A Rescued Dog in Panama

There is such an epidemic of stray dogs/cats around the world. Since we have moved to Panama, it is obvious the extent of the problem Panama has with stray animals that are not spayed or neutered. It maybe cultural, financial, or a combination of both. You can not go anywhere without seeing skinny malnourished animals, some with obvious disease. For me it's a difficult thing to see, you want to take them all home but can't.

3 days ago my husband and I were out to lunch in San Carlos, Panama. A quaint small town about 3 hours west of Panama City and an hour west of Coronado where we live. The restaurant sits right on the beach and has really good food (oh but I digress)

A 4 month old puppy came over to me while I was taking pictures on the beach. It was love at first sight for me. I immediately felt a bond. I put up a trial balloon to my husband about taking this dog home. Let's just say he was less than enthusiastic because we have a 6 year old dog that has had our undivided attention since day 1 . So we leave after lunch sans dog.

During the night I had given her a name hoping to make her more real for my husband....Hershey. To be honest. it didn't take very long for him to really warm up to the idea of another dog. We set some conditions like, we would bring Ning to meet her first and if they had any problems we would not take her. Well, in the realm of things "meant to be", they immediately agreed "you ignore me, and I will ignore you". Now what do we do, that went extremely well.

Yes, we decide to take Hershey home. Hershey is a 4 month old puppy but very, very docile. Yesterday, she experienced lots of first: her first ride in a car. She put her legs out like, whoa, where are you putting me. Her first visit to the vet. A little shaking but no other response to blood test, exam and the indignant checking for worms. She is remarkably healthy for being a stray. She has parasites, malnourished, and her blood count is low. All treatable with medicine, food and love. She had her first experience with a leash...Yikes. That did not go well...lol and had her first experience sleeping inside a house ( she didn't wake us up all night!
Do you believe in serendipity, or coincidences? Well at my age I don't. I think I was put there that day to meet Hershey and rescue her . I believe we were meant for each other.

Moral of my story please get your pets spayed and neutered. Here in Panama Expats from the US and Canada have started a mobile spay clinic. The culture is changing and people can afford to bring in their pets since it's only $10 for a cat and $15 for a dog under 50 pounds.

Introducing Hershey on the right and our first dog Ning (left)

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