Pt. 3: Giant bear-like dog was stolen?

Remember Marcela? Our giant bear-like dog? She's actually a mastiff, but I forgot to tell you that she disappeared about three weeks ago!

The theory was that someone left the doors open to the bakery and Marcela escaped. This is of course not unusual, and how she ended up pregnant from a street mutt. 

What was unusual, however, was that Marcela the mom left her eight newborn puppies behind (there used to be nine, but she sat on one--yes, she did--and killed it). And she didn't come back. Not that night. Not the next day. Not ever. 

For a dog of her size, she would be hard to miss wandering the streets. Plus, all the neighbors know her, and always ask "Muerde?" ("Does she bite?"):

So we started taking care of the eight puppies ourselves, assuming Marcela had either been roadkill or was picked up by a friendly stranger. Soon, we gave two little pups away, so there were only six left. 

Then, we hear from a neighboring vendor downtown that she's seen Marcela! With a new owner! 

How could that be? It's almost two miles to downtown. 

La señora Delia has a theory that one of the very cunning boys at the bakery took Marcela and sold her for a hefty sum. He's always showing up to work (where he earns $8.50/day) with a brand new blackberry or something, so no one would be surprised to know that he is into dealing stolen dogs.

Even though she loves Marcela, señora Delia decided to leave the dog there for many reasons. Giant bear-like dog is too big and too hungry for us to take care of. 

In the meantime, what about the pups!? Well, they survived their first few weeks without a mom no problem. Just today I cleaned up their area and gave three of them their first bath. This is pre-bath Oreo, with some nicely matted hair:

It's time for them to go, but all of us are too lazy and sentimental to sell them. Sergio finally hardened his heart enough to give one away today. But he was sad afterwards and was sure he wanted to "keep them all." 

I, personally, have little patience for too many pets, or pets at all. Growing up on a ranch, I learned that animals are for working and eating.

Even Kamikaze (below), the one who kept leaping from the second floor down to the first in hopes of escaping, can't convince me. She has a hernia, poor thing, probably from all her falls. 

We'll see. In the meantime, the bakery boys keep feeding them and making them fight each other. Everyone is happy. Maybe even Marcela.