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 ABOUTfeatured: 30 Best Snorkeling Blogs Fun Ways to enjoy the caribbeanArchive for the ‘Pets + Domestic Animals’Feb 2, 12 Comments (0)
Good morning everyone, here’s my new favorite photo of my best friend, Indi. This is a great shot that Barry took this weekend at St. Joris. The dogs love going here because it has so many different and unique areas. For instance; there are the mud flats with tons of crabs to chase, areas of beautiful dry grass to lay in (as you see here), sandy areas to race across and shallow water to leap though, it is a dog’s paradise. I guess you can see Indi is pretty content. If you recall, Indi is now about 3 years old and was just a little puppy when I found her. Inca and I were on a walk and driving back home and saw a car beside a very busy road. A small black puppy was running around the car. I knew either the people were trying to catch the puppy or dropping it off. I pulled off up the road to wait and see, and sure enough the car pulled away and left the cutest little black thing with big ears sitting 10 feet away from the road. I turned the car around, parked, and walked up to her, she never even moved a muscle as I picked her up. I sat her in the seat next to me and she looked around and seemed to own the place, pretty funny. Next I called Barry and told him I had found a puppy and was headed home. This was only the second time we had picked up a street dog and he wanted to know what I was going to do with it, I said I did not know, but I could not leave her there. I actually did find a home for her quickly but before they picked her up she got sick. I did not want to send a sick puppy home with people, so I told them I wanted to take her to the vet first. It turned out she had parvo and it was a difficult week where we almost lost her several times. I spent most of the week sleeping with her in my lap, maybe that is when we bonded so strongly. Well, she made it though, which is a miracle, and several other possible homes fell through. I soon named her Indi (because she is so independent) and Barry then said, “well I guess we are keeping her!” Yup. She has turned out to be the best dog ever, she loves to play, nap and just be in the same room. I recently taught her to turn the lights on and off and to close the door behind her (because she pushes herself in to all the rooms). So, that is my Indi story. We sure are lucky she fell into our lives that day.
Barry stayed home from work yesterday felling a bit sick but mostly just drained and wiped out, he needed a whole day of rest! Not much else to report, sure looking forward to having our friend Emily here with us in a few weeks, we always enjoy her company!!
Have a wonderful day, Aimee
Apr 24, 11 Comments Off
Best wishes from Curacao! We had a fun morning with the Indi Bunny! Happy Easter, Barry and Aimee
Apr 18, 11 Comments Off
Ahhhhh, isn’t this the best? Aimee here, of course once again talking up our puppies. Well, here is our little “lucky puppy” and you probably won’t even recognize her as being the same one we took in a couple of months ago. I have to remind myself what she looked like and how scared she was when she first came into our lives. Obviously, it is a dog’s life, at least here in this household…. this evening Barry, Inca, Indi and little Lucky went for a walk to the beach. You can tell, one of us had the best time ever! I am not sure who won the fight, Puppy or the sand? She of course believes life is made up of walks on the trails, swims at the beach and kongs filled with peanut butter. Ahh, it is truly a dog’s life. Tonight’s biggest surprise ever was an e-mail we received from a friend of ours that another generous donation was made to CARF, it was an unbelievable amount and we are truly humbled by their giving hearts and want to thank them for our little one and the others that his donation will be helping in the future. It is because of the giving nature of these individuals that the lost and forgotten animals here in Curacao will have a fighting chance at having a new and different life. Our little one is just one example of what people can do. So, never believe that you cannot make a difference, you can in many different ways. I think our motto is ” you can’t do everything, but you can do something; and what you can do, you should do”. So, here’s to our little one that will be going to go to her new home in the next week. We sure have enjoyed her through the laughs and struggles; we learn something from each one that crosses our path.
