Job Discussion Forums

[Guy Courchesne]

I just couldn't let Nov. 7th, 2007 be known as A Day Without a Mexican post on Dave's.

[Dragonlady]

deleted

unrelated to TESOL

[Guy Courchesne]

Odd...mine reads

Wed Nov 07, 2007 9:13 pm Post subject: A Day With No Posts

Must display differently for each person?

[john_n_carolina]

when you first set up your account, it asks you what time zone you are in. i think GMT is standard, which is near England if i remember my time zones.

[Phil_K]

[TheLongWayHome]

I just couldn't be arsed.

[notamiss]

Would you like to hear more stories about my dog and my ex-dogs? I can talk about them all day.

(Spin-off from "Saving Money" thread.)

ETA: Hah! That seems to have nicely killed the thread. People who know me hear the words "my dog" escape my mouth and suddenly they have pressing business elsewhere. It's odd...

[TheLongWayHome]

[notamiss]

This is actually my first dog and I don't know too much about breeds. Our dog came to us from God's great pet shop in the street, and she turned out to be a lucky fit. We are fortunate to be able to keep her outside so we don't have indoor considerations. In your situation I think it would be best to do some research for recommendations. Don't forget to check for shedding characteristics as well as suitability for indoors and for children.

We found her wandering around the centre plaza of our town just around the time when we were thinking about getting a dog, but that was a piece of tremendous luck. If I were looking for a dog now, I'd also check animal rescue organizations.

[TheLongWayHome]

Thanks for the advice, especially about the shedding. As much as I would like to give a street dog a home, it would be a bit risky with the kid, and the ones round our way are sinfully ugly. One looks like a cross between a dalmation and another street dog... no wonder they call them perros amarillos.

[Samantha]

I am in the pro street-dog camp. Three street dogs adopted us about a year ago, after apparently showing up in the neighborhood one day, and have turned out to be the most loving and protective animals we could have found anywhere. One little bossy blonde one, the neighborhood named "Pasita" is in charge, and two bigger black ones "Negro" and "Negra" (how original) gave her the respect. (Negro had to be put down recently because he had a tumor, so we took care of making sure he enjoyed a big last meal, and called the mobile Vet.)

Pasa is small enough to squeeze in and out of our gate. We put an end to her puppy-bearing days when she had 10 of them on our doorstep. (Welcome to the hood!!) I don't think most street dogs are vicious at all, and cannot figure out why Mexicans are so afraid of them. They might be ugly on the street (so would you if you never had a bath or a decent meal or drink of water) , but they bounce back and become handsome (?) creatures with food and care. Negra had a tumor which we had treated and now she is fat, happy and shiny, unlike the skeleton that existed when we moved here.

Don't rule out a street dog...they have lots of love to give. We have our own "indoor" dog, two kitties from the streets, and a parrot we also rescued. None of the original pets are too amused with the extra street dogs who have made themselves at home in the front yard. I won't mention how much we spend on pet food and care. Let's just say we have a well-protected house.

[GueroPaz]

Street dogs. Thais don't generally have much respect for dogs, and their word for street or alley is soi, so we expatriates talk about soi dogs. We inherited a nice guard dog when we moved into the neighborhood, and he likes to get in fights. But, as in Mexico generally, he's an outdoors dog. I think in tropical climates there's little reason to bring a dog inside at night.

When I lived at the beach in Chiapas, I'd run down the road on a bike that the dogs liked to chase. One day there were 2 or 3 yelping at my bike, and the front wheel clipped one dog who didn't die, and I just kept going. Next day at the same point, there was not a dog in sight, because either the dogs or their owners decided the gringo loco might kill a few!

At an outdoor memorial service at Acteal, I closed my eyes during a long prayer and when I looked, there was a 40 kilo perfectly groomed dog next to me! I knew it wasn't one of the village curs that would have been chased out by the pacifists. Sure enough, it belonged to an extranjero.

We have a Korean family here with two yard dogs: Chihuahuas! I talk to them in Spanish but they only speak Korean!

[notamiss]

I'm a big fan of street dogs, too. It's not necessarily a question of choosing the first mangy mutt that crosses your path, but of keeping an eye out for a likely candidate wherever you go.

Our veterinarian says that street dogs offer a little extra love and loyalty because they somehow sense how much they owe us for taking them from the street and giving them a home. Whether it's true or not, it's nice to believe it when your beloved dog came from the street. And I think a similar principle must surely hold for dogs obtained from rescue organizations.

[cangringo]

I have to give a shout out to the street dog thing as well. I would so love to adopt all of them but it's not possible in our situation. We picked one up in Monterrey and she was a rambunctious but lovable puppy. We didn't have the room for her and gave her to some friends with a farm and she so happy. We picked up another on our way to La Paz out of necessity for the dog...she was just a puppy and would have been dead within weeks, possibly days. I have to agree that so far we've found the street dogs lovable and fantastic pets. They have so much love to give and have been deprived of that for long enough that they really appreciate having loving owners who take care of them.

We don't give preference to cuteness either, I think they are all beautiful in their own way but I'm a dog lover from way back. I say, take the dog that is most in need and you'll be happy you did. If you do find a dog that looks unhealthy at least take it to the local vet or find out if there's some sort of shelter that will take it. There is a shelter here started by a Canadian woman and they have saved many dogs from a hellish life on the street or certain death.

Also, we will be taking our puppy back to Vancouver with us shortly. Our Canadian dog took a little adjusting to the adoptions but she has been an angel about the whole thing.

[notamiss]

Nearly 9 pm and no new posts today, Sat. Dec. 15.