I got a puppy!

My October definitely started off with a woof! A fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, Amy, has been in country since last year. She acted as a Peace Corps Volunteer Facilitator during my group's training in Léo, so we got to know her well. Her dog had puppies toward the end of our training and she let me claim one! I met her in Ouagadougou on the last day in September to receive the puppy. I've never had a dog before, so I cracked up when I saw "I Just Got a Puppy. What Do I Do?" in the volunteer library. The internet connection is so slow or nonexistent at my site that my questions are no longer just a Google Search away, so this book has been fantastic!

Me and my puppy in Ouagadougou

Simba in her basket

I taxi'd to the bus station to catch my bus home. To my horror, the bus station was packed like I'd never seen before. Everyone was travelling for 3 main reasons: going home for the start of school, affecting to teach in the assigned school district and travelling for 2 big religious holidays that weekend. I went into Ouagadougou on the absolutely worst day! Usually I just go up to my bus and hop on without having to formally by tickets ahead of time. This was the first time I had to go to the ticket booth. Burkina Faso does not have a concept of lines. It is first come first served and that means mass chaos. I thought we were standing in a line at the ticket booth, but when the worker returned to sell more tickets everyone pushed forward like we were at a rock concert. Of course my money wasn't easily accessible, so I took off my backpack and set the puppy's basket down, praying that she wouldn't try to jump out. Everyone was watching me because I stick out like a sore thumb being so pale, but I also had a giant backpack and a puppy and my money wasn't ready. Hot mess. I eventually got my ticket and headed over to the other line of mass chaos loading the busses. As a bus backed in, I asked one of the workers if he could put my bike on the bus. He said yes, but make sure you can find a seat. To my horror, the bus had just been unloaded and people were already shoving their way on. Are you kidding me? So I hugged the puppy close like a football and pushed my way head first into the crowd like I was going for the touchdown. You bet I got that touchdown! All Burkina hospitality for the nasara is lost when it comes to first come first served scenarios. I fought for my middle seat between one large woman and another mother with her 8-year-old son on her lap. We became 5 sweaty peas in a 3 seat pod. Oversize lady, me, puppy on my lap, mother and son on her lap. Wow. The puppy slept and I sweated for the next hour until I got home. But, we made it!

For being 8 weeks old, the puppy was so tiny! But, the mother had been sick and the puppy was fighting for milk with her brothers.  She had a few scabs on her body and other volunteers that were also at the Transit House (Peace Corps Burkina Faso dorms) mentioned that she might have worms. I believe it, she slept the entire way from my friend's house to Ouagadougou, didn't play or act curious in Ouagadougou, then slept the whole way to my house. This was also the first time that she was separated from her mother and brothers, but her energy was insanely low. I took her to my neighbor to show her my new puppy and she immediately saw the scabs and said that she had worms. IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH DON'T READ THIS NEXT PART. Go to the next paragraph. What happened next is gross. My neighbor squeezed the scab area like it was a pimple and out popped a worm. I was mortified, but totally intrigued at the same time. I held down the puppy and she proceeded to pop out at least 10 more worms. My poor little puppy was crying and wimpering and it was so sad to put her through so much pain. My neighbor heard my awws and said I know this is hurting her, but she will die if these worms don't come out. I don't know who was braver, my neighbor or my puppy. Every worm she took out, she then threw into the fire. She has a dog too, so she knows how dangerous these worms are.

It was a amazing to see the difference the next morning in the puppy's energy level. Granted, she woke me up a million times throughout the night whenever she heard loud wind, rain, dogs fighting and donkeys braying. But, she had an appetite and way more energy. I took her to the vet and he gave her a small injection to prevent further worms and washed her with a toxin made for animals to kill any further worms. Sure enough, he found more than what my neighbor had found. He told me my puppy was actually a boy and said that the service was free of charge. People here are seriously so nice.

Such a curious little puppy!

I wanted to wait a few days to make sure he was healthy before naming him. Animals are so fragile here, especially young animals. But, when I took him to my neighbor's house, he curiously walked up to my neighbor's 8-year-old dog and barked the quietest, cutest little bark I've ever heard. It reminded me of Simba in The Lion King when he tries to roar at the hyenas. So his name became Simba. And, he's growing into his name quite nicely! One of his favorite games is to hide in the tall weeds, crouch and then pounce and chase my neighbor's chickens. It's adorable to watch and reminds me of the Lion King character pouncing on Zazu. It's also pretty legit that many of the locals here pronounce Simba's name "Seemba," like Rafiki.

Simba loves chasing chickens!

Simba likes to play with her crepes and fried eggs.

The informational book about getting a puppy has been pretty helpful. But, raising a puppy here is a lot different that in a developed country. In house training, the book emphasizes the importance of regular meals to regulate the digestive system. I wish that was an option. Dogs here eat what the humans eat. I can find dog food in the capital, but it is insanely expensive and my Peace Corps stipend isn't really setup to support that. So, I bought a small bag of off-brand adult dog food to supplement what I feed him. What's been successful so far is NIDO. NIDO is fortified powdered milk produced by Nestlé to promote healthy growth and development in children. It's basically like Pedia-Sure with the proteins and vitamins children need. Simba loves that stuff! It doesn't have lactose in it, so he digests it without a problem. He also really likes scrambled eggs. And of course he LOVES meat. I often take him over to my neighbor's house where I eat lunch every day and she'll give him some tô or rice with sauce and he eats it all! 

Okay, so I don't care what the vet says. After three weeks with me, my puppy has more than doubled in size. She's a girl, not a boy. I picked her up and looked at her side-by-side with my friend's male puppy and there's kind of a big difference. Good one, vet. 

I puppy sat for my community counterpart while he was in the capital working for a few days. Simba is way bigger than his puppy, so when they played she'd usually end up hurting him. If I didn't separate them into two different rooms in the house, I wouldn't have ever slept through the night. Simba just loves playing too much! 

Simba loves to play!

I love my puppy! It costs more than 800 euros to fly a dog back with me to the United States, so I'm making sure Simba gets to know my neighbor really well so she doesn't feel as confused about loyalty when I leave. Every time I lock to the house door, she wags her tail and runs to the gate and then runs into my neighbor's courtyard to play and follow her around. I'm super attached to Simba, but $2,000 can fly me back to Burkina to visit after my service is done. And there are plenty of puppies for me to choose from in the US!

I love my puppy!!