Thanks again for the donations, you guys are wonderful!! Aimee and Barry
Apr 3, 11 Comments Off
Hello everyone! Guess who this is? Don’t recognize her? It might be a little tough, to tell you the truth. It is our little “Lucky dog”! You will have to look back in the blog to about mid January to see the first photo we had of her. At that time she had so little hair I was not even sure what color dog she was supposed to be. Ok, a little re-cap. Around Jan 7th a neighbor of ours came to the door saying there was a street puppy down by the workman’s area under a pile of wood. She said the pup was tiny and thin and had no hair and was super scared. Well, I tried for one night to not think about it and then went the next day and tried to find her and give food and water. She was so tiny and had no hair that she looked like a little rat, with teeth growling at me! The local workers caught her and I took upon myself and Barry a new puppy project. It has been a long trail with lots of work, but if you see the change, it has all been worth it. She has really gained weight; she started at 2 kilo and is now 9 kilo. She has had 2 types of mites and we are mostly through treating that, although the baths will continue for a while. She has had two vaccinations and her socialization has become a priority of mine. That means we go on lots of walks around the neighborhood so she can see, hear and sniff lots of things and we take along a bag of treats so that every dog person we meet gets to give her a nice goodie. That makes her like people very much. She is coming along very well. She loves to play with Indi (I call Indi “super-nanny), the two are hard to separate and she has now met several other dogs on the trail and it has gone very well. And the best news of all: we had a wonderful Dutch lady come by last week and she fell in love with our little black puppy. She is going to her new home in a couple of weeks. This lady is getting her house and yard in order and waiting on the arrival of her dog from Holland and wanted a companion for her. So, although the day out little one will be a bit sad and I am sure I will shed a tear or two, it will also be another wonderful ending for a little one that would not have had a chance in the world of surviving without a bit of help. It has definitely taken both Barry and I to do this, with each of us getting up and coming home to help with potty training and both of us chasing after her trying to keep our things out of her mouth! But still, it has been worth it. I encourage all of you to do what you can, when you can to help the local dogs with sterilizing or volunteering for an organization such as CARF. Thanks to all our friends for their encouragement and we had some incredible people who made amazing donations to CARF after we first presented our puppy. A special thanks to them, you know who you are.
Everyone have a great day. Aimee
Feb 9, 11 Comments Off
What’s the good word this morning folks! I think most of you know that if I send a photo of Indi out that Inca has to follow, I mean it just isn’t fair. Inca or as Aimee says; “Daddy’s Girl” is much more calm and reserved than Indi, in fact we believe she thinks she is a dog princess and must at all times be treated like one, you know, you can look but don’t touch. She’s just spoiled you say?? Yes, that’s also most likely true but it sure is fun!! Inca was also very funny to watch during our dog torture photo shoot, she didn’t really seem to care at all and continued to do what she does so well, guard the beach. She always is in her alert mode when we are out walking the trails and for the most part gives us a little peace of mind knowing she’s on duty. On the other hand Indi is always chasing things or exploring and even with her big ears is sometimes the last to know we have company. As far as we know Inca is the only pure-breed Dalmatian on Curacao. We have seen others but they are mixed making her even more special with her gleaming white and black spotted fur coat, lets hope she never sees herself in a mirror!
Busy day yesterday, one sub dive and a bike ride with Super-Stijn at 5:30, all was going great until he got a flat!! I am off today with Aimee for once although she came home at midnight from an employee party then got up at 1:30am till 2:30am and had to go to work and she is up now again at 7:00! That’s not much sleep!!
See you soon, Barry
Feb 7, 11 Comments Off
What’s shakin friends?? Oh yeah I forgot, it’s winter everywhere but here so that’s probably a bad way to start off our conversation. So being that your all locked in the cold we figured a nice picture from the beach would warm your spirits this evening. This is our pride and joy Indi relaxing this evening in her favorite chair, soaking up the warm sun setting rays down at our private little beach. I think I once told you all that Aimee is an unbelievable animal trainer, she can train a dog or dolphin to do anything! The funny thing about this photo is that Indi actually enjoyed it and just sat there and sat there just looking out into the ocean, I was laughing so hard I could barely take the photo. After we shot Indi we tried with Inca. She also did pretty well although she was much more serious, while Indi had a smile on her face the whole time and seemed to love the extra attention! Who would have ever guessed we would end up getting so much enjoyment out of a puppy we found abandoned on the road, she is so great!
