Le escribo a Duke, Macho, Sherrry, Oso, Perruris, Sol, Negra, y Cara de Payaso.
Mis queridos zaguates (asi les llamamos en Costa Rica a los perros que son de raza desconocida)
Se preguntan por su origen? Bueno, no los culpo, yo tambien por el mio. pero al menos yo conocí a mis padres y los dos, aunque mas de una vez hubieran querido sacarme de la casa no lo hicieron. Tampoco les gusté solo en el período en que era un infante de ojos grandes y hacía todas las monadas que querían. Y de de hecho no me echaron a la calle o a un patio de cemento cuando comencé a dejar cacas aquí o allá o cuando comencé a ladrar presa de instintos que no podía controlar. Muchos menos me golpeaban si me acercaba y les olía el trasero o me chupaba mis genitales (bueno eso no lo hice en realidad.. anque si admito que si jugué con mis genitales) bueno umm umm, en fin.. lo que les quiero decir es que les admiro por su valentía de vivir en las calles, de hecho, no es justo que nacieran algunos de ustedes en una caja de cartón en una esquina o en la rivera de un rio.Tampoco es justo que se les quisiera hasta que ensuciaran la casa, o rompieran algo.. si fuera así, mis padres me hubieran echado a temprana edad.
En fin, ustedes son super valientes. Recuerdo cuando Sherry llegó con su mamá, “Chula” a mi casa, junto con una hermana que luego desapareció (lástima pudiera encontrarla si es que no la mató un carro en la pista o bien se murió de hambre) y al verlos mi corazón se hizo pedazos. Flacas, Chula con dos cortadas de machete en el lomo, comiendo lo que les ofrecí como desesperadas y en un estado tan deprimente que me dieron sinceras ganas de conocer a quien les dejó terminar asi. Recuerdo a Chula con su “casa” bueno, un mamarracho que construí con mis básicas habilidades en carpintería, cuatro latas aquí y allá (las encontré a la orilla del rio), la compuerta trasera de un pick-up marca Toyota y algunos troncos que con clavos y amarras terminaron siendo toda una proeza de la arquitectura y la octava maravilla del mundo de los mamarrachos, pero que a Chula se le antojo como el refugio perfecto para escapar de los grandes aguaceros de mi pais y un lugar seco y comodo para dormir cada noche con comida de verdad cada dia.
Ah que bello dia! Las llevamos a castrar, y Chula se comportó como si el castrarla fuera el regalo mas preciado que nunca tuvo. Que hermoso era sacarle fotografías ya repuesta de tanto sufrimiento. Se acostaba con una especie de sonrisa perruna de placer, de gusto de saber que al final pertenecía a alguien. .. hasta que un infeliz la asesinó envenenándola, porque se dignaba ladrarle cada vez que pasaba.. Asi de fácil.. El inocente muere sin haber hecho nada y el culpable camina por el mundo haciendo daño.
Pero.. igual quedaron Sherry Macho.. ustedes eran una pandilla de dos, y Sherry que triste te veías sin tu mamá!! Te tomó casi dos meses para estar otra vez alegre y ENORME. jajaja. pareces un pony ahora!!!.
Y Macho, castrado a la antigua.. lleno de cortaduras producto de que posiblemente te usaban como “sparring” para perros de pelea. Amargado como eras, no te dejabas ni siquiera tocar y tomabas el tarro plastico con comida y te lo llevabas lejos de mi. Hasta que al final, el cariño funcionó y ahora eres la mascota mas tierna de todos. Tu amargado corazón al fin conoció la ternura…ah y el jabón y el agua también.!!!
