the hospital overnight. The next day take her to another hospital under the suggestion of our dermatologist. After the first 24 hours we are able to visit her. She doesn’t look good. However the vet wants to keep her another day to review the results of her blood tests. The next day we take her home. She is holding on but barely. We called our local vet to euthanize. We spent the whole day with Elsa on our couch. We would alternate having her head on our lap. Marvin sat beside her. At the end of the day, our vet arrived. At 7:20 pm February 19th, Elsa took three deep breaths, pooped a ton, and died. Sort of sums up life; you breathe, you poop, then you die.

My pretty little Elsa

Sweet Dreams Sleeping Beauty, until we see each other again.

Serial Plant Killer

Published on January 18, 2021December 8, 2021 by ibindarteLeave a comment

One of the many things I miss from the US is the variety of vegetables. I won’t go too deep into the economics of food here. Let’s just say the plain and simple is Argentines eat meat and not too many veggies. We have a vegetable store on every block but they carry basics; lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers, eggplant, and a light green zucchini. On occasion, there will be mushrooms and butternut squash.

Adding to the lack of vegetable demand, the vegetable stores are true “farm to table” vendors. If it isn’t in season or grown nearby, it ain’t on the shelves. This is a good thing but it is very limiting.

Many years ago, I decided to start growing my own food. I would buy seeds when I was in the states and then smuggle them back to Argentina. I have tried a for a few years in growing a garden from seed, until this year, I wasn’t successful.

I’m a serial plant killer. I think it is genetic because my mom is a world famous killer of plants. We both killed ficus trees with ease. And, Cacti never have a chance with us. I’m not sure what it is that prevents me (or my mom) from growing anything. We’re both very nurturing and we do care for the plants. They just don’t make it.

This year I was determined to grow vegetables. My determination was strengthened by speaking with a co-worker about her garden and seeing my friends gardens on FB. I wanted to grow all my food so we would never have to buy from the store EVER again!

The last time I was in the US, I bought a packet of seeds from Amazon, “Non GMO Heirloom Vegetable Seeds Survival Garden 40 Variety Pack”. It had everything and then some. It came with a booklet that gave me the full instructions for each seed; how to germinate, grow (amount of water and sunlight), and how to save the seeds for the next growing season. I was so determined to break my title as serial plant killer, I actually sat down and read the instructions.

At first, I was successful! As you can see from these photos;

I was so excited! I had visions of having a cornucopia of veggies. I thought I’d be giving some to my neighbors because I couldn’t eat them all.

Once the warmer weather was consistent, I moved my sprouts to our roof deck where they would enjoy plentiful sun and rich soil. I planted the sprouts in the planters from previous failed attempts to grow veggies and flowers. Rodrigo made a big planter box thing for me too. I was so proud.

In moving the sprouts to their new homes, there were several crops that didn’t make it. My beans were dug up by Bleu. I wasn’t aware that the vacant planter where I planted the beans was his litter box. My bad! Then the carrots died, the dogs seemed to enjoy their tops. The eggplant had a chance but I guess they were planted in yet another Bleu litter box. I also tried to plant corn and sunflowers in a space that is in front of my office window. I thought at the very least I’ll get to see a few birds pecking at my crops. NOPE! The dogs found the space to be ideal for them to dig a hole and turn it into a doggie den.

I thought at the very least I’ll get to see a few birds pecking at my crops. NOPE! The dogs found the space to be ideal for them to dig a hole and turn it into a doggie den.

So what am I left with? Well, that’s the other fun part. Either I did a bad job at tagging the germinating seeds, or the seed company labeled the seeds wrong. What I thought would be summer squash turned out to be zucchini. The arugula seems to be brussel sprouts, but I’m not sure. What I originally thought was another type of bean seems to be a vine like arugula. My red cabbage is maybe red kale or something like it. I have no idea when my cauliflower will ever produce something or maybe it is not cauliflower. The cherry tomatoes, so sad, I have one strong brave tomato. Since I took these photos, the 3 tomato plants have met their maker. The other challenge is I’ve been dropping seeds from peppers and other veggies I’ve purchased. They are starting to sprout in the planter box. The challenge is I’m not sure if the seedlings are actual vegetables or weeds. I will have to wait and see if and when they grow.