Aimee just pulled one of our Christmas hams out of the oven and the house smells great, I am going to go check it out. Be back tomorrow, stay warm, Barry
Jan 23, 11 Comment (1)
Good morning all, meet our new little resident who we consider lucky to be alive! Maybe “Lucky” should be her name? She was found one week ago living under a big woodpile down at the end of our street. Some neighbors had been helping to leave milk, food and water which most likely saved her from starving in the beginning. Days later Aimee got involved and drove our big dog crate down and helped to catch her, she is so afraid and scared of everything and I believe Aimee was bitten the first day during this activity. The day after bringing her home Aimee immediately rushed her to the CARF hospital were she received multiple shots, and all kinds of medications. Her skin is the worst problem from laying in the dirt, she has something called, Sarcoptic Mange which she is being treated for by shots, good food and mainly by keeping her out of the dirt. She also has worms, and fleas and is so shy and scared. Aimee is working with her non-stop by holding her in a towel and letting her know everything is better now and by golly every day she seems to be improving and letting Aimee hold her more and more. This little thing is so tiny and skinny, all her ribs are showing on the side and spends all day crying because her skin hurts her so much, Aimee says it will be yet another week before we start to see any healing. Remember Bart the Air-Ring maker? Well when he was here this week a friend of his left us $100 for such emergencies which we gave to the organization called CARF www.carf.an For any of you wanting to help with this little thing or others like her please let me know, we can arrange anything! I built a new “Puppy Palace” in my computer room for her to live in, there she has a big box to hide in with a blanket, air-co, chewies, food and water and daily love, stay tuned for more!
Yesterday was spent entertaining our new guest Bernard. He is great, we all went on a long morning walk with the dogs down the coast, I worked on a new little trail and he practiced his photography and like a good boy asked lots of questions. Later we all went to the glass beach and then grocery shopping at then back out to the airport to pick up his girlfriend Rosa who arrived at 4:30. The evening was spent catching up on stories at the Ribs Factory and upon our arrival home we all went straight to bed!!
I better get moving, another day of fun with friends, have a great weekend, Barry
Jun 10, 10 Comments Off
What a day!! After dropping Aimee off at the airport and getting her checked in at 6:00am I then drove to stand in a line for 2 hours to get my island I.D. only to be told I had the wrong papers! I can’t even tell you how mad I was, and you would think where I work they would know by now what kind of papers we all need but apparently that is not the case! I ended up getting home around 8:30 and loaded the dogs and off we went over to the Sea Aquarium trails for a morning hike. Well due to more rain that didn’t last long and I took them right back home. It was so hot and humid today and the mosquitoes are everywhere now! At 3:00 I left the house for a 3 hour mountain bike ride with some local kids and then raced home grabbed the dogs again and off we went for an evening walk thru the desert. Some of our friends from work stopped over after work and fed and took care of the two puppies for me, thank you very much ladies! This day went by so fast!
By request, here is our last puppy that needs a home! He is a little male and has the sweetest personality I have ever seen, he is so calm and relaxed. Please if you know of a really good home let me know ASAP, I really wish he could stay with his sister because they love each other so much but not sure if that’s possible!
I am beat and going to bed! Bye now, Barry
Apr 30, 10 Comments Off
Good evening all and to my Dutch friends, Happy Queens Day!!! This is our third and last puppy and my personal favorite. I am temporarily calling her Blackie. She is a little smaller than the others but makes up for it in spirit and attitude!! Aimee and I are both shocked at how well these puppies have adapted to our house in the past week and amazed at how much they have grown. My dear wife is doing potty training around the clock and some times takes them outside six or seven times within an hour and unbelievably they go potty every time!! Again, please help us find them homes, someone has to know someone that needs a puppy, and these are Grade “A” top quality!!
