Dog Bless You

The Polecat

Posted by Rhoda Jones |

These things always seem to happen in the middle of the night.

This particular time, I was well asleep, as I normally am, when the dogs began kicking off. You well know the difference between a "There's a person" and "There's something damn interesting" bark. We've learnt this by now, as the dogs don't bark unless there's something.

Pio, of course, races for the outside lights and his gun, but on listening, I realised it was indeed an "There's something damn interesting". Much to Pio's horror, I opened the gate to go check, torch in hand. Barefoot, as usual.

As I opened the door, there was a literal stampede. The dogs charged inside as if Hell Hounds were on their tail, which then made me slightly apprehensive. My first thought was "Snake", as by now, they seem to have learned (touch wood) to stay away from the slithering creatures.

I went out anyway, torch in hand, hearing a racket of some sort. There was fierce scratching and spitting coming from under old Beasty, my faithful old Toyota, and I bent to peek under it.

I think I moved just as fast as the dogs had at that point. This little polecat, about the size of Bear's head, had the ability to put every dog on the run. He was kicking up dirt and spitting like a demon under the bakkie.

Sadly, seeing the black and white, my uneducated brain told me it was a skunk, which caused plenty of hilarity on Facebook when all my friends pointed out to me that we do not have skunks in Namibia. I've now learnt that we indeed do not have skunks here, and that it was a polecat.

Nevertheless, I ran. He was a scary little bugger. The dogs remained inside for the rest of the night, while the little monster no doubt made his way to safety during the course of the night.

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The Gemsbok

Posted by Rhoda Jones |

Honestly, I can sometimes be very daft.

Especially in the mornings, before I've had my third coffee.

Three times a week, I drive down the mountain at about six-thirty, to fetch the staff, and then on the way back, the dogs enjoy a morning run.

But, I'm still asleep and in my pyjamas at this point. I try to keep an eye out for wayward animals that have ventured onto the plot, but in my fuzzy state, I rarely see anything.

It was Friday morning, the 4th August 2017. Bear was unnaturally excited, but I put it down to the fact that he hadn't run the evening before as Pio and I had both been sick and so tired, we just hadn't been able to face a trip up the mountain.

So, we got through our gate, and rather blearily, I opened the door for the dogs to get out. Bear, as always, was out first, and sped out at such a pace, that I knew there was trouble. I tried to close the door, but Jessie was as fast as he and was already out. I managed to close the door on poor Kita, and then had to apologise to her before putting my foot flat to see what the hell Bear was after.

Jessie was close on his heels. She's always stuck to him when running, and not followed any of the others, so he has taught her all the good things. Until today, that is.

Somehow, Bear had spotted a gemsbok far up the mountain - and I mean far. He was close to the top, minding his own business. My first thought was, "Oh, how beautiful," as we only have one gemsbok in the area, poor guy.

And then, much like a bucket of ice water, I realised that gemsbok do not run like kudu. They're fighters. I crapped myself and began screaming for Bear and JJ, to no avail. By the time they reached the gemsbok, I had realised the gun was necessary.

I left them charging the big gemsbok, and he in turn stood his ground and charged back with his lethal horns lowered, and put my foot down. That bakkie has never taken that road quicker, with the poor staff hanging on for dear life.

All I need to do these days is scream "GUN!" and Pio comes running. At this point, he was in his dressing gown, enjoying his first coffee in peace and quiet. But he came running. Luckily, the shotgun has been out and in the lounge. In his dressing gown, he raced back down the mountain, while Wilbard and I headed for the small igloo, from where we could see Bear still charging the gemsbok, then dodging out of his way with surprising agility when the big buck charged back.

Jessie, the idiot, was barking and bouncing around with very little idea of what was happening or the danger she was in, stupid muppet. We watched, holding our breaths, the dance between Husky, idiot mongrel, and gemsbok, before we heard the shot ring out, echoing through the valleys.

Luckily, Bear headed for home almost immediately, Jessie on his tail. The stunning gemsbok seemed quite proud of himself, and stayed right in his spot, swishing his tail. He'd won and was enjoying his spot on the mountain, and had no intention of leaving, for dog or the sound of a gun.