What I will say is I have a new appreciation for farmers. I started this process in July, the southern hemisphere’s version of March. It is now January. I have eaten a few leafs of lettuce, 2 zucchini’s and some of the vine arugula. My zucchini grows to two inches long and then dies on the vine. All the other stuff has yet to produce anything. This growing stuff takes a long time! There is so much work to get just a few “fruits” of your labor.

Life, Death, Rebirth

I replanted a few things in one of Bleu’s litter box. Apparently he doesn’t mess with succulents. Oddly they were on their last leg. When I moved them, they started to liven up.

Here are a few plants that came with the house and I haven’t killed. I attribute their longevity to leaving their care to Rodrigo.

Here’s a little shout out to those that tried but didn’t make it.

I’m not sure why I keep this ficus. I guess I believe it will come back to life.

This was lavender. Zena and Bleu love to poop here.

We actually live in the city but I feel like a farmer when I visit my “crops” on the rooftop.

So this is Christmas…

Published on December 25, 2020February 22, 2025 by ibindarteLeave a comment

This is the first year in a long time that we are not spending Christmas in Paso Grande. Our little cabin in the middle of nowhere is a place where we can finally take a break and relax. Naturally, our dogs and cat love it there. They are able to run around and be.

But this year, due to the virus, if we wanted to travel to San Luis, (the nearby province where our cabin is located) we would have to register with the government and go through a whole series of forms. In addition, the cabin is near a river where many people visit during this time. Even if we were willing to be on the government registry, I am not willing to be in an area where there’s a ton of people. We’ve been lucky to dodge the virus all this time, I would be so pissed if we caught it now.

So here we are in Cordoba sweating our butts off, watching movies, drinking, and waiting for my family to call me on FaceTime. Today isn’t too much different than any other day. Which got me thinking, what is Christmas? People get so upset about Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas. They stress about finding the right gifts and making the day special. I think this is why Christmas is one of my least favorite holidays. I’m not a fan of holidays that come with high expectations; New Year’s, Valentine’s, and Xmas. When a certain day has certain expectations hanging over it, you can bet your last dollar it will not go as planned.

“So here we are in Cordoba sweating our butts off, watching movies, drinking, and waiting for my family to call me on FaceTime.”

So, what is Christmas? It’s the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ? A celebration of Winter Solstice? Or is it a holiday to promote spending and high expectations of the perfect life? If anything good has come from this virus, it could be that we’ve realized how family and friends are important. Thus, Christmas is a time to appreciate the people close to you. We should celebrate that we all got through a long ass year. It’s a time to stop and remember all the good in the world and forget about the bad. What’s the Christmas spirit? To spread joy, give to those less fortunate, and believe in hope. Those tenets, aren’t specific to one religion, it’s universal.

Why do we have to wait until December 25th to have the Christmas spirit? Why can’t we try to maintain those 3 simple tenets all year long? If we all embraced this thinking all year long, would the world be a better place? I think so. The whole world has gone through an unusual crisis. WWII was probably the last time that most of the world suffered together. I hope we all can learn from this crisis and start caring for one another with no politics, and no greed.

Today while we all get drunk and eating excessively, and dreading tomorrow’s long lines to exchange the gifts we received, raise a glass to all our loved ones near and far. And don’t forget to believe in better days.

https://youtu.be/p8hdZVoLHrk

Love in the Time of Covid

Published on July 25, 2020July 25, 2020 by ibindarteLeave a comment

It’s been a very long time since I updated this blog. It was on my to-do list when the pandemic hit.

PHOTO-2020-07-25-16-21-43 — Me trying to write this post with Flora and Zena

Every time I was inspired to write, my dogs would pull my attention away. Even now they are pawing at me to pay attention to them. However, after writing several new and updated procedures and policies at work, my inner Shakespeare was ignited. God, I love a good policy and procedure.

Weeks before the whole world went nuts, Rodrigo was panicking. He suggested one of us should go to the states and try to ge my mother to stay down here with us to wait out the virus. I foolishly said, this is just media hype stop watching the news and it will all blow over. The day it hit the US, I panicked. I tried to catch a plane to convince mom to stay with us or at the very least, to have her 6 when she tried to buy toilet paper. I had a flight, then it was canceled. I got another, but then Argentina announced they would be closing its borders. Debating to go and wait it out in the US for the month or stay down in Argentina, I stayed. Good thing too. Rodrigo would have been stuck here for months with those crazy dogs. However, my mom was and still is alone. It bugs the hell out of me every day. Being torn between two worlds sums up most of my stress.