Another busy day for me starting with trail building for two hours by myself this morning. Then I came home and picked up Bernard and Rosa and off we went to Punda to check out all the celebrating going on because of Queens Day, a major holiday for Holland!! We walked all over town in the blazing heat with thousands of other visitors, it was kind of like controlled chaos! At 1:00 Aimee called and said she couldn’t get in the house because I had the key so I left our guests there to play and went home to rescue the puppies who needed to be fed and walked. At 3:00 I went back to Punda to collect our tourists and at 5:00 I went riding for an hour. I am so tired right now, we got home late last night from the “Sully Party” and woke to the sound of restless puppies at 4:00am!
That’s about it, we did get a little rain but it’s still real hot! Bye now, Barry
Apr 29, 10 Comments Off
Hey guys, (Aimee here) this is puppy number two. This is our little man and he is as cute and as gentle as they get!! When we first started feeding the puppies, the two others (females) would come running as fast as they could, tails wagging and jumping up to greet me. This little man however, would have his tail wagging but would keep his distance, waiting for me to leave to come and get his dinner. Occasionally he would get a bit closer and I would pick him up and pet him and then set him back down, and eventually he became a bit more relaxed. However, as soon as we got him home and cleaned up a bit and he found out I was “the dinner lady”, he is now also as affectionate and fun loving as his sisters. So far he seems like the little gentleman, letting the girls do more of the jumping and tail-biting as he lays down with his chewie. It is really funny seeing their little personalities develop. They are each so different and so perfect in their own little ways. That being said, potty training three little ones is quite the challenge! You can bet that if I take one outside, the others are being “pee machines” inside! With time though that will get better. PLEASE help us find a home for this sweet thing I promise you will not be disappointed!! The adventure continues.
Well, today I got a big surprise! About 3 weeks ago, Barry became very secretive and asked me to get some extra days off in the coming week. I was fortunately able to do that. This afternoon he told me he was going photographing on the island and left about 1:00. To my amazement he returned about an hour later with our good friend Bernard and his girlfriend Rosa! Wow! I had no idea! What a sneaky-fun husband! Bernard and Rosa live in London and they will be here with us for about one week. Bernard has been here several times, but it has been about 3 years since the last time. Things have changed! We are now living in this great house, with much more room, and the island has grown and changed, with new buildings and business places everywhere. It will be fun touring around with them in the up and coming days.
Tonight we have dinner at the Ribs Factory planned and then to a local bar/restaurant for a “Sully Party”. Remember Sully was the pilot whale we rescued and rehabilitated and then was sent to Sea World of San Diego? This is a party to thank all the people who worked so hard during those 6 long months. So, we are going to get ready and take off, everyone have a great day tomorrow! Aimee
Apr 28, 10 Comments Off
Good evening all, finally here’s a picture of one of the three puppies. This is a little female and she is so loving and friendly and for now I am calling her “Brownie”. Today the puppies got their first shots so they made it thru the first week safe and sound!! We will not be taking these little things anywhere until we know they are protected from the killer parvo virus which as many of you know took one of our last puppies we had. We are even going as far as taking off our shoes before we walk in the house and making visitors do the same along with constant moping of the entry way with bleach. The best news ever is that this puppy has officially been adopted out to our friend Tom and his family, remember he’s the vet from Sea World that stayed with us all last month! Well him and his family are moving here soon so we are just taking care of her till they get settled in! The other two sweethearts are still needing homes, will send you another puppy photo tomorrow night for your consideration!! All of these dogs have incredible personalities and are so fun to be around and seem to already just love everyone plus like the others Aimee is already potty training them!!
Very tired from a long day in the sun, talk to you more tomorrow, Barry
Apr 3, 10 Comments Off
 Indi Hi gang, we haven’t heard from too many people these past few days, we are guessing you are all on holiday and away from the computer for once. We just got home from a long day at work and we are both relaxing with our yummy Highlander Groog which is not only the best way to start a day it’s also the best way to finish it! Boy not a whole lot going on right now. I am still coughing, can hardly wait till Tuesday so I can go back to the doctor and get something else, like something that actually works for once!
