Finding and Saving Tequila Rose
life·@lily-da-vine·
0.000 HBDFinding and Saving Tequila Rose
<html> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14591630_308008259577872_3283850327429956881_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeGwBCLPPPD14EShqEaFVJBwOohqnF8tMnFBV0aw8JJUbBIJwlVkCZ-wnx_6-vyS2pjIIf0gqIUdA_fNyjcXDDQWAGMnp3wU6tfpc_cC3cRCRcRqOw2jfNMVI9Sm39jT9tU&oh=6e1c48663c0ae57b1de4b8a0ff4ec599&oe=589F7F8F" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p>(An adorable Tequila Rose hands me her paw, while a jealous Rebel Dog sniffs her butt)</p> <p>Dogs are one of the most common things you'll see in Mexico. A lot of people have them as pets(especially pit bulls), and there are dogs just about everywhere there are people, subsisting off of their trash and good will. I often joke that Mexico has more dogs than people depending on the time of the year, but that might not totally be a false statement. I came to Mexico with a dog who I've already shared a lot about, the notorious Rebel Dog. Now I share the tale of Tequila Rose, our saucy mexican pitbull, and how we came to acquire her, which is a pretty amazing story. In her last several months with us, she's become a completely different dog in so many ways, while she still maintains her Tequila spice.</p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14681648_308008059577892_8441601345608355279_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeGGY-p4kRgKLV9cHQw4RQWgnE4ZLEwI6tjFYimF_lFdv7oLYMAv0-pVbVlyL1BCkbO__KHcKH2Y1T7hHx1FaP6u9QXnT5W9MakWt5Ynk0M3kVST1nxIkz7Xp-rKdExbkkM&oh=86e8e75b303e5f278660ed2da37915aa&oe=58A52E5F" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p>When we crash landed in Acapulco, we ended up at a building dubbed the anarchist building at the time. We lived there for a few months before we found the house we have now. Our tale with Tequila starts one average day 6 or so months ago, at this building. I was taking Rebel Dog outside to go to the bathroom at the time. There was a gate to the building that separated you from the outside world and just beyond that gate was a black and white pitbull, curled into a ball with a pained look on her face. At the sight and smell of Rebel Dog(his scent has a tendency to freak dogs out, it always has), she flinched back even though he was too focused on getting to the curb to pee to notice her. On the way back I spoke to a mexican woman able to speak english who was standing nearby, who asked me if I could help her. </p> <p>I took Rebel dog upstairs and went back down to the dog. The woman explained that she watched someone in a Volkswagon bug run the dog over, in the section between her ribs and her hips. She said she followed the dog in her car to where she was then, the steps of my apartment building. She seemed upset as she had watched the whole thing and really hoped someone could do something to save the dog. She had already given her food and water and since she had no interest in either, it seemed likely she wouldn't make it. Lucky for us, she spoke english and was able to tell us what had happened. Without her, we might have never known what happened to Tequila that day.</p> <p>Eventually the woman left and other friends in the community and eventually John came to see the dog, all saddened by her state. We all assumed she'd die that night, and it was a sad fate. We kept checking her periodically, and while her state didn't necessarily improve it didn't worsen either. Eventually after a few hours of regular visits from John and I, we got the dog to follow us up the stairs to our apartment. We avoided the elevator as it was tiny and sketchy and freaked even Rebel Dog out. This same elevator trapped a community member only a few months later. </p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14702494_308008189577879_786316101232997577_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeEu_T8Lbe8AHPXuSJjs5QeaQo3R67p6Tmogis_-f9SZM2-p5l8jyyxdojmBVHTnR63e29NLuJJxcUmESHYkd0hItFxD-SRXBj-vHfrwuDzej2y4FSeyO8-2atMy1xz-Mu4&oh=bc23bdc0789bf7b711096a701f8ebfc4&oe=58ABD304" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p>We got her inside and she gravitated to the couch and jumped into it. We laughed at her spunkiness despite having just been ran over. We interacted with her on and off that night before bed, but we honestly believed she wouldn't make it with how emaciated she was before she got that injury. We did dab her that night, although not very well as she had no trust built with us at that point. We planned to get her healthy, or at least give her a good last few hours. We didn't want another dog at the time, but we couldn't turn her away, especially not with our soft spot for pitbulls. We tried to stay uncommitted, even avoiding giving her a name