When you leave to buy påo and come home with Pipoca (w/pics)

How I ended up as a puppy mom and tales of puppyhood

So, I mean, it happens all the time.
You go to the market to buy påo (bread) but on the way get distracted by puppies and end up buying one of those instead.

Okay, fine, its not a common thing, but it is the truth.
I wanted a male but fell in love with the little ‘brindle’ colored bitch and decided to name her Pipoca (popcorn in Portuguese) because she looks like burnt popcorn.

It was the Thursday before school began and I didn’t know it but I was supposed to be in class to meet my students (school things happen and everyone just magically knows. idk.) My counterpart, Bob, my Department Chefe and the only other English teacher, texted me to come to school so I ran home, left her on my kitchen floor with a capulana and a little plastic basket as a bed, and ran to school. I met my students, gave a super brief intro to the classes I would be teaching (even I didn’t know at that point) and ran back to see if my puppy survived her first 20 minutes in her new home. I imagined she was laying on the floor, poisoned by bleach or soap or drowning in the toilet.

…yea no, she was laying where I left her, wide eyed and scared, but she didn’t cry or whine. I sat on the floor across from her, staring into her little black eyes and itty bitty white paws, thinking “WHAT THE HECK DID I JUST DO” and contemplated taking her back. But would they take her back? But then who would end up with her? Would they love her like I do? ….yea no she was mine. Point of no return.

I took her back to school to show Bob. He loves dogs and was excited for me, except he was shocked that I only got one. I need two. Who will she play with? Who will keep her company?
Whatever Bob. NOPE.
…then 8 other colleagues told me the same thing. Okay, fine, if I was to get a dog in Moz I guess I would try to do it Moz style and went back to the family. I told the teenager I wanted one more puppy, a boy. He brought me the two male puppies and I randomly chose one. His name was ‘Bwana’, which means chefe in Chichewa. He was cute and fun but WAY too rough and after a day Pipoca and I looked at each other and said, “Dude has NO chill, he cannot hang, send him back!”.

I went back to the family for a third time and asked to trade Bwana for another dog. He led the puppies out and showed me the other boy but then a larger black puppy walked up and he pushed her away. I asked about her and he said she was the last one from that litter. NO, POOR BABY NEEDS TO BE LOVED so of course I took her. Bwana was too rough of a name though so she was renamed ‘Lua’, Moon in Portuguese. Lua is a few weeks older than Pipoca and in puppyhood it is a huge difference. She is the default main bitch and takes her role with stride. Pipoca, however, likes to remind us that she will fight a bitch and win and Lua can respect that so they get along really well.

So now we are the Angonia Wolf Pack. The VillaLobos. The Bitches of the IFP.

So far the biggest challenges are potty training Lua, curbing Pipoca’s biting, and training the crianças on how to deal with puppies…when you think it should be the other way around but nope…

Raising puppies is hard and raising them in a culture completely different from what you know is a new level of hard.

How Moz Dogs Do: Live 100% outside during all seasons. They find shelter in abandoned buildings, tall grasses, and empty porches and verandas.
How We Do: They are indoor dogs, partly because I was afraid they would be stolen at night (people are afraid of puppies but they will steal puppies because they know other people are afraid of puppies…ugh) but also so they wouldnt be caught up in the rough dog clan that hangs by my house.

How Moz Dogs Do: Search for food in garbage pits, steal from unattended grills and fire pits, or hunt unattended farm animals. Some do have owners who leave their leftovers in a tub outside for dogs to go through in the morning and at night.
How We Do:They eat rice, scrambled egg, and milk soup for breakfast, rice with chicken bones and chicken stock for lunch, and rice with canned sardines or whatever leftovers I have from my food for dinner. That is legit a better diet than me or most PCVs or just most people here in general. RICE. 3 TIMES A DAY?!!? But dog food is silly expensive and not practical so I have to get creative. They started selling bags of chicken feet and processed chicken ham/sausage thing at the convenience store not far from me so we are trying that out this week. Pipoca will eat ANYTHING (she takes after me) but Lua will only eat meat or things that have the flavor of meat (she takes after Ruben) so everything needs to be seeped in chicken stock.

How Moz Dogs Do: They play fight and find bones or other things to chew on in the garbage.
How We Do: I made them little rope toys, allow them to chew slippers and shoes left here by the previous volunteer, and they have first dibs to any paper, cardboard, or plastic food container I dont need anymore. I am making sure they have all the stimulation they need so they stop attacking the couch.

How Moz Dogs Do:Sleep on porches, tall grasses, anything they can find to keep some warmth.
How We Do: They have custom ordered wood crates with foam beds. The same foam my bed is made from.

So yea, I know they are being raised in a better environment than other dogs here but I am trying to balance it! They are off leash, the doors are open when I am home so they come and go, they are allowed to visit the garbage pit but only clean bones are allowed inside the house, they have the whole IFP grounds to explore and the IFP dogs have met them so now they have a group of friends too. They dig, jump in puddles, climb through farm areas, chase chickens, etc.

Honestly I dont think I could ever bring them back home with me. They have an amazing ‘best of both worlds’ thing going here that I cannot give them in whatever city I move to after this. So these next 2 years will be short and right now it is stressful but it is worth it.