Bear and Jessie lived in disgrace for the day.

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The Python

Posted by Rhoda Jones |

It was five-thirty and time to walk the dogs. Sigh … there are days that I really don’t feel like hopping on the bike and tearing around the mountain with four psychotic dogs who chase everything that so much as twitches a whisker.

But oh well.

“It’s time to walk the dogs, are you coming?” I asked Pio.

“Nope, I’m working on NamScape.”

Great, I would have to go alone – but wait, there was Pieter, my cousin from SA that was visiting.

“Do you want to come with?” I asked him.

“Ja sure,” he said, and off we pottered on the bikes up the mountain.

We crested the first mountain and were sitting on the top waiting for the great galumphing Kita, way behind us. That dog gets fatter and lazier by the day, and no matter what you do, she goes at her own pace. Africa Time takes on a whole new meaning with her.

We just spotted her coming over the top of the mountain and I was starting to free-wheel down the first stretch, which is quite steep, when Piet said to me:

“Your dogs have got something – I can hear them.”

“Shit! Not again.” Seriously, the poor pigs in this place kakked daily. And then of course there was the recent seven grand bill from Coda trying to take on a pig and coming off a sad second best.

I hit the accelerator on the quad and screamed down the mountain, through the dip, up hill and down dale as fast as I could. I could now hear them barking. And – bloody Kita – after taking her sweet-ass time up the mountain she had now beaten me to the scene of the crime. The fatty could move when she wanted to.

I skidded through the trees and down into the valley, narrowly missing being impaled on the bloody overgrown thorn trees that I hadn’t had time to cut back.

I saw what was happening before I could stop the bike but couldn’t actually process it. It couldn’t be my dog, it had to be something else. But no – that was Cady’s striped fur and her long legs sticking out between the coiled rolls of the biggest python I had ever seen. Somehow, without actually knowing what a python really looks like, it had to be one.

You hear stories of them taking dogs but you always think “Ja whatever. It would have to be seriously big to take a dog.”

Cady was almost buckled in half and backwards at that. Her tongue was lolling out and her eyes were black and glazed. It had her so tight in its coils I thought she was already dead.

I won’t forget that first sight of it and the following few seconds that it took me to get around the trees and to stop the bike before I launched off at the snake. What do you do with something that big? How do you stop it? How do I get it off her? My baby looked dead and I started screaming for Piet to hurry up and help me.

I tried kicking it, but it had its mouth over her side and was biting in, coiled around her so tightly that my kicks did nothing. It was like kicking a rock – pure muscle coiled tightly and killing my dog. I saw its tail flip up as it rolled and grabbed it, pulling it backwards as hard as I could to uncoil it.

It actually stopped biting Cady and I saw it’s jaw yawn wide with hectic teeth.

I got a couple of coils off but Cady was lifeless and not moving. I screamed for Piet repeatedly, but this was his first time on a quad in a good few years and he was taking it slowly, not expecting this at all.

When he got there, I was still screaming at him to help. He left his bike and ran. As he later put it, “I regressed to the stone age and used a good old rock to smack it in the head.”

It took him throwing numerous rocks at it and me pulling on its tail like a mad thing for it to eventually give up and drop its prey. I don’t even remember how it happened, but I do remember Cady lolling on the ground, her eyes glazed and she was shaking like a leaf.

I tried to hold her but she had been bent so far over backwards that I was terrified her spine was broken and she couldn’t walk. I was almost crying in panic. Piet continued to launch rocks at the python and chase it with a stick, shouting at the other dogs to get back as they moved closer to see what was going on.

Cady struggled to her feet and tottered off, sitting under a tree. I have a new respect for this little bush mongrel that we picked up on the side of the road – she’s as tough as nails.

The python lay in the bush, not moving. Piet and I didn’t know what to do – how could we leave it there? Tomorrow we would be back for another walk and the bastard would probably still be chilling waiting for the next innocent dog to walk by. Piet grabbed a long stick and started trying to chase it out the bush.

