A Girl Named Ed

Dogs are a big problem on many small islands. American Samoa is no exception. There are literally thousands of stray dogs running around down here. On top of that, it is often difficult to tell the difference between a stray and an "owned" dog, for even dogs that are considered pets are often not fed regularly and have mange or other physical problems. Nearly every dog has a severe limp, broken tail, and numerous cuts all over their body from fighting with other dogs or being hit by cars. These dogs roam the streets and parks, barking at cars, barking at people, fighting other dogs, looking for food, fornicating, urinating and defacating as they please. Passers by will throw rocks at them, waive sticks at them, kick them, or toss scraps of food at them. Some are aggressive and some wince in fear when people pass by. Those that are agressive are the ones that get rocks thrown at them or sticks waived at them. On numerous occasions I have been surrounded by up to 10 dogs barking and nipping at my feet. Not a fun experience, but we humans are generally smarter than the average stray dog, so we've managed to come up with methods of outsmarting them.

There are the occasional exceptions to the rule however. I have also witnessed this. It all started about one year ago when a stray dog showed up on a friends porch. This dog seemed quite friendly. She didn't bark, didn't growl, didn't really even beg. She was just content to sleep on the table under the carport. Perhaps this dog knew what she was doing, for she had chosen the right house. The person living at this house, Chris, just so happened to be the president of the American Samoa Humane Society, but was leaving the island in 3 short weeks.

While one person cannot save every dog on the island, with 3 weeks left here, feeding this dog was easy for Chris. The dog slowly began to grow on us...she was a sweet dog, with a good personality, which key to winning over humans. She became friends with Chris' dog Utu'fiti (samoan for "flea bag"...at right) and his Steve's dog Moana (samoan for "deep ocean"...below left). Once Chris left, this new dog knew where both Steve and I lived and so began hanging around our houses.

That summer, Steve had a house guest named Ed. Ed was in American Samoa doing some work for his masters degree and training for a marathon at the same time. Ed would occasionally throw this dog some scraps. So naturally, when Ed would go on his 15-mile training runs, the dog would follow with the hope of getting some bread or even a chicken bone out of the deal. This dog had barely eaten for weeks and was running 10 to 15 miles with Ed every other day!!

After Ed left, we realized that the dog and Ed had similar hair color, and perhaps from running 15 miles in equatorial heat together, both often smelled a bit. Therefore, the dog has since become known as Ed (below right on her back). Ed now runs the neighborhood, she knows where everybody lives and where the BBQ's are. It's simply not a legitimate Lion's Park BBQ if Ed doesn't show up!

She has since been legitamized as well. Ed got pregnant several months back, but luckily it was during the time that there were volunteer vets here from Oregon. Cynthia and I struggled to get Ed into a kennel and took her in to get fixed. Ed does not do well with leashes and will simply run away if she suspects something is up...she's still a street dog at heart. The volunteer vets did a fantastic job on the island. They fixed more than 1000 dogs and cats in little over a month. Pretty impressive considering there typically is no vet on the island at all.

A few days after we returned to the island I got a phone call from Cynthia at work. She said she was feeding a stray puppy. I frowned on the idea because if we fed every stray that came around, we'd have over 50 dogs by the end of the month! Cynthia replied saying that she can't be expected to stay at home and not feed a cute puppy that comes up to the door! So, within less than Cynthia and I returned to the island less than 2 weeks ago, we've already adopted another puppy that is quickly becoming Ed's protege. We've named her LaFawnDuh...see below. Her hind legs are longer than her front legs, which makes her look a bit like a kangaroo. We dewormed her and picked about 8 ticks out of her ears. She follows Cynthia everywhere she goes.

As I type this I'm watching Cynthia use a machete to attack a coconut and trim a banana tree in the yard...she's quickly adapting to island life! I'm sure LaFawnDuh will get some of the coconut meat...if she ever breaks through the shell!