Argentina’s shut down was far more drastic than the US. We were not allowed to travel more than a 500 meters from our home. We could not be out past 9. Only emergency workers and grocery store workers were allowed out. They had to carry a document proving they had a right to walk past their 500 meter radius. Everyone else could only go the pharmacy and grocery. They said this would be in effect for 2 months.

So, I implemented a project plan with swim lanes and multi-step tasks for how we would survive for 2 months. Like many, I positioned this as a time for growth and to catch up on all those things I’ve been meaning to do.

Screen Shot 2020-07-25 at 4.22.05 PM — snapshot of project plan

First, I had Rodrigo rush out to the Mercado de Abasto Córdoba, the wholesale market for restaurants and grocery stores, and buy boxes of vegetables and meat. We spent a whole weekend oven and fire roasting vegetables, packing them in oil, and canning. I felt like Laura Ingalls getting ready for the winter. We also made and froze agnolotti, gnocchi, and spring rolls. Rodrigo decided to start making sourdough bread. We were the quintessential upper middle class Americans who have watched too many apocalypse shows and movies.

This shut down did pose a problem for us. The park where we took our dogs every morning was out of our 500 meter radius. The police were everywhere stopping people and checking where they live and if they had a right to be out. If you are caught in an area you are not supposed to be, you could be fined heavily or sent to jail. Seriously. We had to take our dogs out for walks. They are insane without a walk. The issue is within our 500 meters we have several hospitals, grocery stores, fire station, and several police stations. There are just too many people going to work at 5:30 am for us to feel safe. Plus they need to run.

We decided to go to the park anyway. At the park there was absolutely no one around, better for social distancing and they can run. We kept a keen eye for police. It was also easy since they drive around with their lights on. When we would see the police, we would jump behind a car or dumpster or into an alley. After a few weeks of this, our dogs would automatically hide when they saw the police. So I guess I did train them.

Walking there has been surreal. We leave at 5:30 am. It is winter so it’s cold. We’re bundled up with masks. All of us on high alert for the police. Flora walking like a hell beast clawing out of hades. Marvin a total spaz, bouncing from one side to another, “oh smell this, oh look at that, oh what’s that?” Elsa at attention looking for cops and/or cats. And Zena, walking like an old European lady after a long lunch. When Queen Z stops to check something out, there’s no moving her.

One early morning we are across the street from the park. We just need to cross the street. Queen Z decides she needs to stop and smell something. We can see the blue lights about 1/4 of a mile down the street. Rodrigo freaks. “Come on let’s go!” But I can’t. Zena is impossible to move when she wants to stop. Rodrigo grabs the 3 kids and runs to the park leaving me alone with Zena. At 5:45 in the AM, I’m screaming wait, wait, frantically looking back at the cops driving down the street, and holding onto Zena’s leash in a squat pulling her like a tug of war championship. If these cops see me, I’ll either get fined, or go to jail. I blanked. I got into child’s pose and hid under Zena. I know it is hard to imagine. In child’s pose I can get real small. Zena is the size of a pony. She kept smelling while the cop car slowly drove past us.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, if there is ever a zombie apocalypse I know now that my husband will leave me for dead.

I’ll leave you with THE song of Covid 2020. I can’t stop watching this; it makes me happy.

More to come. I’m inspired!

The story

Published on June 6, 2016February 22, 2025 by ibindarteLeave a comment

Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of Belafonte’s death. I started this blog mostly so I can heal. Oddly each time I stopped to write this story, I just couldn’t get through it. I would end up avoiding it so much I would not even write about his babies or any story for that matter. So tonight I’m writing this. I have to I have to get it out. I’m moving on but not forgetting. I’m crying but healing. Here it goes.

We moved to our current home in January. There is a gate separating the sidewalk and street from a long hallway about 60 yards that leads to our front door. Right next to this gate is a butcher shop. The owner would allow his dog, a Chow, to roam the streets all day long as he worked. Of course this dog came to believe the whole block in which he roamed and hung out all day, would be his domain. As Belafonte and Zena would go out with us regularly this would become a problem. The Chow would follow us as we would leave our home. He would growl and make very aggressive postures towards Belo. Belo deal with the Chow by walking backwards watching the Chow or just ignoring him. On occasion a growl would come out of Belo as to say enough already but Belo would always keep walking.

