If I ever make the mistake of saying "I" took this or that shot during the last 10 years of my life. let me say now that it was always "we". Chitza passed away this winter at the age of 11 and I made sure she took that rainbow bridge with a smile on her face resting in my arms
I knew she was around (or something was) a few days before I saw her. She was just a pup then... maybe five or six months old. And I'd been putting out a ground bird feeder one of those that has small holes around them for a bird to stick it's bill though and pickup seeds. I kept loosing most of that small seed and never attracted one bird. So I kept an eye on it and finally saw her small black shape sneeking out of the bushes by the lagoon and down to my feeder. Where it appeared she was curling her tongue up, sticking it through the holes, and getting them to stick to the end of it. Pulling it out and swallowing them whole and going back for more.
While that could have been amusing it wasn't. Because she had about a 10 ft. length of twine tied around her neck. Now I'd been coming down to Mexico since the seventies and I knew that gringos were always a soft target for an unwanted mouth to feed. So they'd tie them up to the trees near our camps and disappear in the darkness.
Only problem was that whoever tied the knot this time fumbled it into a slip knot... and not a true knot. I didn't see the result for the two days it took me to get close to her and see that the twine was close to choking her. And she'd probably done it herself struggling to get loose and finally breaking that twine.
I bought some dog food in the closest village and brought it back to replace the seed and see if I could get close enough to cut the twine from her neck. I took a bowl full and laid it down where the bird feeder was.... and waited. And once she cautiously tasted of it... she came to me the next morning when I brought out fresh water and the next bowl of food. But I still had to make a lunge and get my fingers in between that tight twine on her neck and slid my knife through it. And she was free.
She stayed by my side and learned to work around birds with all the intelligence of a bird dog. There's coyotes and whales, sailing and 10 years of adventure to relate. I will tell you this, she was absolutely fearless. And could hit 30 miles an hour in her prime... almost as fast as a whippet. And with that speed she chased or ran with every coyote she could get close to. One old male just lay under the same palm tree overlooking the lagoon and ignored her. The other ones she simply wanted to run with. Never a bark... never a fight. Just pure freedom and joy. The area was loaded with coyotes and at night they could set off quite a howling. Which Chitza eagerly and skillfully joined in.
There is more to tell. And she deserves more... so I"ll do it a piece at a time.
I could make short work of my resume that would make sense to those of you were on the road in the early 70's. If you listen to the lyrics of "Willin' sung by Little Feat... you'll have my life pegged.