Bubba – We lived in Chapala, Mexico and this how we got him

 

Bubba

Ok, so,  this is the whole story about how we got this super good  dog. Who turned out to be a fantastic addition to our family. 

We were living in Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico. It was June 2009. We were working at our friend Richard Tingen’s  “Caldwell Banker Chapala  Realty”. When I was in the office I would take a little coffee break and go around the corner to a little sidewalk cafe/restaurant/coffee shop and get an espresso. 

One morning there was this good looking black and white Shepard mix dog sitting right next to an expat guy. The dog just stayed close to him getting petted and scratched. No leash or collar, he just sat right next to the guy, who I thought was his master.  I said to myself, “Wow, that guy has a good dog.”

Well the guy gets up end walks over to his SUV and there are his two dogs in the SUV waiting for him. He gets in and drives away. The good looking black and white Shepard mix goes down to the busiest intersection in town and watches the traffic coming from all directions and when he saw a break in the traffic he scooted across the street. (He’s that smart)

I asked a lady who was sitting there still enjoying her coffee, “So, he is a stray?”

She said,  “Yes, and he is a sweetie. Everybody loves him.”

Well right then I decided that I wanted him. I went across the street but couldn’t find him. I looked up every alley and side street but he was gone.

Later in the week I’m sitting there sipping my hot espresso and the big black and white Shepard mix comes up and sits right next to me. He apparently had deemed me to be the petter and scratcher of the day. He leaned up against me as I was pampering him, sort of telling me that he liked it and wanted more. A couple the regulars started telling me what they knew about him.

There was a scar all the way around his neck. They told me that there had been a thin tight rope around his neck that apparently had been there from when he had been younger and smaller. It had been tight enough that it had been kind of choking him. They had removed it but the marks were still on his neck. He had a tic that made him snap his nose sideways every two seconds or so. The guys didn’t know anything about that but we all guessed that most likely was a result of the tight noose that they had removed. 

I asked one of the waitresses to bring him a bowl of water. He looked at the waitress and at me, kinda saying thank you, before drinking it up. My phone rang and, damn it, I had to get back to the office right then.

I wasn’t going to be gone long and I asked the other gringos to “Please keep him here until I got back. I want to take him home.” They all were happy to help.

When I got back my new buddy was no where to be seen.

They told me that he had gone over towards the lake and then they lost sight of him. I got in my car and went that way. I saw a crew of workers patching up the street and asked in my weak Spanish if they had seen him.

They pointed up the road and got it across to me that he had gone that way and went as far as  that little bodega, aka convenience store, and had turned up the side street. I went that way and when I thought that I was at the right spot I looked back to the boys and they had kept track of me and were pointing to my right trying to tell me that he had gone up that side street. Good guys.

I looked up the street and there he was! I whistled and waved for him to come, and he did!

He ran right up to me and wanted some more petting and scratching. I opened the door to the back seat in my car and waved/pointed in trying to get him to jump in. Well, he obviously had never been in a car before and didn’t know what to do. So, I picked him up (only about 50 lbs. at the time) and put him in. As I started driving home the look on his face and his actions said that he was wondering what the hell was this going on. But after a little bit he sat up, real proud and was liking being driven around by his new chauffeur. To this day if he see’s a car or pickup with an open door he pulls me towards it wanting get in and go for a ride.

When I, we,  got home I told my wife that he had followed me home. She laughed. We lived two miles out of town. 

How Bubba got named Bubba

He immediately became a protective big brother to Stella, our ultra spoiled little boston terrier princess. Stella just plain didn’t like other dogs, but, this big boy was being real nice to her while keeping his distance a little, while all the time watching out for her and being obviously protective. Well, after a little bit Stella accepted him.

That’s when Judy aka Gammy, my wife, named him “Bubba” because he was now “Stella’s big brother”.

Where we lived in Mexico, in the Chapala/Ajijic area, the weather is just about perfect every day and during the day we all left our doors open. When we tried to get Bubba to join us inside he would stop at the door and not come in. Well after a little bit he would come inside but as soon as Gammy started to sweep the floor he would scoot out the door and stay outside until Gammy was done. Then cautiously tippy toe back in. We guessed that someone had used a broom to make him stay outside and never come in their house.

The first night we got him to stay in the house he saw Stella jump up in bed with us and so he did too. Well, that’s when we learned that he had nightmares where he would lie on his side, asleep and rapidly gesture with his legs like he was running real fast. Often he would be howling or barking at the same time. He still does it to this day, ten years later.