The python decided that it was time to head into the trees and it picked itself up on its tail like it was nothing and curled onto a dead branch. By the time its head was around the branch, its tail was still on the ground and there was a six foot gap in-between. The thing was enormous.

When it got itself up into the tree it lay there and chilled. Piet and I looked at each other – what to do?

Phone Pio. I now had to get up the hill as we had no signal in the valley – and go right past the monster chilling in the tree.

I darted past it and shot up the hill, waving my phone in the air like a lunatic until I got signal. I called him.

“There’s a ten foot python and it almost ate Cady!” I shrieked down the phone.

“Come fetch me, I’m going to shoot it.”

I darted back down the hill, past the python, and asked Piet to watch it whilst I went to fetch Pio. I raced back up the hill on the bike, sliding around corners and spinning up the mountain.

Pio was already half way up the hill with the shotgun over his shoulder – nothing harms his dogs. We turned the bike around on the narrow trail and I jumped on the back, heading back over the mountain and through the valley.

He almost fell off the bike when he saw the monster lying on the branch.

“we can’t shoot it – it’s too beautiful.”

“I did tell you so,” I muttered. It may have almost killed my dog but I couldn’t shoot something that big.

“Let’s call the snake guy.” I darted back up the hill until I found signal again and phoned Francois Theart, our local snake expert.

“SMS me directions, I’m on my way,” he said.

Piet and I stayed in the bush watching the titan of a snake whilst Pio raced home to meet Francois and his mate.

Francois and Mike arrived in a stonking great Land Cruiser, taking on the mountain like it was nothing – however they still had about a kilometer to go on foot before getting to us down in the bush. We ferried them in on the quads and even they were awed by the size and condition of this great snake as it stretched it’s 3.5 meter length across two trees.

Then began the battle to get it out the trees. We were surrounded by massive thorn trees and it was virtually impossible to get within reaching distance of the python.

Pio raced back up to the Land Cruiser to get Mike’s tongs, which on arrival didn’t even fit around the snakes bulk. He then raced back home again to fetch a saw so that we could cut away the trees to get to it as the more we tried to catch it the more it curled up in the thorn trees, ripping its skin. Thorns were imbedded in its body from the lethal trees, and also in Mike and Francois as they tried to get close to it.

Piet grabbed the saw and climbed in with great gusto, sawing branches left, right and center. Eventually, Mike had the tail in his hands and Francois the head, with a bleeding thorn tree in the middle.

Needless to say, there is little left of that tree after Piet gold hold of it.

The python decided to take a crap on Mike’s hands – apparently it’s a defense mechanism. Mike almost vomited, swearing like a trooper as he couldn’t let the tail go even if he’d wanted to.

Francois ID’d the python as a boy by the length of the tail. He really is very clued up when it comes to snakes, and explained to us about the heat pits in the nose and how they build up lactic acid then strike.

His hands were going numb and cramping as he gripped the snakes head in his hands, whilst it tried repeatedly to take a piece out of him.

He also told us that snakes are deaf.

It took a very long two hours to get the python out of the tree and into the duvet cover they had brought for it.

Then began the long trek home, with five people, two quads, a giant snake and Cady, who had stuck to me like glue since the story began. She had refused to go home with the other dogs on one of Pio’s many trips up and down the mountain and had stayed by me, quivering in fear when she went near the spot that she had been grabbed. She has holes where the snake had bitten into her and was bleeding a little but otherwise seemed fine.

We walked back up to the Land Cruiser in the pitch black, struggling to carry the snake, shotgun, backpack, saw, three torches and with Cady sticking so close she literally tripped me up with every step.

All’s well that ends well – we got home, tired and filthy and full of holes from the thorn trees but thankful that our dogs were ok and the snake was safely on its way to a reserve nearby where it hopefully will live peacefully and never make it back to my plot!!!

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Jessie J

Posted by Rhoda Jones |

Jessie came to us through strange ways, as they all do. Carene and Ulrich flew in from Australia to get married on the 7th of December. It was hectic, wedding planning and getting everything organised, and of course, Coda-Doda had to play a part, and so walked down the aisle with us. It was so, so sweet.

