Smokey

In July 2002, a litter of puppies was born underneath the containers of Mission HQ, where I work. We had an incredible summer storm and the parking lot flooded.

Because the puppies had been abandoned by their mother over the weekend, the puppies were weak and had trouble moving out of the water. A colleague and I crawled around and rescued the poor little things. We were not able to reach one puppy (the runt) who was under the middle of the container and his cries could be heard the rest of the day and night. The next morning, he was rescued after managing to crawl to the side...and snatched up by one of us. I named him Smokey for his rescue...and adopted him :) The rest of his brothers and sisters (seven total), I worked on finding homes and encouraging other people to adopt. After the Smokey's litter, two more litters were born under our containers and I took those to the animal shelter for home placement and care.

25 March 2007
I left Smokey at the kennel while moving to the new flat in Dragodan. He was a bit freaked out during the last move so I figured it would be easier for him to adjust if all our stuff was moved into the new place and I just brought him to the new location. But things are different! I guess Smokey does not like the stairs for entering our new flat. The stairs are metal and I half expect him to try to tiptoe up them so the smallest amount of paw possible touches the stairs. Perhaps they are cold but whatever the reason, it is quite funny to watch him try to climb the stairs without touching the metal :o)

17 January 2007
Smokey, the Crazy Dog! He has another title now! I had to put him on the upstairs balcony because he kept ripping the internet/TV cable out of its place on the downstairs balcony. Today was his second day on the big balcony overlooking Pristina and I thought he'd be happy with so much space to roam. But lo-and-behold, when I walked outside to the front of the house, I saw Smokey peering over the roof of the garage, two stories up. Somehow he managed to jump over the railing on the balcony and get up on the roof. I went back inside to make sure he wasn't stuck and he was right there at the door to sneak inside. I taught him a thing or two and tossed his butt back out on the balcony...and as soon as I got back downstairs and out front, he was again on the roof. I hope no one in the neighborhood freaks out that there is a dog on my roof...but at least I don't have to reconnect my internet/TV cable when I get home tonight!

28 July 2006
Smokey, the Monster Dog. That's his new title. It's summertime and there is a pack of wild dogs roaming around the neighborhood at night. Smokey tries his hardest to defend the yard from the onslaught of canine marauders by barking non-stop through the night. I try to be a good neighbor by stopping him but it doesn't do much because there are a bunch of dogs in the yard barking anyways. Because the power situation is bad, I closed the front balcony door to lessen the noise of the KPS generator across the street. Smokey doesn't like that because the front balcony is his first line of defense. So he bangs on the door handle until it goes down and steals through the door. I usually put my desk chair in front of the handle to prevent him from going out so he starts to run from the door to the bed, staring me down as I try to sleep and challenging me to get up and let him outside. Last night I lost the fight despite the fact that I left the back balcony door open for him to go outside. I can't sleep while Smokey is outside barking at the wild dogs so I bring him inside the house and put on his muzzle. It doesn't prevent him from barking or drinking water, it just makes it harder for him to get out a full aggressive Get-Out-Of-My-Yard bark. I guess he didn't like that because this morning when I tossed my luggage in the car, I started noticing a strange but familiar smell. Either marking his territory in the house or revenge for putting on the muzzle, Smokey peed all over the front of my dive gear bag. Monster!

February 2006
10-February Smokey tried to do the Houdini dog thing again and get out of his kennel but ended up getting his paw stuck in the door and making a deep cut on his leg just above the back pad. He acts more like he had his leg amputated than just suffering from a small wound. As you can see from the pictures, he is an expert at moping and milking his injury for all it's worth! What a man!

23-February Despite Smokey's moping indoors, he remains happy and continues his escapades escaping from the kennel. So far this week he has escaped three out of the four days. I'll be surprised if I find him in the kennel later today when I go home!

January 2005
Oh please, please tell me that it isn't true! After arriving back in Kosovo, I discovered two little puppies visiting Smokey in his kennel every morning and eating his food. Smokey did not chase them off but rather sat on top of his doghouse and oversaw the eating of his food. I first noticed a little black puppy (about a month old) in the morning because I heard very high-pitched barking outside. The puppy was defending the food from the birds and chasing them off. At least he knows that part better than Smokey! Then I saw a little brown puppy who doesn't seem as afraid as the black one of me. I was able to get close enough to take a picture of Smokey and the brown puppy together and the resemblance is scary!!! Could Smokey possibly have become a father during one of his famed escape nights?

May 2004:
14-May: Smokey escaped out of the yard last night and because the weather wasn't so good, I chose not to chase him around in the rain and mud. Emin says that he saw him around 11pm when he opened his window for fresh air but thought that I was out walking him as I usually do at night before going to bed...so he didn't think twice until he saw him sleeping outside his window in the morning. When I saw him, I hardly recognized him! He was smelly (I mean SMELLY!), muddy, and beat-up. His nicely groomed fur was muddy, matted, and more tuffs of winter fur were coming out *yuck* When he came into the house, he went straight to his water bowl and noisily slurped up an entire bowl of water....then went into the living room and passed out on the floor (long night, I guess!!!)

I've had Smokey since he was one month old so he is more familiar with people than wild dogs. The vet says that he probably thought he was king of the world until some street dog whupped his butt over a female dog in heat :-P~

Anyways, the poor guy is in kennel quarantine for the next 10 days due to a large bite on his back leg. He also has something wrong with his left ear but no visible marks...we just know it is bothering him because he keeps tilting his head to the side and shaking his ears.
21-May: Smokey is doing well but going a little stir-crazy in his kennel. I let him out of the kennel with a leash to roam around the garden last night for about 15 minutes and he was happy as could be :) His appetite is enormous and he thoroughly enjoys scarfing down the cut-up hotdogs I've been treating him with when I get home from work. I can't wait to give him a bath though because he looks unbelievably scruffy! Actually, he looks a bit wild because he has tuffs of hair coming out and is still dirty because I was advised not to give him a bath yet because of his wounds.

We discovered what was wrong with his ear and he is no longer looking like he has a severe cramp in his neck *chuckle* Actually, it was quite cute watching him flop his ears back and forth. But the problem was that he received a bite near his ear and possibly some of the blood went into his ear canal. Then he scratched so much that he opened a sore on the lobe of his ear...making things even worse! But the vet gave me antibiotics and cleaned his ears out (again!) Now I have to apply the medicine and give him a little ear massage each night when I go home.

Winter 2003:
Smokey used to sleep on the bed with me before I got tired of the winter fur and dirt streaks on the comforter and kicked him out to his kennel or the front balcony. But before kicking him out of the bed, one morning I cracked Didem up when I told her "Smokey is SUCH a man!" When we woke up one morning, he stretched out as big as he could and let out a small fart. He then proceeded to look very disgusted but looked at me as if I had been the one farting or to say "what was that?" What a MAN!!!