For months, we had painters at our house working every night after work as to not disturb me during work. Our puppies grew up with painters. We actually gave one puppy to the owner of the company. Oddly as I write this, they are back fixing a few things. I told Rodrigo that under no terms will the dogs leave my sight while they are here.

Anyway, I was working late trying to finish up a few more things for work. It was around 8 pm. Rodrigo had Belo outside while I had Zena, Elsa, Flora and Marvin in my office. One of the guys left the gate open by the street so Rodrigo walked down to lock it, Belo followed. Belo was always happy. He loved to skip around and prance. I imagine that is what he did when he followed Rodrigo to the gate. I like to imagine that he was prancing and skipping on the sidewalk just before.

Rodrigo said the Chow suddenly leaped at Belo and a fight started. Rodrigo pulled Belo away and had him like a bounce would have someone they are trying to control. Belo was on his hind feet back to Rodrigo’s stomach, with Rodrigo’s arms around Belo’s chest. The Chow still trying to get at Belo. As Rodrigo walked away from the situation with Belo still on his hind legs and chest exposed, the butcher came running out of his shop with a knife. The butcher lunged at Belo and stabbed him 2 times. One hit under his arm/leg and the other to his lung. If Belo moved, Rodrigo would have been stabbed in the chest.

The stab under the arm hit an artery, I guess because the blood was everywhere. It covered the sidewalk. There were pools of his blood everywhere. I woman who worked at a convenience store two doors down ran into my yard screaming. I ran down to the street to see blood everywhere and my husband yelling call the vet. Our vet is a half a block down the street, he showed up to the scene just as I saw my baby lying there in a pool of blood. I ran to him as Rodrigo picked Belo up to run to the vet’s office. I grabbed my neighbor to watch our puppies while I ran to the vet. The trail blood to the vet’s office was like a scene from a horror movie.

There Belo was on the table, dead. His amazing big tongue that was always hanging out when he played, laughed and just being was purple and lifeless. He was still warm when I grabbed his already stiffening body toward me to hold him one more time as I wailed in pain.

As I walked home, covered in Belafonte’s blood walking by his blood on the streets, it was like I wasn’t there. I wasn’t anywhere.

For months I would be washing dishes, cooking doing just regular stuff thinking and feeling and I swear seeing Belo right next to me. I would just fall to the floor and cry. Poor Marvin got the worst of it because he looks just like Belo. I couldn’t look at Marvin without crying. To this day if Marvin looks at me just right, I’ll break down.

The murder of our Belafonte, impressed many in our city. There was a demonstration for the Justice of Belafonte just days after.

Today we are still awaiting trial. Rodrigo pushed to have the butcher tried as a murder of a non-human under our Sarmiento Law. They were going to prosecute the butcher for just destruction of property. I hope this case will help others who have lost their dogs due to some evil F*cker.

I will always keep Belo in my heart. When I’m in Buenos Aires I can’t stop but think of all the wonderful times we had. He was by my side everyday. We were a team. If it wasn’t for him, I probably wouldn’t have adjusted to this new life in Argentina. He made me a better person. I love you Belo.

My baby

Published on February 20, 2016February 22, 2025 by ibindarteLeave a comment

It has been hard for me to write this. I need to do it. I know I do. I started this blog because I needed to get my thoughts out about my Belo. Yet, I haven’t been able to get past a few lines of thoughts without crying. It has been nearly 2 years since he was killed. It still hurts.

How we met

Belafonte was my very first dog. I didn’t plan on having a dog. We just moved to Argentina. I was traveling a great deal for my job and Rodrigo was very busy with work and traveling to Buenos Aires for school.