But, just before the wedding, they had popped down to Marienthal, and typically, picked up a little rat of a dog. They brought her back to Windhoek, and the little thing bonded to Ulrich. She absolutely adored him.

After the wedding, they spent some time with us in Swakop, and during the day I would baby-sit little "Jakkals" as they had named her, working on her terrible fear and lack of confidence. The first time that she met my lot, she was so terrified, she peed herself.

She was seriously ugly, bless her little heart, and had the most awful tail I'd ever seen. I really tried to find her a good home, and posted on Facebook, and all of those things. In the meantime, Carene and Ulrich were trying to decide if they could take her back to Aus, and when they decided that they really wanted to, they began finding out about the process.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out, and Jessie would have spent too much time in quarantine, when she was already a fragile little girl. So she stayed with me, as they did their rounds of Namibia after the honeymoon.

She fitted in well, and slowly, the timidity faded - but only around us. For a good three months, she peed herself when people walked in or if she got a fright. She was so scared, that she never got a smack or disciplined at all (which was probably a bad thing!)

Carene and Ulrich went back to Aus, and by that time, Pio and I had fallen in love with the little girl. Yes, I changed her name from Jakkals to Jessie J, as I she was so ugly she had to have a pretty name! And boy, did she grow into that name!

She is a beautiful little girl now, with lots of attitude. She's learning to bark when the others do, and they have brought her out of her shell in a way I don't think a human could have. Although, she barks on her way back into the house to hide behind me, but at least she's getting there :) She runs with us, and has never disappeared, luckily following Bear and learning all the good habits from him.

But then, the worst happened. We were en-route to Swakop for our wedding, with all the family, and the silly girl jumped out of the car window and broke her pelvis. We rushed her straight to the vet, where at first they said that that it looked okay. But by the next morning, she was in severe pain, and on x-ray, her pelvis was broken.

It has taken months to come right and she'll probably struggle for the rest of her life, although now, she has amazing mobility and doesn't let it bother her. She runs and plays and only every now and then, when she gets up, do you see that something might be a little uncomfortable.

It is gutting, and I worry about her daily, but she is a happy little thing and loves life! And we love her to bits and pieces.

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The First Zebra (snake!)

Posted by Rhoda Jones |

So, we'd always heard that there are loads of snakes here, but until a good year in, we hadn't seen any. Again, it was of course after dark, and we'd just gotten into bed when we heard Bear and Kita barking. Coda never barks at anything :) and Cady was staying away, wary.

So, it was that bark that said "Something is not right, but it's not human." We dashed outside, grabbing plakkies along the way.

There was at that point a wall around a very small concrete path that skirted the igloos. It was built with the rocks that are here on the plot naturally, almost like s dry-stone wall, and less than a foot high. The sand was then level with it towards the rest of the garden, and you stepped down into that path.

So, Bear and Kita were telling us that there was something very wrong with this rock. We did suspect snake, or scorpion perhaps, but whatever it was, if the dogs aren't happy, then we listen. I stepped closer, chasing the dogs away, and just saw a curl of a body slipping out from beneath the rock, with very distinct black and white stripes. It was a Zebra snake.

Zebra's here are very aggressive, and there is no anti-venom. Sometimes people survive, and sometimes they don't. I know that the flesh goes black as the venom eats it and it rots on you. It's a cytotoxic venom.

I do know that the chances of a dog surviving are minimal, and the venom when they spit, will also blind a dog sometimes, if not treated correctly. So I was not happy.

Anyway, so Pio dashed for the shotgun like his tail was on fire. Now, I won't shoot a snake outside of my yard, but a mamba or a zebra will be, due to their aggression and the safety of my babies. We've done a lot to prevent them getting into the yard, and so, this is actually the first and only zebra (touch wood) that we've had in the garden - or seen anyway.

So, while Pio was dashing for his shotgun, I grabbed the broom and waited, keeping Bear and Kita away from it. It was under the rock, but moving. When he came back, he held the gun ready, and I pushed the top rock off of the little ledge.

