A Dog´s Life in Costa Rica

Episode 1: Buster & Shortie

There are two kinds of dogs in Costa Rica: the pampered scared of its own shadow, no canine social skills, house dog, and the don’t-give-a-shit about anything, I’m tough and I belong here street dog.

There are no real inbetweens, the closest thing would be a street dog who has gotten friendly with a pack of human children and as such runs around with a slight wag to his tail because he is enjoying humouring the cute weaker specicies. Humans are so easily pleased.

One such dog is Buster*, he 1.5 feet tall, lean and belongs to the bull dog family. Amoung his favourite pastimes are running at large sized humans at 30 km/hr only to zoom by them at the last minute and stop at the end of the block. He enjoys the gasps and shrieks.

Buster is a street dog, his territory is Avenida Cerda and the adjoining calle. All visitors must submit themselves to a thorough sniff test, there have been rumours of a cocaine ring operating in Buster’s territory and he is determined to (pardon the pun) sniff them out.

On the morning of October 3, 2008 at 8:20 am Buster was making his usual rounds, keeping an eye on the passing humans, barking high to little Timmy, his favourite house puppy, when he saw two pit bull pups hanging out behind the mall.

Buster crossed the street, side-stepping the newly forming potholes and went in for the obligatory sniff test. Two sniffs around the butt and one at the collar. One of the pups, froze, fearing the authoritative feel to Buster’s stride. The second smaller pup resisted the test and tried to find his way out of the process.

Shortie* had been stopped by big dogs who thought they owned the street before, and it always meant trouble. She was only a year and a half old, but she remembered well what her mother had told her before leaving. “It starts with a sniff and then goes down hill from there, honey. Stop it before it starts.”

Being a smart dog she decided to use her small size to her advantage and when she passed the first house with bars out front (which in Costa Rica was really just the first house) she ran through leaving her troubles and Buster behind with a short bark.

End of episode one…tune in next time for episode 2: “Where´s a dog to pee in a country with no hydrants?”

*The names of the dogs have been changed to protect their right to privacy and so as to be intelligible to human beings. (I never was a good speller, so dog language is beyond me)