Mbwenya "Before" & "After" - it just goes to show what a little food and TLC can do !
We’d only been living on the farm for around 2 weeks, when a pathetic looking, starving animal appeared on the outskirts of our garden one evening whilst I was feeding our dogs. At first I thought that it was a jackal (as we do have them on the farm). On closer inspection, I realized that this poor mite was, in fact, a dog. She was so timid and of course ran off the minute I tried to approach her. I shut our dogs inside the house, put a bowl of food out and waited for her to return – which she did.
She returned every night after that, and slowly became a little tamer. I de-wormed her, and treated her for ticks and fleas. She got fatter around the belly, and I suspected that she was pregnant. After a few weeks, she disappeared for several days and then re-appeared a lot thinner than before, and I could tell that she was nursing pups. She had made a nest in the bush, and kept them safely there. I made sure that I gave her good quality food and lots of supplements. After a few weeks, I sent Justin (my right hand man – more about him in a future post !) to follow her one night, to find out where she was keeping the pups. He found them, but said that they were still very small/young. About a week or two after this, she returned (alone) permanently to our garden and when Justin went to see if he could find the puppies in the ‘nest’ she’d made … they were gone.
A few months later, she disappeared for about a week, and we found her tied up on a short length of wire in the hot sun in one of the local villages, with no food or water. I immediately removed her, challenging the lady who argued and claimed “ownership” of her to open a case of theft against me at the Police Station if she wanted to get the dog back again. (She never did !)
By this time she was tame enough for me to handle, and I managed to get her in to a travel crate and take her to a wonderful couple who run horseback safari’s here and also happen to be vets. They spayed her for me, and vaccinated her. She is now one of my “village dogs” and lives happily in the garden. We named her “Mbwenya” … she was supposed to be “Mbweha” which means “fox” in the local Kiswahili language – as with her odd ears she looked a bit like a bat eared fox (!!) but this proved too tricky for my toddler to pronounce, so she became Mbwenya instead !
The first time she ever started to play with me - daring me to chase her and jumping and gently nipping me and then scampering away with a cheeky glint in her eye – I actually had tears in my eyes, realizing how much just a little love and TLC had done to change this cowering, timid and starving animal into the content, happy and brave little dog she had become.
She is a fiercely loyal little dog, and follows me around constantly when I am outside in the garden or walking up to the main farm workshop area, and is very protective if anyone comes too close to me.
She was my first “rescue” on the farm … although at the time, I did not know that she wasn’t to be the last … but more of that some other time !
She returned every night after that, and slowly became a little tamer. I de-wormed her, and treated her for ticks and fleas. She got fatter around the belly, and I suspected that she was pregnant. After a few weeks, she disappeared for several days and then re-appeared a lot thinner than before, and I could tell that she was nursing pups. She had made a nest in the bush, and kept them safely there. I made sure that I gave her good quality food and lots of supplements. After a few weeks, I sent Justin (my right hand man – more about him in a future post !) to follow her one night, to find out where she was keeping the pups. He found them, but said that they were still very small/young. About a week or two after this, she returned (alone) permanently to our garden and when Justin went to see if he could find the puppies in the ‘nest’ she’d made … they were gone.
A few months later, she disappeared for about a week, and we found her tied up on a short length of wire in the hot sun in one of the local villages, with no food or water. I immediately removed her, challenging the lady who argued and claimed “ownership” of her to open a case of theft against me at the Police Station if she wanted to get the dog back again. (She never did !)
By this time she was tame enough for me to handle, and I managed to get her in to a travel crate and take her to a wonderful couple who run horseback safari’s here and also happen to be vets. They spayed her for me, and vaccinated her. She is now one of my “village dogs” and lives happily in the garden. We named her “Mbwenya” … she was supposed to be “Mbweha” which means “fox” in the local Kiswahili language – as with her odd ears she looked a bit like a bat eared fox (!!) but this proved too tricky for my toddler to pronounce, so she became Mbwenya instead !
The first time she ever started to play with me - daring me to chase her and jumping and gently nipping me and then scampering away with a cheeky glint in her eye – I actually had tears in my eyes, realizing how much just a little love and TLC had done to change this cowering, timid and starving animal into the content, happy and brave little dog she had become.
She is a fiercely loyal little dog, and follows me around constantly when I am outside in the garden or walking up to the main farm workshop area, and is very protective if anyone comes too close to me.
She was my first “rescue” on the farm … although at the time, I did not know that she wasn’t to be the last … but more of that some other time !