Bueno. luego llegó Sol.. Una noche, un escándalo de perros peleando y una perrita, que habiendo perdido el 80% de su peso, escapó de sus “dueños” *(malditos sean) que la amarraron con un alambre eléctrico a un árbol y la dejaron sin agua y sin comida esperando tranquilamente a que la falta de alimentos hiciera su trabajo. Tenía cuatro hoyos en la garganta, el aire salía por esos hoyos, lo mismo que el pus y rastros de gusanos. No se que pensé al verla tratando de comer!! Dolor! Impotencia!, asco por la naturaleza humana. Quien sabe de que niño fuiste mascota hasta que creciste!. Pobre Sol!
Recuerdas cariño? te tomé llorando, te llevé al apartamento, y te pedí perdón por lo que ser humano te había hecho. !! Asi de mal estabas. ! Crei que solo durarías una noche y te dí medicamentos para ayudarte a descansar.. Pero tenías otros planes!!. Querías vivir! y Ahora seis meses después eres, una bala corriendo, pelo precioso, raza desconocida, voluntad de vivir de sobre conocida por todos y todas.. toda una campeona.. Mi Sol!!
Y luego? Bueno.. los gemelos. Oso y Macho, despeinados, pelo de alambre, Duros de Matar!! Duros de Bañar!, locos por correr y agradecidos como nadie.. mas aún que esos pésimos seres humanos.. Luego Negra y Cara de Payaso y otros mas, visitantes de paso, que comieron y se fueron no sin antes dejar unas cuantas lamidas y después de un buen baño una jugosa donación de garrapatas y pulgas a granel.Yo se que ustedes sinceramente entienden que hago todo lo que puedo para alimentarlos todas las semanas.. aún les construí ya una casa mas decorosa, pintada de rojo y con latas de zinc “casi” nuevas. Y bueno.. pasaron de una mamarracho feo a un marramacho mas bonito.. pero igual su agradecimiento me da fuerzas para invertir en alimento y en medicamentos. Se que ustedes entienden que reduje mi presupuesto para apoyarles, aun a sabiendas de que mi inversión será devuelta solo en ladridos y lamidas… Pero creo que es mas de lo que necesito..
A veces deberiamos pensar en dar a aquellos que no nos pueden decir, al menos en palabras lo mucho que significa una muestra de afecto genuino..
Pronto postearé fotos de ellos y ellas.
zaguate
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Sustantivo masculino[editar]
- 1
- Perro callejero que no tiene raza en particular.
- Ámbito: Costa Rica y posiblemente otras regiones de Latinoamérica.
- 2
- Forma peyorativa de denominar a los perros tanto de raza como callejeros.
- Ámbito: Costa Rica y posiblemente otros lugares de latinoamérica
Puede ser perro domestico, sin raza definida, pues nunca se ha mezclado en busca de una raza pura. Se dice que el zaguate en particular, por su mezcla tan variada, tiene a padecer menos de enfermedades, nivel de aprendizaje mas alto que el promedio, y mas fieles
And this from My friend Lindsey
After eight long years of living and working in the states I decided to come back home and be with my family. It took me a while to finally let go of my home sick feelings, and accept the changes life was bringing me.
I was out one night waiting at the bus stop for a friend I hadn’t seen in years. And while sitting on a bench suddenly I had the strangest feeling as if been watch, I look down and right in front of me. There she was…
Macha! Beautiful white sandy fur with the happiest look on her face, almost as if she was smiling at me.
I said _Hey! Who are you? She just kept looking up at me with her smiley face, and just to answer my question she gave me her paw.
That was totally amazing; I felt that I knew this dog for years, as if we belong together. That was the first time we saw each other.
But we continued to meet, almost every day from then on. She was mostly at the Farmers Market in Grecia, where she had several friends.
People loved her and fed her. Though, it was sad to see her drinking water from the gutter and puddles on the street. I started feeding her everytime I saw her. She will make me company all the way back home where she will say good bye and disappear.
She learnt my scent.
One day, I saw her drinking water from the gutter and then looked up to sniff the air and then almost automatically she will look right on my direction. She will come running to greet me so happily every time, then walked around town to do my errands and then just like that she will disappear to do her thing.
