Ducha’s Puppies

I’m in love with a little dog named Ducha.

The first time we ventured to the North, fell in love with the place, and bought our lot, there was a cute little puppy hanging out at the hotel named Ducha. She was so precious and I spent as much time as possible holding and hanging out with her.

On successive trips I was always excited to see her, and she was excited to see us too. By the time our house was built and we moved in for six weeks in May/June of 2009, she started hanging out at our house every day. Technically she belongs to the hotel nearby but we fed her and loved her, so she spent as much time as she was allowed at our place.

We spent those six weeks feeding her, went home for 5 weeks, then returned to Nica for another three. By September Ducha was the best fed and therefore best looking dog around, nice and filled out with a shiny coat and a springy step. We werent’ the only ones who thought so. By the time we returned in November, she was pregnant!

We were a little sad she was knocked up because she looked unhealthy. Her fur was falling out in places, she had no energy, and her usual spunk was missing. We cared for her of course, and tried to feed her as much as we could to give her energy to have her pups. We heard that the last time she had puppies, she had almost died. We were worried.

The caretaker at the hotel Chevello promised to look after her. He had been there the last time she gave birth and said he actually had to reach in and pull out one of the puppies that was stuck. I trusted him completely and knew she would be in good hands.

I also really wanted to be there. I had to leave on the 19th to be in Fiji by the 21st for a photo trip, and asked Chevello when he thought she would have them. He said either the 19th or the 20th. I hoped for the 19th, and my hopes paid off. I was all packed up and dressed for the airport when Chevello came and told me that i’d gotten my wish. We rushed over to his house to see the beautiful 5 hour old puppies, all six of them.

Ducha was tired of course, but we brought her food and she wagged her tail at us happily then stood aside to show off her babies. I had never seen puppies so young and was so upset that I had to leave and get on a plane. Chevello promised that he would take good care of her and them. Ryan and I picked out two puppies that we would keep. The little brown one that i’m holding and the little gray one. Chevello would also keep two and the other two would go to the hotel.

All that was back in November. It’s February now and while I thought I would have been back to Nica in January, I still haven’t been able to make it down there. My friend Joe just returned from a trip and sent these photos of our two pups.