for awhile. For weeks, she was called lady and variations of it. </p> <p>The next morning we woke up and she was still alive. It took several days of digestive trouble and trouble getting around before she came to life. Dabs helped in this time as she started to trust us and understand the dabs were making her feel better. It wasn't long before she was standing behind me in the kitchen, begging for food. </p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14522762_308008186244546_1486284444578497262_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeHVDHEHogiGU_7Vj3_XD7yD-Q75Lu5Vz4-vp1MJwtO-LzFRJ6Z-UsxbFQED1xvcZ6xf-ee7Kl0o1_wYF9ueNWB5vKdR1BlPe3CMnyM6MgiTtFI1aAB523u9kP8jIaoNecI&oh=abbb13953b1562cd4635db6c99b828f5&oe=58620693" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p>She seemed to be in heat and as soon as she had any amount of energy she was using it to hump anything nearby. We actually speculate that her being out of her mind in heat was the reason she got ran over. When we later tried to let her go, she was still in heat a bit and was running across the street back and forth after a male dog. Despite having been run over, she was still running into traffic. At first, John thought it was the dabs triggering the hyper horniness, although we later determined this wasn't the case. If anything, the dabs were lessening the amount of pain she was in, making her feel better enough to follow her hormones. When she wasn't dabbed, she was sitting in some form of a ball, trying to sleep. </p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14695501_308008192911212_5983653856300340574_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeFJYM41TPTzlWrRXt5buoCMxSDNTkRNbOq1eiB1mhuwX1yNtbgL0vFzPy8F6grew57gZV3D8_dNLn7aViq4gTiWLzXXgXHJI7o9fEGVbQNjyueAq-3Rwj5cFGwH3hcu-lY&oh=368bfbfc1d5b6d6c21203587dd28e822&oe=58650DA6" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p>As she improved, she seemed to be out of her mind, in survival mode as her body recognized it was close to dying. Plants seem to have the same response, obsessing over reproducing when it's clear they could die as a means to protect the genetic line. Nature was telling her to go for it, even if she died a puppy might make it to carry on her genetics. At this point, we've been through several heat cycles with her, none of them being like that first one. She's currently in heat now, the worst of it being she doesn't listen as well and we have to keep her from playing with Rebel. It made for interesting times as we were running a small restaurant in our apartment at the time, she had a thing for going after the bags of the guests with ferocity to hump them. </p> <p>When she wasn't humping things she was working on mending, physically and emotionally. She slept and ate a lot, and seemed to be dealing with a lot of emotional issues. From what we can tell she was someone's dog, we assume they raised her wrong and didn't like how she turned out and let her loose on the streets as a result. We knew this that first night, when we reached a hand towards her in an attempt to comfort her, only to receive a paw in hand. Other things, like her absolute obsession for sitting in chairs, seem to be remnants of her life with a former owner. In some ways, she is very well trained and in other ways she is extremely primitive. This coupled with being forced to become a street dog had not done good things for her or her psyche and it showed. Since being with us, she's improved to the point where we consider her to be a completely different dog.</p> <p>When she feels threatened in any way, Tequila gets aggressive. It generally involves growling and barring her teeth. If she feels threatened enough she will attack, only backing down when attacked in response to her attacks. When she ended up with us she wasn't used to living with people again, and from what I can tell while she craved to be with people, they had been pretty cruel to her throughout her life. This led to a deep seated mistrust of people, coupled with a deep love for them as well. She has always been wary of me when sweeping the floor, which has led me to assume that she was beat with brooms at a point, probably as street dog. At this point, I can accidentally sweep her and she just gives me a funny look, before she would have attacked me and the broom.