That zebra came up spitting, but luckily because of the ledge, he missed us and spat straight into it. He wasn't huge, probably less than a meter, but seriously made up for size with a fiery will to kill anything in his path.

Sadly, Pio shot him. We only used rubber bullets, but they did the job, and poor zebby went to snake heaven.

The following day, the lady that helps me in the house while I'm working, spotted it and freaked, even though it was no longer with us. As I was explaining to her what had happened, Cady walked by me and brushed my leg with her tail .... I jumped about a foot in the air. Me and the maid died laughing after that!

It was only after this experience, that we learned of a local snake handler here that comes and relocates snakes to safer areas from where they aren't wanted. What I did also realise that this is their territory - we're living in the bush, and all that is really required, is to put them back out into the bush and hope that no harm comes of it. In an area like this, education on the habits of snakes is really crucial, and so I joined the local pages on Facebook.

We have since had a few more experiences, but mostly non-lethal.

Kita was spat in the eyes by what we would assume would be an anchietas cobra or a zebra. That was a mad rush to the vets on a Sunday morning at 7am, when she woke us up telling us that something was wrong. We never found the snake, and luckily, as I have saline on hand, we flushed her eyes as best we could while contacting the vet. She has suffered no permanent damage.

We also had a little zebra snake that sadly got stuck on the electric fence and didn't make it.

The other day we had a little skaapsteker in the garden, sunning itself on a rock, and there it stayed. The dogs seem to know to leave them alone, and Cady especially, after the python incident.

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The Porcupine

Posted by Rhoda Jones |

It's been ages since I used this blog, but a recent occurrence made me think it's perhaps a good idea to keep track of all the happenings on the plot, and hey, these mostly include my babies. So I want to try start logging all the funny things that happen to all of us, in our quest to save all animals on the planet.

We've had ups and downs, good times and bad times, over the past few years. But this is one of the things that was really our first memory, or experience rather, on the plot.

It was perhaps in the first month that we were here. And there was a hell of a lot of work to do around the place, as there still is. We also only had the three dogs and kitties at this stage.

We were woken up by fierce barking, and of course, our first reaction was to think that someone was perhaps trying to break in. But, on listening, I realised that Bear didn't have his "person" bark on, he had his "yay, something to chase" bark going. I launched out the back door, onto the deck that was falling to pieces, with a piddly little torch, as we didn't own a decent one.

I tried very hard to see between the slats in the deck, and spotted something black and white ... I then heard the rattling.

"It's a porcupine!" I shrieked to Pio, bolting back through the house to find my plakkies. I then charged around the outside of the house, to try prevent my precious boy from getting a face full of quills. I was in an utter panic, knowing very well how sore that would be for him.

By the time I got there, he had followed it to near the kitchen steps. I chased him off, yelling at the top of my voice to get him away, while Pio watched from the deck. As Bear backed off, the porcupine stood and looked at me.

They're surprisingly big, particularly with their quills up, and he was almost waist high on me. He didn't do much, just checked me out, then put his quills down, walked down the bank to the fence, and slipped through. Bear was interested, but thankfully, didn't try bite the poor thing on the bum.

And, it would seem that Pio had forgotten to turn the fence back on after working on it earlier that day ...

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Another one!!!!

Posted by Rhoda Jones |

There was this strange little mutt sitting on the side of our plot road - we saw her on and off for I don't know how long, a week or month, I cannot tell you. I ignored it with all my heart, reusing to look closer or stop. Then Pio called me; "Take that dog some food, it's starving to death." Oh joy. Here we go.

I took the little scrap some food, and blame it all on him. She was starving and very very scared; so I put food in all the cars and whenever we drove past, if she was there we would try feed her and get her into the car. We pottered about with it for two weeks; I managed to touch her but didn't feel like grabbing her and scaring the wits out of her, as well as maybe being bitten. On this went; then Pio grabbed her and got her into the car.

He got her up here, we locked the dogs inside, and let her out of the car. We had food and water ready, but the little mite freaked and hit the road, straight through the electric fence and charged the 4 kilometers all the way back down the road to her little roadside stop where she sat day in and day out. I chased her in the car with food and she almost came back to me and then decided not to and headed off like her tail was on fire again. So we gave up again and put the food back in the car for the next time we saw her.

