The Mystery of Curly's Disappearance

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In the later morning and early afternoon yesterday we were so worried that we had lost the Rancho dog and Rico telling Nate and Stephanie, the owners, that he was sorry that we had lost their boy. Nate (or Nato as he is called in the village) went out in his truck to the area where we last saw him and asked everyone there and no one had seen him. Later Rico and I boarded the 1:30 pm bus to the end of the village, sitting on opposite sides of the bus in case we could see him on his way. We thought that maybe he decided to come back along the road instead of the beach the way we had walked earlier.

Once the bus got to the end of the beach everyone got off. The bus drivers hung hammocks in a shady, breezy area near a bar for an hour an a half break (siesta). We decided to walk around the area and ask everyone we saw if they had seen Nate's dog. I asked in my best Spanish in as many ways as I could and most people responded that they had seen Curley in the morning and later saw Nate looking for him but they hadn't seen him since. We sat in a bar/restaurant near the bus stop for some beer and a snack and hoped that maybe he would walk in our view. At the bar we happened to notice some gringo kids drinking coke and chasing the bar owner's chicken around the bar (without success). We didn't talk with them because it was time to get back on the bus to head back to Rancho Esperanza.

Later in the afternoon, Stephanie was really worried about Curly and headed down in their truck. She did find Curly hanging out with the kids we had seen at the bar who are staying at a Bible Youth Camp near where we last saw him. They were feeding him and possibly reading him Bible verses which seemed to keep him sticking around all day. (Maybe the story about the loaves and fishes???????) Anyway, they got their dog back and we were happy that it wasn't totally our fault that he got lost. However, the plan was made for in the future to keep Curly tied up before we went off for our next early morning walk.

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Photos

Curly
Curly safely at home. Normally he sleeps under the dormitory steps, but I coaxed him out with a cookie Rich bought from some kid.

Curly shows off his Yoga Moves
Curly is quite good at all the down and up dog postures. This one gives me particular trouble and I have asked him for some pointers.

Curly and Mangos or Mojangles
No one wants to give this poor dog a bad name, but everyone calls him by some name resembling mange. He has generalized demodectic mange and hopefully Stephanie can treat him now that I have written out a treatment protocol for him. Mango really loves Curly -- they are the best of friends.

Curly
Curly is an unneutered male and really does charge up on most dogs. Most are submissive to him, but I worry that one day he might come across someone even tougher than he is.

Comments

[Patty]

Always a vet
Dawn, I hope Mangos gets better, when I first glanced at the picture I thought he might be part catahoula until I got a closer look. Did you bring any surgical tools to help Curly with his unaltered issue? PCL

[DawnW]

Mangos
The white on the dog that you saw was the secondary yeast infection he has on his hairless body. He is the sweetest thing, though, but no one wants to touch him or be near him. I stopped at the vet in the town of Chinandega (the next biggest city near the beach) and ordered all the drugs that I thought the dog would need. I spoke with the vet´s wife who is a wonderful lady and told her I would consult with her husband by supplying any educational info he might need on treating these conditions. Apparently, he deals in mostly large animals and she seemed interested in me coming to help with the small animals. So we exchanged email addresses, so we will see. Dawn