Here’s our fun little Indi who has the unique ability to find the highest point or a lookout area no matter where we go! Just about every time we go somewhere we end up calling her and nine times out of ten she is standing high above up checking things out. This little dog has really turned out to be quite a treasure and is as playful and as loving as they come. I shot this at the old abandoned house we stopped at the other morning, she just stood there looking out that window into the desert and gave me all the time I needed to compose a picture, what a good girl.
I wish I had more but that’s it for tonight, going to go shell collecting in the morning, Barry
Mar 21, 10 Comments Off
 Meeting the Iguana Late Good morning folks, I took my memory stick to work yesterday and last night I couldn’t find it?? For my old Dell it only will recognizes one old stick so if I loose it I am in big trouble.
This is Inca and Indi a few days ago with their new found friend a small Iguana. The Iguana really stood it’s ground and the dogs seemed to sense that this was his territory and after a quick sniff and a whip of the tail from the Iguana the dogs took off. The desert here is now painfully dry with animals really searching for water and food, you can see how skinny the Iguana looks and the plants look about the same.
Went on a quick bike ride last night with the dogs, we followed Aimee as she did a fast four mile run, that girl is in good shape. More later today, Barry
Mar 6, 10 Comments Off
 Rufo Hi friends, just a very quick note tonight to just say hi and all is well. I received a note a week ago from a friend on the list asking about our Dolphin Academy mascot Rufo so here he is. I shot this yesterday as he hung from one of the many palm fronds in his personal little palm tree. Rufo is so funny to watch and is a super big hit with the guests each day. He will hang completely upside down holding on with just one leg and then like a circus performer he will swing his body and pop his head up thru the palm fronds as you see here as if to say “here I am”, we love him!
I went for a deep dive today down to 102 feet with a friend from work out in front of the aquarium in search of new sponges. We found a great new area that was just loaded with goodies, will take Aimee back there on her next day off to help me search for photo worthy shots. After work I went on a nice fast hour and a half mountain bike ride in the wilds of Curacao. The trails are so dusty and loose now, man does the Caribbean ever need rain!!
That’s about it, talk to you tomorrow, Barry
Dec 18, 09 Comments Off
 Scooby-Doo Good evening all, Aimee here along with my “fat-faced-dog”, or as Barry calls her, “Scooby Doo”! Yes, and believe it or not this photo was taken more than one hour later after a vet visit and a IV steroid injection! Just imagine what she looked like when I picked her up on the trail? Now, I understand you basically know the story; Barry and the dogs were on the trail working, I was at the Aquarium, and got this panicked phone call that said “we have an Indi emergency, you have to take her to the vet right now!” Ok, now those are the words no pet owner wants to hear, especially this paranoid mamma. At this particular time as well, our car was at the shop, so I was only on the bike. I quickly dropped everything I was doing, begged a friend for the keys to her jeep and ran out of there. Barry said her face was humongous and I was mostly worried about her air pipe becoming restricted from the swelling. We were not sure what she got in to, either bees or ants, there are plenty of both out on the trail. Well, when I picked her up her eyes were only slits, she could barely open them at all. So, I called the vet and met him at his clinic (on a Sunday morning), he checked her out and decided to give an IV injection and sent us home. Barry kept an eye on her all day and by the next morning, she was back to new and looking for something else to get into! She is definitely our “busy one”, the next day actually the lid was left off the dog food bucket (little did Barry know), I came home an hour later and said, “hmmm, Indi sure looks bloated”. Then I went upstairs and found the source! Let’s just say there was lots of moaning and sleeping for her the rest of the evening. Well, that is the dog saga for the week, she sure keeps us on our toes. The adventures never end. Hope everyone has a great weekend. Although it’s almost Christmas, we are still barefoot!
Aimee
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