One night I was walking through the downtown area on a cool spring night happy that I was able to finally resolve an issue with my cell phone. This was a great achievement because I didn’t know the language well and for me to finally be able to communicate made me very happy. I started to walk towards my husband’s office. He was getting off work soon and we planned to have a nice night out and a romantic dinner . And then saw him, my Belo, in a cage on the sidewalk in front of a vet/pet shop. As I walked by the cage I saw a big ball of black fur, and suddenly this little head with big sad striking eyes pops out of the ball of puppies. He looked straight at me and I stopped. He got me. I called Rodrigo to tell him about this adorable puppy. Rodrigo immediately said hold on I’ll be right there. At this moment, it didn’t cross my mind to adopt a puppy. Our lives were so busy and we were just starting out. When Rodrigo saw Belo, he didn’t hesitate in deciding to bring Belafonte into our home. After a brief talk with the people adopting we found out that Belo’s mom was a Giant Schnauzer. His dad, well who knows.

We scooped Belo up. I put him in my coat and held him close to my chest. He was scared and cold. He cried so much. That night Belo cried and cried the only way to keep him quiet was for Rodrigo to keep his hand on Belo’s back while Belo slept on the floor next to our bed.

Who would ever have thought that this tiny scared puppy would become my baby and my best friend and touch my life so great that my whole perspective and priorities and choices in life would change completely.

Marvin – The Lion

Published on January 13, 2016January 18, 2021 by ibindarteLeave a comment

So the minute Marvin was born, my husband pulled him out of the box and said we are keeping him. Marvin stood out immediately. When you look at the puppies you’ll notice one with reddish brown speckles at the end of his coat hairs, that’s Marvin. Rodrigo said he will grow up to be most like Belafonte. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to have Belo share attention with another male. Rodrigo spent months trying to convince me to keep Marvin. Finally we agreed we would work to find someone who would take care of him as much as we took care of Belo and be able to visit Marvin regularly. Obviously things changed and we kept Marvin. Also true to Rodrigo’s prophecy, Marvin does look like Belafonte.

Marvin

Belafonte

I call Marvin my little lion because he sits in front of our bedroom like a lion overseeing his kingdom. His presence just like his dad’s is very intense. Most people are apprehensive to come near him. However just like his dad, Belo, he is over the top playful and happy. He does tend to get over excited and jump on people sometimes hurting them. I am working with him to manage his excitement. One of the reasons I think he can’t control himself is because he still is intact. This is a point of contention with me and my husband. I apparently cannot win this argument.

I remember when Belo was around and Marvin just wanted to play with him. Belo already upset that these little ones were taking attention away from him was not entertained by this mini – Belo wanting to play. Marvin used to do the puppy bow and bark in that tiny puppy bark and then try to growl and jump on him. Belo would just look at Marvin sometimes letting out one loud bark as to say no. I am sure Belo and Marvin would have grown up together well. I was already seeing Belo reprimand Marvin when he did things like try to get into our trash and such.

Flora and Marvin

Every time I look at Marvin, I see Belafonte. When Belo’s death was recent, I couldn’t stop crying each time I looked at Marvin. Poor little guy he probably has some sort of complex. I think Zena feels the same as I do because I do see her look at Marvin and then seem to be depressed. But, Marvin is his own dog and not Belafonte. He is growing up to be the protector of the girls and a great lion.

I think this song best suits him.

Elsa – The Healer

Published on January 13, 2016July 28, 2020 by ibindarteLeave a comment

Elsa also has many nicknames. She is the healer, The Dude, La La, and my little rasta. She came close to being adopted 3x! Each time at the last minute the adoptees decided they would not have the time needed to devote to her.

Oddly, she is the most low maintenance dog ever. She got the little rasta name because it is like she is always stoned. I’ll call and call her but she doesn’t come because she is in a deep sleep. When she does wake from her slumber, she’ll stop and assess the situation to see if it is really worth her moving from her comfort spot.

When she is awake, I swear you can hear her thinking La La Laaaa Laa. Elsa is the other half of the The Dude and Walter team. She of course is The Dude. When Flora is tightly wound or the others are barking and freaking out, she is in the back looking around and I swear saying “Well that’s just, like, your opinion man.”

Most important name she has is the healer. The night Belafonte died, I couldn’t stop crying. Elsa walked up to me and started licking my tears away. The more I cried the more she licked. She stood by me and comforted me.

We were planning to go to an adoption fair that weekend. Naturally I couldn’t give up especially after how she comforted me. Elsa would be the healer for everyone. If someone was injured, Elsa was there licking and comforting. If we see a stray dog weary and scared, Elsa will walk over and give him love. She is the most friendly and most caring of our dogs. She makes me laugh the way she just goes through life enjoying everything. I believe it is why Belo took to her immediately.

