Jan
28
2010
You didn't see anything

Black Ops: A deniable, paramilitary action with no claim of responsibility for said action which when performed correctly can be made to give the appearance that another party was responsible, or more often instead hides the fact that the action ever occurred at all.

House Guest: Temporary, non-permanent resident provided with a warm welcome, wonderful hospitality & a clean bed to sleep in with lots of hugs & kisses.

Now that everyone’s on the same page, the facts may or may not be these:

  • She may or may not be somewhere between the age of 6 & 8 weeks old
  • She may or may not have been found abandoned
  • She may or may not have been found abandoned in a place where legally she should not have been found or abandoned
  • She may or may not have a collar, but no name tag
  • She may or may not have had a bowl without food, without water
  • She may or may not have had shelter that she was attached to by a 3 foot chain
  • She may or may not have had no chew toys, no squeaky toys, no stuffed animals
  • She may or may not now be residing in an undisclosed safe-house
  • She may or may not be awaiting transport to another location
  • She may or may not soon be available for adoption

But the one thing I can say for sure, she is NOT sleeping outside, alone without food or water in below freezing weather without adequate protection from the cold completely & totally away from any kind of human interaction on US government property.

This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds.

*Should a legitimate & responsible owner return with a damn good explanation of why this puppy was left tied-up & abandoned overnight on US government property, she may or may not be returned.

Jan
27
2010
Whew! I was afraid he might be gone.

First, the good news – he’s still there.

This was just a shot I had taken of his house a couple of weeks ago.

(He was behind me sniffing my butt at the time…manners we’re still trying to work on.)

As for what I’m going to do about my black dog, I still don’t know.

But thank you to everyone who commented & emailed their support.

I really appreciate it!

And the black dog thanks you, too!

Jan
26
2010
My Protector

So I’ve been sitting here staring at the computer screen trying to figure out how to begin to tell you what happened tonight with the black dog.

Yes, I have yet to name him – but I’m leaning towards Sirius Black. For like Sirius, he’s been unjustly convicted & kept confined. But in truth is a loyal friend & sweet-natured dog.

[catch up with my tales of the black dog here]

Whether it’s good or bad is yet to be determined, but somehow I think I might’ve unknowingly, unintentionally shamed the Korean man who claims to own him.

(Granted, in the States shaming him would be the least of my concerns & I would be more apt to call the Animal Cops on him. But that’s not how things work here.)

I had already emptied the food into his pot lid bowl & was pouring the water in the old cooking pot when a car – a nice, new shiny car – slowly drove past us.

Cars have come & gone over the past 3 months – but this one stopped.

A 50-ish, balding Korean man with glasses & impeccable taste in clothes got out & slowly walked up to me – it was obvious he was curious to know what I was doing, who I was & was searching for the words in English to ask me.

I held up the empty water bottle & pointed to the bowl. Asking, ‘Is this your dog? Your ka?’

(The only word I know for sure in Korean – Ka, dog.)

As he got closer to me – about 6 feet away - suddenly the black dog was at my side and let out a loud barking bellow & deep, entirely serious growl. He puffed up as big as he could & wouldn’t take his eyes off him.

The man stopped.

There was some hesitation back & forth and between us both…he was searching for the words to say & I kept thinking, ‘oh fudge’ while trying to remember to keep smiling & be respectful.

He finally managed to get out, ‘Yes, our dog. Our dog.’

I pointed again at the water bowl & bottle…asking if it was ok that I gave the dog water.

I was sure he had no clue what I was saying.

The next words out of my mouth were, ‘He’s very pretty’ as I petted him, trying to relax him.

The man laughed.

“Pretty?!…No no no no no no no. Not pretty.”

He repeated ‘our dog’ a few more times – I nodded my head in agreement.

I didn’t want this exchange to go badly.

The man wasn’t rude – he didn’t appear angry. But I’ve discovered you can never really tell if you’ve accidentally offended a Korean.

They have a deep need to save face – something I can definitely appreciate as a Texas girl. But at the same time, it’s the cultural differences that make figuring out what’s a ’face-saving’ situation vs. what’s not difficult. So the image of a American woman taking care of a Korean man’s dog may not have been a good thing.

He slowly turned & started walking towards the apartment building – inspecting the builder’s progress. But kept turning to look at me. So I figured that was my cue to leave.

I very casually walked back to the car, got in & drove off.

Fudge.

Fudge. Fudge. Fudge.

I kept replaying the whole exchange over & over in my head. Did he really own the dog? Or was he just the financial-backer trying to say the dog belonged to the construction site? He definitely didn’t look the type to get his hands dirty. And it was obvious the dog wasn’t going to let him come within 6 feet of him or me.

I don’t know.

All I know is that I’ve spent 3 months nursing this dog back to health, feeding him, watering him, training him to sit, teaching him manners…every night without fail I’ve taken care of him - through snow & rain & mud.

The struggle to know whether or not we should try to purchase him/adopt him has been heartbreaking.

He’s my boy. But Army life with one big dog is hard enough…let alone two. Just to get Maggie over here cost us roughly $1500 when you add everything up. (She had to be shipped separately as cargo.)

Not to mention the logistics involved in transporting a 125 lb. dog from Incheon Airport to Camp Humphreys. Doing all that in reverse with two?…Finding a place to rent that will take two?….It seems so completely daunting & beyond the scope of my pocketbook.

But he’s my boy.