Never call your dog by its name at night

Every man worth his salt should have a dog. There is a reason why it was said ‘Dog is man’s best friend.’ Since I live in the city where it is hard to keep dogs, I usually keep one on my blog to remind me of the dog I keep back in the rural areas.

Why a dog? Back in the village, there were guys who hunted for game using their dogs. The dogs were well trained and knew how to catch their prey as required by their masters. It was fascinating. I once had an experience with the hunters and they never looked any normal humans. Their skin was pale and rough and their facial appearance was roguish. All in all their dogs were their main source of income as this lot of people only wanted game meat.

While in campus, I used to stay alone in my hostel room next to the main road. There was this dog company van that used to pass very early in the morning and I bet this was the car that woke me up. The dogs would bark while they were being transported in the morning and in the evening when they were being taken back to where they stayed.

This reminds me of Juan Pavlov and the dogs he conditioned. 

As a toddler, there was a certain dog show known as REX: A cop’s best friend. That I was addicted to the program is an understatement. My week would never be complete without seeing the show which we would talk about with friends while the class teacher was not around of how it happened. The way Rex used to nab rogue dudes and rescue victims was something that hooked most of my friends to the show.

But as teenager, I had my own dogs. They had the ubiquitous names Poppy and Bosco. Both dogs were female and I was given freely by a certain butcher man who did breed them.  Everyone thought that these dogs were the most shy and coward dogs of all time. When I was around, they usually acted coy without showing any sign of being fierce. But one time when one of my friends tried to bully the dogs, he got a taste of his own medicine. The dogs almost mauled him but since I was around, I did rein in on the dogs.

One drawback of having female dogs is that they end up siring many puppies that you may never want if they become 'Umbwa Koko'. The best thing with the dogs though was the fact that they were a breed that everyone admired and within the second week of birth , all the puppies had already been booked.

I don’t remember the fate of Bosco and Poppy, but one thing is for sure, the dogs were very instrumental in providing for the security of our residence and at night, those who ever came to our home would face the wrath of the dogs if they were strangers or had mischief.

In the village we keep many dogs. The dogs are very essential. Since we live next to bushes and the land also has monkeys and baboons, it is imperative to keep dogs. Dogs aid in ensuring that the monkeys and baboons don’t feast on the ready harvest in the farm and the seeds that have just been planted. Since most homes are not fenced in the rural areas and most of the homes don’t have watchmen, dogs come in handy as security guards.

One thing I learnt is never to call a dog by its name at night while in the rural areas. This applies to times when you are not sure of the person or animal within the compound especially when the dog is loudly barking. This reminds me of our dog Zolo. A local German shepherd, he is a dog everyone wished to have owned. 

Sometime back a stranger came to our home in the middle of the night. Speculation was that he was a thief. Zolo did bark continuously alarming us of potential invaders or intruders. When we went out to check what Zolo was barking at, we found a man stranded perhaps shocked by the turn of events hiding behind a tree.

Since this was an unexpected visitor whose legs failed to act due to the fact that he was shocked and feared the dogs would attack him, he was easily nabbed and given a dog beating by the houseboy and a few relatives then released.

Henceforth, Zolo and the other dogs we bred had special roles in the homestead. Mum gave them a priority and in the local butcher, bones were reserved on a weekly basis. The local vet, a quintessential drunk who was relieved of duty was to be in charge of their health. Hitherto, I had not known that they would stage such dramatic acts that lead to the capture of a potential thief.

If you don’t have a dog, then there is something that you are really missing and should take time to accustom with that side. However there is a group of people who fear animals and it is only right not to bug them.

SITUONANE.