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She has two strong characteristics that remind me of her dad, Belafonte. One, she really enjoys everything the world offers. She will stop and smell everything look at everything and everything is just amazing. The other is her passion for playing catch. Just like Belo, she can play catch non-stop. Like NON stop. Her passion almost boarders on a horror film. She enjoys pushing the ball under stoves, couches, and beds so I must crawl to get them. She will also kick the ball into the room I’m in to ensure I see this ominous ball rolling, warning me that it is time. I will always stop and play with her. It still hurts me knowing that I will never get to play ball with Belafonte ever again. I don’t want to ever miss out with Elsa.

As I am uploading all her photos and videos to this post, she came over to snuggle with me.

I can’t say enough about Elsa, she is loving, caring, fun, laid back and a great friend. She doesn’t need much training. Elsa tends to follow her mom which is usually good except Zena has a very high prey drive which now Elsa is following. Each morning Elsa runs the same spot where she once found a cat in a tree. She will bark at that tree all morning if I let her.

Of course Elsa’s song would be Bob Marley …

Flora – La Ladrona

Published on January 6, 2016February 16, 2016 by ibindarteLeave a comment

Ah Flora, put a camera in front of her and she’ll strike a pose. She could easily teach Tyra the right way to smize. We were not planning on keeping her. Actually we were not planning to keep any of the puppies. I was actually looking forward to growing old with my husband, Zena and Belafonte. But, we know how that ended.

She got the ladrona name (the Thief) because she learned how to open doors and jump through windows to get to where she wanted to be. Belafonte used to open doors and jump through windows and I believe that is how Flora learned. I often see her watching us and I truly believe someday she will learn how to use a key to open the doors. Flora is also known to be the number one suspect in the disappearance of very expensive cheese, pate, and a 1/2 a kilo of prosciutto. Yes my babies are gourmandes, would you expect anything else.

She is really good at mimicking others. When people enter our home she tries to give everyone a kiss on the cheek just like we do. Unfortunately she is really strong and a bit of a brute and our guest think she is attacking them.

As you can see she is totally visually different than her brothers and sisters. She has short hair. All other factors her eyes, ears, body type and tail are all the same as the others. She trots just like her dad, Belafonte. She even poops like her dad. Sometimes I think she knows she is different in many ways and that is why she desperately needs to be a part of the group or she will have a meltdown.

Flora came to us in a very stressful way. One day all the pups were out and playing. Zena and Belafonte started to play too. They were a bit away from the pups. Suddenly Flora starts prancing towards her parents play area and tried to play with them. Flora fell as puppies sometimes do. However, this time she fell in such a way that she had a concussion. My heart sank when she cried and freaked out. The worst is when dogs get a concussion it is common that they have a seizure and that’s what Flora did in my hands. (she was that small, she fit into my hands) Rodrigo came home just as I sat there not knowing what to do as she went into seizure. He immediately grabbed her and ran to our vet a half a block from our home.

So our plan was to tend to her and ensure she didn’t have any major damage before we adopted her. We gave her vitamin B and some anti seizure medicine. And because I am hyper sensitive about my babies, I worried that the other puppies would knock her down or she do something to injure herself again. So I kept her with me at all times. She slept on my desk when I worked, she slept with me well actually she snuggled into Rodrigo’s neck. Suddenly she developed a very big personality. When I let her back with the rest of the group, she acted like she was the queen of the puppies. She would take toys and be sure she sat in the highest perch. Flora would also get very cranky if I didn’t let her in a room. She would throw a fit. That is when we started to call her Paris and then my mom called her Channel.

After Belo died, she did NOT want to go out of the house. When we took her for walks with the group, she would cry really loud like she was dying or something. Eventually she got over that. However out on the street, she is in fear mode and is nearly impossible to walk. I’ve been working with her and she is almost calm. Flora still can’t go out alone. I have to take another one of the crew to accompany her and me on the walk.

When we are in the country she is magnificent. She is right near me and will always listen not like the others.

My training challenge with her is her fear. She fears everything and reacts to it in a fright flight way. I hope to be able to document my successful account with changing her fear reactions. She is really responsive to praise and totally needs to be a part of the pack so I think there is potential.

As she develops her personality, Flora gains many nicknames her most recent is Walter as in the Dude and Walter. Flora is the Walter to Elsa’s Dude. But more on their relationship later.

