User:SqueakBox/Boddhi
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Boddhi was a doggy who belonged to User:SqueakBox. He was born on August 25th 1994 in Totnes in England and died on November 13th 2003 in Puerto San José in Guatemala after a brief illness. He grew up in a stable home environment, where he became a highly trained urban sheepdog, and a great cat charmer. In the last 2 years of his life he became a travelling dog; journeying extensively through first Spain and then Guatemala.
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[edit] Early life
He was born on a farm overlooking Totnes in a place called Windmill Down to a New Age traveller couple's dog Sally. At 2 months old I paid 15 pounds for him, and took him to his new home. He took one look at the uncured sheepskin rug and started to chew it. It became his. He also met Shakti, the year old tabby cat for whom this was already home. After eyeing each other up for a couple of minutes Shakti scratched him on the nose and disappeared outside. When she returned they were already the best of friends. The following summer, when Shakti felt her litter of kittens were ready to face the world she dumped them in the middle of the living room floor, trusting (and rightly) that Boddhi was going to be fine with them.
It became obvious early on that Boddhi was not a fighting dog. He was exceptionally submissive to any other dog in his puppyhood. Equally obvious was his great love of walkies, and of sniffing. He used to walk and run off the lead in his many country works, but he also learnt to walk on the lead when he went into town. The basic walking practice was learning (off lead) to wait for me at the edge of a road, and then when I shouted cross he was allowed to cross. He would do this with great gusto, and as fast as possible. As he got older he also learnt to follow a bicycle to the point where he would, off the lead, accompany me on my bicycle along the pavement of busy roads for up to 30 miles.
Shakti had 2 litters in the summer of 1995, and it was decided to keep {{Saphire|Saffire]], a little boy, from the second litter. Deprived of his siblings and with a grouchy mother Saffire became utterly devoted to Boddhi. They would play endlessly. Unfortunately Saffire was killed in by a car, age 2.
[edit] Family life
In April 1999 a Spanish lady, her 9 year old daughter and their black kitten Amy came to live with Boddhi. He had to make a big adjustment to living with humans who weren't me, and the Spanish lady was strict with him, but once they got settled in he became very happy to be a part of a family. for the first time he had his place in the living room. Once Amy had got over her fears of the much bigger Boddhi she became a great friend. She had a litter that year, and another one the following year, from which Coffee and Lion, an incredibly beautiful tabby cat both stayed. Lion became as obsessed with Boddhi as Saffire had been, but he was great friend of all these cats. Unfortunately Lion was also killed by a car the following summer; a devastating event that led me to sell his home.
[edit] Europe
Thus began the nomadic life that was to continue until Boddhi died. He made 3 trips down through France and into Spain, each time (for a total of 9 months) living with me in an Estate car. Once he overcame his initial nervousness this was a lifestyle he adored, and when SqueakBox had to return to England to attend to business he was also less happy than on the road. We travelled all over Spain, but kept going back to Torrevieja and Órgiva. We also spent time in the Casa del Campo in Madrid. We made 2 brief visits to Portugal.
[edit] Guatemala
[edit] Preparation
Returning to the United Kingdom a third time, and finally resolving my business, I decided it was time to take him further afield. I knew Guatemala already from having visited while leaving Boddhi with my Spanish friend, and there was an internet posting on a volunteer site for the AWARE dog sanctuary near Antigua. They agreed to put us up, the airline agreed to take hi. 3 weeks before we were due to go Boddhi got bitten by a 2 toothed dog we encountered and a terribly apologetic owner. Within a day or so it was obvious something was wrong. I took him to the vet who advised bed rest. He, who lived for his walks, remained on his bed for four days because he was getting pain in his back leg. Then an old friend turned up unexpectedly and he dragged himself out of bed and on the path to recovery in a delirium of barking.
The top photo was taken on his last Sunday in England, and he had no problem returning 10 miles home with the bike in the evening after a long walk during the day. "Never seen him looking better" said the same friend. With hindsight I know that physically he was seriously weakened by this episode.
[edit] Aeroplane journey
On Tuesday June 17th 2003 we flew with Iberian Airlines to Guatemala City via Madrid and Miami. We were just coming into land, but still in thick cloud, when we lifted again due to a heavy storm. After flying in circles for about 20 minutes we had to divert to Managua to refuel. The pilot gave him water when landed, and then we took off a fourth time to land without a problem in Guatemala. When I came into the immigration waiting area I could hear another dog from the aeroplane barking. His cage then came out. The guy who it turned out had to decide whether Boddhi was allowed in or not helped me with him off the escalotor, then looked in to make he wasn't a dangerous breed. then he was very helpful, letting me jump the enormous queue to leave, and we were out in Guatemala.