</p> <p>She goes into these mindsets we call her PTSD moments. Several things can trigger them, black shoes being one of them. John walked in to grab his shoes one time and she was sleeping on the floor next to them. She was startled by his presence and when he grabbed the shoes she freaked out and got aggressive. We assume she was beat with shoes at one point and reverted into a bad memory when she was startled awake to the sight of John with shoes. He said calming words, called her a good girl and closed the door on her as we were leaving and he didn't have time to fully talk her down. At this point, these moments are few and far between as she's had months of experience with us not hurting her at this point. When she goes into a PTSD moment at this point, it takes gentle tones and telling her to come for pets and she's out of it, acting like a puppy. </p> <p>We do these things we call pitbull exercises, and we actually have done them since the beginning. Essentially, anything that makes Tequila's jaws twitch open to bite you is open grounds for a pitbull exercise. A common one I do is with her jaw. She recognizes my jaw is broken and is mistrustful of me as an alpha for that reason. When I touch her jaws or try to hold her jaw, she instinctively opens her mouth and tries to bite, almost in fear that I might hurt her jaws in the same way mine has been injured. A pitbull exersize involves me sitting on the floor with her head in my lap, holding and petting her jaws and getting her to relax to where she doesn't have the urge to bite. With all sorts of things, I repeatedly show her I have no intention of hurting her. After awhile, even with difficult cases like her, they start to understand when someone truly means them no harm. </p> <p>We immediately started Tequila on a diet of home made food, as I was already preparing it for Rebel. At first she was a bit confused by things like raw oats, but she quickly was scarfing it up like it was regular old dog food. She started to look heathier and eventually started to gain a little weight. It wasn't until we wormed her several months later that she really packed on the weight. We don't use pharmaceutical dewormers unless absolutely necessary. We use small doses of tobacco to worm our animals, with stellar results along with random garlic and onion in their food. </p> <p>After a few weeks of us just calling her Lady, we decided it didn't fit that well and that it was time to actually name her. We had a better chance of adopting her out if she had a name that she actually responded to. It honestly took weeks more to determine a name, partially because we didn't want to put too much into her. Naming her kind of felt like owning her, which we weren't ready to do. Finally, John came up with Tequila, I added the Rose part like the Tequila Rose alcoholic drink in the States that happens to be one of the few alcoholic drinks I enjoy. </p> <p>All the while the intention was just to get her healthy, as we really didn't have the space for another dog in our tiny apartment or our tiny budget. As we prepared to find someplace new, we discussed how to handle her. The plan was to find her a home and if we couldn't we were just to release her back to the streets. Hopefully the extra boost in health and the previous street experience would do her good. It wasn't until we happened upon the house we live in now that we truly considered keeping her long term. We said pretty immediately "Tequila, if we get this place you can stay."</p> <p>Well, as you probably know we got the house and Tequila Rose moved up the mountain. She was immediately floored by the upgrade in surroundings and took to the new place about as quickly as Rebel Dog did. She has a fondness for sitting outside on the ledge looking at the view, or just enjoying the view from one of her plastic chairs inside. While she has her quarks and issues, she's really turned out to be a pretty great dog in many ways. One funny issue is that she turns into an obsessive toe licker when we have guests over, which few people enjoy. More often than not people are put off by the scary pitbull obsessively licking their toes. I generally keep her locked with a bed or tied with a leash when we have company over to prevent her from attacking our guests with love.</p> <p>Somewhere along the line, due to her appearance and the funny way she waddles around, she earned the name ogre dog. It's a term of endearment for her, despite what you must be thinking. It started as a ironic joke about how emaciated and pretty scary looking she was, but since receiving the nickname she's filled out its taken on whole new meaning. She's a chubby little pitbull with a waddle that has been exaggerated by the fact that she's gained so much weight and isn't used to carrying herself around. At this point, if I call her an ogre dog, she nibbles my hand and wiggles her tail in excitement, as she seems to love that someone cares enough to give her a nickname. </p> <p>She spends her days laying around the house in chairs, with some breaks to play with Rebel Dog. Rebel has bonded with her immensely, as he craves having a pack to call his own. He acts like he's her little boyfriend, especially when she