People told me the craziest stories about her. She had puppies in the park once. Everybody knew her or had seen her around town. They called her “Macha”. Some claimed she belonged to them or had been at their house at some point.
The truth is: Macha did not belong to anybody. She was just a free soul and the most popular dog in town and she was just so beautiful everybody wanted to take her home. A friend told me she had to fight this two guys who wanted to put her on the back of a truck, she told them that she belong to a friend who was out of town at the moment.
The truth is getting Macha home was quite difficult. She would walk me home and leave me every time. I won her trust by giving her food until one day it occurred to me that I wanted her to stop wondering on the streets of Grecia, so I started leaving food up the stairs, pass the gate.
She would walk up the stairs nibbling and that is how she spent the first night with us. Though she will do the occasional escapade to the park and the market, then she will come back home with a huge piece of meat or bone that she got after staring at her friend Katia for a while until she finally got noticed.
This escapades cause me and Macha lots of problems. She came back home with a bullet hole in her tummy, unfortunately a holiday weekend and we could not find a vet to see her till Monday. Not enough money to spend either.
We got a vet to see her later that week; he said there wasn’t much we could do for her. He obviously didn’t care. Sent us home with a few pills, but she was bleeding to death. There was a perfect round hole in her tummy, no way to stop the bleeding, she was dying. I took her back there and crying I said to the Vet “Please put her out of her misery ”He smiled and said “Lin, I am going to save her for you” he felt bad for me which I still don’t understand.
We spent at list 8 hrs in there, the poor doggie had lost so much blood and was dehydrated, I was holding her paw and waiting patiently for the IV to work. He gave her a few VT shots which evidently were helping because I saw life in those dead eyes almost right away.
It was a slow recovery, lots of work; I cleaned her wound for a month everyday and gave pills like they were candy. She appreciated the help but did not learn her lesson. She continued to escape as much as she could to the park and to see her old friends, humans a dogs, she was not racist.
No matter how much we prevented her escapades, this was the story of our lives. We never put her on a leash. Could never do that to her. Instead, she got hit by a car once (long recovery) got pregnant once and had beautiful puppies at home this time; they all looked beautiful just like her, many different colors as a rainbow.
She got lost once, disappear on a Friday. We looked around for her all weekend. Even the taxi drivers were looking for her. She came back on a Monday morning happy, tired, and dirty and paws completely warned out. I am sure she had to walk a lot to come back home.
And she always came back home.
I had to take a trip to the US and Macha obviously did not understand that, why or how far I was, so she went looking for me to all the different places a frequented. My friends saw her walking around and looking for me. One day she sat next to a friend while she was reading in the park, my friend said, _”Oh Hi Macha, Where is Lindsy?” And Macha replied by placing her paw on her shoulder and then she was gone to look around for me again.
She looked all over for me even at the gym where I used to go to. She walked right in and just like that she was gone.
I did not stay long this time in the US. I missed Machita too much; I could not run without her, she was a champion runner without a leash. Macha took long trips with me to the beach and to the mountain; people treated her like a human for god sakes. She went on long walks and camping trips. To Montezuma on the ferry, she was not afraid of the swirling water, but to old tires lying on the beach, she barked at them for hours. She went to La Reserva Forestal de Grecia where I volunteered at and stayed up there with me for weeks.
Macha was my companion for years, till one sad day she got diagnosed with a rear heart disease, the vet said that the only reason she survived so long was the fact that she had a healthy life style, and running was the best thing I could have given her. I gave her treatment long enough but her condition worsen; more meds were only going to put her under a lot stress, so I decided that she should sleep peacefully instead of a long painful and frustrating death.
Gave her a long relaxing bath, her hair looked the most beautiful shiny like gold, I took her all over town sometimes carrying her because she could no longer walk so far without getting really agitated. She got the old bone in the market from Kathia and said good bye to all her old friends. We spent the weekend together as we did so many times and slept together as always. It was her time to go.
Lin