We took him to a vet to get his shots and to try to find out about the tic and if anything could be done about it. She said that he had distemper and it was far enough along that she felt like a shot for it would only make it worse. So, we got him all of the rest of his shots. We asked how old she thought he was and her guess was 4 1/2 years to 5 max. That was July 2009.

There is a real good and generous organization in the Lake Chapala area called the Spay Neuter Clinic that does free spay and neuter services for pets. We took him there and the real nice staff worked with us and got Bubba “fixed”.

More about the distemper. When we moved back to Texas a year and a half later, and took Bubba to our vet. She noticed the tic and we told her what the vet in Mexico had said about distemper. The look on her face said that she wasn’t quite buying that.

She said, “Let me check on that” She went to her office and came back saying he should get a distemper shot.

Of course we said, “Yeah”.

The next day the tic was gone.

A little about Bubba’s past life

One morning when we were walking Bubba a gardener working on one of the houses in our little subdivision stops working when he notices Bubba and looks at us. He asks in Spanish if we had that dog since he was little. I quietly said to Gammy,  “oh shit! He’s someone else dog.”

Someone who obviously hadn’t treated him very well. So, I said, in English, that I was sorry that I didn’t understand Spanish.

Well, he then says to me in almost perfect English, “My friends had a dog like that. They called him Scoobedoo.”

Bubba heard that name and lowered his ears and his head like he was trying to hide.

The guy went on to say that they had “thrown him away three times.”

I asked “Why did they throw him away?”

He said that “he didn’t get along with the other dogs. “

I shut up and we went on our way.

We learned over time that Bubba likes female dogs of any size and male dogs smaller than him. He does not like male dogs his size or larger. So I guess that’s what was going on at that house that “threw him away”.

He hated any men in a uniform of any kind. Even the gas men and garbage men. Especially the police. So we were pretty sure that he had been abused when he had been roaming the streets. That went on for a couple of years even after we moved back to Texas. I’d be walking him and a garbage truck would go by and Bubba would go ape. Barking and snarling at the men and the truck. He got over it over time.

He walks up to everyone we meet wagging his tail and wanting to make a new friend. He now has a lot of friends in our neighborhood. Everybody remembers Bubba and calls him by his name.. Me? Not nearly as many.

Bubba’s Houdini and Shepard  side

We quickly learned that Bubba was an escape artist he could jump over fences and walls, or dig under them. He would always come home,,,when he wanted to. We learned to just leave the gate open and sit on our “teraza” (patio) enjoying some wine or a margarita. He would always come home sooner or later. Strutting thru the gate. He especially would come home early if we were getting supper ready out on the grill. 

The side of our subdivision was adjacent to a cattle ranch and we were friendly with a  couple whose property backed up to the ranch. On our morning walk with Stella and Bubba the lady comes out and tells us  that we have a real smart dog. Then about Bubba going out in the field and rounding up the cattle and making them stay together. Then he would sit and watch them making sure that they stayed put. Then move the herd over to some other spot and keeping them there for awhile. Pretty soon he he got bored and ran off in the direction of our house.

Back in Texas

If he got the slightest chance he would get away. I would go looking for him but if he saw me and he wasn’t ready to come home yet, he would run off. After a little while of that I would go home and leave the front door open. Like we learned back in Mexico. One time after I had posted on our neighborhood website asking for help our good friend, Lorraine, calls me and says that she has Bubba in her car and is pulling up to our house. She had put her real friendly female dog, June, who Bubba really liked, in the car and brought along some treats. She had “no trouble” getting Bubba in the car. Bubba loved her and June. How’s that for a good friend.

The Bubba home security system

Bubba knows the sound of the cars of the neighbors around us and if a neighbor gets a visit from someone with a car that Bubba doesn’t recognize he gets up and starts barking to warn us about an intruder to his hood. If the doorbell rings or someone knocks he goes ape barking telling us and the ringer/knocker that this isn’t right. 

He loves all kids and especially our kids, grandkids and great grandkids. Whenever any of them come to visit he recognizes the sound of the car and the voices. His tail starts wagging and he stands at the door excited to see the company.

He’s 14 1/2 – 15 years old now and has slowed down quite a bit. As have I. He can’t jump up on the bed or into my pickup without help anymore . He can hardly get up on the couch. But he still does and snuggles with his head-on Gammy’s lap as we watch television.

 

He is on pain meds for his hip and back arthritis. Special food for his bladder and Kidney stones that make him drink more water and need to pee more often. He won’t hardly pee in his back yard so I walk him 4 times a day to keep things flowing. Plus it is good exercise for both of us old gents. We love him. He is a super good, super smart part of our family. We were very lucky when he “followed me home”.