If I had a go cam on Flora, this would be the soundtrack.

Zena “La Reina”

Published on October 16, 2015January 12, 2016 by ibindarteLeave a comment

I call her the Queen “La Reina” because with everything she has gone through she still carries herself with grace and style much like a Queen. In less than an year with us, Zena traveled from Cyprus to Argentina, fell in love with her soulmate Belafonte, then moved from Buenos Aires to Cordoba, had 11 puppies and lost Belafonte. We also traveled across the Andes to Chile. It has been 2 years since she moved in with us and I couldn’t imagine being without her.

Taking trips has always been the norm for us

What more can I say about Zena? She is my best friend. She is a 5 time Gold Medalist in the Nap-Olympics. She does have some heavy competition with her daughter Elsa but I’m sure she can keep her title this year. Seriously, there is no living creature on this earth that is a better napping partner than Zena, trust me. The worst is she will suck you into taking a nap with her. Each morning she wakes me by sitting on my chest sticking her unusually sharp elbows into my ribs and licks my face until I can’t breathe. Then she just sits there staring at me. We snuggle for a while and start our day.

Being with her is relaxing, I actually hear the British Airways Boarding song, Flower Duet from Lakme in my head when we are out for a walk. She is the essence of chill. Nothing phases her. As a mother to 11 puppies, she was a bit overwhelmed and sometimes ran away from them. Yet, was always the protector and tried her best to manage them. She is the best all time dog ever.

Her only issue, she is a very driven hunter. I’m working with her to manage her hunter instincts. Right now, if there is a cat or a cow or a horse or goat or jack rabbit that is in a 1/2 a mile or less radius, Zena will lock onto it and chase it down until it is cornered or runs up a tree/hides. The goal is for her to hear my commands even when she has tunnel vision for the prey. More on my training experiences in later blogs.

To sum it up, do you remember when you were young and you had a tough day you go home and your mom gives you a big hug and suddenly the bad day is gone? That’s Zena. She is like a mom’s hug on a bad day.

How we found each other –

The way Zena and I got together is rather unique. I was always intrigued to know what breed was Belafonte. I knew his mother was a Giant Schnauzer but no one knew his father. So what I used to do to get an idea of the other half of Belo was Google Giant Schnauzer and X breed then look at the photos to see if they matched the appearance of Belo. One night I Googled Giant Schnauzer and Pointer which is what I believe are both Belo and Zena heritage. The top Google response was this photo.

Suddenly I had the same feeling I had when I found Belafonte, instant attraction. I clicked on the link which sent me to an ad asking for someone to adopt her! The only issue was Zena’s location, Cyprus. Just for the hell of it, I emailed Eleni, the poster of the advertisement. We started writing back and forth and the more I knew about Zena, the more I fell in love. Rodrigo and I often talked about getting Belo a playmate since he seemed to strike out with the female dogs often.

When I approached Rodrigo about getting another dog, he said sure sounds great. Then I mentioned that the dog was in Cyprus and well he had an issue. I had to cancel the shared birthday trip to Spain during the month of Nov/Dec I was planning which, by the way cost way more than the cost of shipping Zena but that was my deal in order to get Zena. Through IPATA, I found a wonderful organization based in Cyprus that would help us with Zena’s travel. If you ever need to travel to another country with your dog(s) go to IPATA first the organization provides great information and has references to reputable animal transportation companies. Working closely with Eleni, it took me a solid month to find and arrange the service. It was strange, even Rodrigo was on board with adopting Zena and had no concerns. My mother and sister felt good about Zena too. The only person who had doubt was my dad. I started to listen to dad and thought about backing out. When I wrote to Eleni, she didn’t pressure me but I felt guilty backing out as well as I kept hearing my sister say “F*%K what dad says, why would you ever listen to him?”

I never gave it a thought that maybe Zena and Belo would not get along. I never thought about the possibility she would be a terror of a dog or have major issues. The whole time I wrote back and forth to Eleni about transporting Zena I just knew it was right.

The coolest part is I’ve made a few friends I’ve never formally met because of Zena, the parents of Zena’s brothers. Maybe someday Zena and I will travel to see her brothers and parents or maybe they will come visit us.

https://youtu.be/nDc5-x4Hvd4