goes into heat. We do a good job of keeping them separate and keeping them from playing during that time. We'd prefer to get her fixed but are concerned for her considering her injury. We've noticed ourselves that she has bones pointing in directions they shouldn't be in her belly from being run over. If she were to get pregnant either she, the puppies or both would die of complications from where those bones are. It's for this reason that we are so adamant about keeping them apart. We've both commented on how cute puppies between them would be though. Injury aside, she's probably a little too small for him, as he's not done growing yet and is significantly bigger than her. Fixing her concerns us because she could die just as easily from the surgery as she could from being pregnant. </p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14650299_308008076244557_6156687980436293916_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeH_Vu8ULuO14pVqt47-p-bfp_Hn5vty4Hn-0_T8CZJ_rA9pcj2hPRgxJZR1PC5HKx_fTTpm4OlYgDQog7MlilaefcfT8APwGIdoFxA8DBZ6UxwtpFuU9Z0BUCIT68yZgog&oh=e2d197becd85ba1737d952d11fdeab78&oe=589FB20A" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p>Tequila is another example in a long line of misunderstood pit bulls. Some of our friends mentioned they didn't expect her to reform much, due to how damaged she was. At this point, she's a pretty tame well behaved dog. In many ways, she's better behaved than Rebel dog, although she definitely can have her moments. Tequila's is the story of a mistreated pitbull who had an owner that couldn't handle her, dumped to the streets to survive. Honestly speaking, she probably would have died that night we met her if we had not shown her the kindness we had. While she's had her issues, she's been a joy to be around for the most part, especially recently as her youthful energy returns to her. It's nice to see a dog you expected to die play games with your dog, stealing his toy with a mischevious look on her face as she flees his fast sprint. I know a lot of people would have counted her out and left her alone purely for her breed, but in this case it was her breed which saved her.</p> <p>Here's a montage of cute photos of Rebel and Tequila bonding:</p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-0/p240x240/14713695_308007709577927_3166109846716618236_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeHUkpF9RSOyEQGFRl_uDQj2cmyxEtmKNY02qRGk2MwQZLTbylEWonht6MXt4NtOOvLg5jpGcf3lupd6cLJgRvJCZt8vtkhVNdDkAwRhSaU_DGbNoFiBfHKKPLRCzlLCLtw&oh=c6ea4f5eae5bb9874cc9b66a532b7cb7&oe=58669651" width="240" height="401"/></p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14671121_308007706244594_4504643248128561169_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeGVEaxZRKYjYoFsdUg8Ctgmu-5j-KT_y0c5sFQc2qXp1uYVT2m2Qw_8M9Oc2DOU4wEZmnT78n0sik9fI5EZLKYiTJunOrnV9xi8HZQkwSlRNgSKhuUwt7FvWodZBfqUR8E&oh=d1430076ed47956bf36e1d2813e9d41e&oe=58697166" width="576" height="960"/></p> <p><br></p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14650722_308007819577916_3183036552948961842_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeGySgHIWH_ytSef1ndxNvQ6faCBr0NREOia2RrHiTOGbf11brzmo9BTiQIJesiXz0dMUXGNFyVIOsAeZIqG0TRyWyeF85B-I-DZR5Gvry9iT4ifdWxpUAO_g5aTPQNNhp4&oh=d1bdec48ca5f9ee2d7c7e211de58ed42&oe=58AB946E" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14716137_308007829577915_7736398287246507222_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeFI9j2jKp-eA_qzF7LNWZPB3-cVd38eO4Ze1Aijlf95c3Zu-pIWADXR6CBZuRSL9ftnlHT96GgonMnOsPqJitqleaozQqDEVJmc_m7ffEkd2NvUe_Vl217ywEHSb3hUAp0&oh=a79dcbb276031e11c3371f43d47a2130&oe=586AAE42" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14670648_308007952911236_5998481792094700754_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeFmNs_ERTVbmSHMDbjdeiUa2b48RmqqYCCL2iZX_aCVZbtdJBzSEe0ATObGfsNkDF7AUxB_8ONrMaaa99ADAyRmJYIXD2ydwAS_KqnFXuOe-0u28T66bFDV3_zHUDHt7Fg&oh=9b58673960c8f50146b6b0329421cfdc&oe=58A90BC6" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14606303_308007949577903_5066353248127335738_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeG7f7zD6IgrMJkt0rt2pvSDAj8cSmG0rdCDcC9ew1nk3HIBRwroEwY-LtuBr1RlQ85pxkVJiVaumJgZ4FzKfNM5eUYRRSur44WPOWifwyAS9-nlIe6koLl2JgQMvgL_fWk&oh=17f64aae8806ec99bb06d2d12901e9d0&oe=589AFB47" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p><img src="https://scontent-lax3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14705633_308007959577902_483921844527164495_n.jpg?_nc_eui2=v1%3AAeE5129h3_6b3Sw-ePsTd0Gitwxpd2JUJRdVZRGOPqj9w38zD_-2AwxNcxwZGbrK1V2hLPQiFqLSSNcj8UXOk6ig8WFIVtd5mt5GArGVcM8SQff35D82garNNl_CkrQ5M3A&oh=5caed3a329c6987a48909483954184a0&oe=58A3FB7F" width="540" height="960"/></p> <p><br></p> </html>
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