Then, on Sunday the 26th of January, Joani phoned me and said she had the brat in her car and was on her way up the hill. I left the dogs to it this time, and instead closed up the house and got the food out. My dogs of course mobbed her and she wet herself in terror all over Joani's back seat, but I dragged her out and took her inside on her own. I gave her some food and she wolfed it. She was terrified and trying to hide and then to follow me as I fed her polony to get her to relax and realise that no one was going to hurt her.

When she eventually relaxed slightly, we let Bear in; well, we all know what the bully is like, and he huffed and puffed and made sure she knew he was the boss, like the typical arrogant male that he is. She was terrified. Kita just growled at her, and I think it was more jealousy than anything else. Coda was the direct opposite; he was so taken with her that he wouldn't leave her alone, but it was all happiness and excitement. The little mutt hid by the fireplace, and I sat in front of her whilst all the dogs sniffed and growled and snapped and huffed and puffed at each other.

When they all settled and we thought she wasn't going to run away anymore, I left her alone and sat on the couch watching TV - and this was when Coda stepped in like the little knight in shining armour that he is and lay in front of her, keeping Bear and Kita away. She lay behind him and they both slept; it was really too cute.

At first she chased the cats; horror of horrors. I didn't want to go through that again and so said I would take her to SPCA, but of course didn't have the heart. So we watched her carefully, and it turned out that she seemed to only chase Zazu when he shot past her going a million miles an hour - for whatever reason as he really is the laziest cat on the planet. Otherwise, she looked and sniffed and did nothing.

She then seemed to develop a fierce attachment to me and still to now, she is very rarely away from me. Then, I had to go to work with Frankie and drove off down the road. As I stopped for a bright green boomslang that slithered across the road in front of me, the little rat caught up with me. She had obviously discarded the bone I had given her and darted through the electric fence to be with me; she got in the car and came with me to Frankie.

When I had to leave her alone with Pio, he said that she chunked the entire time I was gone, and only yesterday after she got hit by the electric fence in front of him, did she not chase me and stayed inside with him, not crying either for a change. Whether that will be a permanent thing or whether tomorrow when I leave her she will cry again, I do not know.

This very odd attachment stretches to not being in the same room with me; she will follow me wherever I go even if it is just from the lounge to kitchen. At night she cries because I am trying to break her attachment and having her sleep in the lounge whilst I am in the bedroom. This is hardly a big gap, but she cries. When she does sleep in the room, she gets up throughout the night and will jump up on the bed next to me, make sure I am still there and then go back to her bed.

On our first walk, Pio said that she would run away and I shouldn't take her. I said OK, and off I went. She fought him off and charged after me; so she came with. She didn't leave my side. Running away was clearly not even a thought in her little mind - she was so thrilled, it was actually very sweet. She was so happy and kept dashing back to me to make sure I was still there and hadn't disappeared. When walking her with Pio the next day, I went and hid in the bush (yes, I know, small things and small minds) and watched to see what she did. When she realised I wasn't there she looked for me, ignored Pio and wouldn't walk on with him, searched for me and chunked. When I came out from behind the bush, she went hysterical.

So yes, we are working on breaking her crazy attachment to me. She still goes nuts when I leave, and climbs out the house window to look for me in the garden, but at least doesn't go through the fence after it shocked her lol. She sniffs and hunts, but is settling down. She walks with us every evening and doesn't run away - of course not pfffft! Who would after half starving to death and then getting fed Hills every day! And at night when she is in the lounge she still cries to get to me, but it is hopefully slowing down. She plays with the other dogs and Bear of course bullies the hell out of her, but she must fight her own battles there. When it gets too much she hides behind me - total pissy!

So this our 4th brat, and the second Dog Bless You rescue. Unless I get funding, I can't afford any more!! She is a sweetie though - just really not at all good-looking poor mutt!

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Dog Bless You

About Me

Archives

The Polecat

The Gemsbok

The Python

Jessie J

The First Zebra (snake!)

The Porcupine

Another one!!!!