Capucho

Aka: Capuchino, Capoopo, Capullo, Queso de Ojos, Clifford, The Gentle Giant.

Well I think it is about time for me to write a country song. First in August my girlfriend left and now my dog has gone back the USA and left me here in Ecuador all alone. If only I had a pickup truck… that would probably breakdown too.

Raising Capucho has been one of the highlights of my Peace Corps time as he was my best friend here and I probably had more conversations with him than I did with my counterpart. I got Capucho when he was just 6 weeks old and was still very small (He and I have the same birthday by the way). From there he just kept growing and growing until now where he is about 110lbs. From afar many people are scared of him because he has the markings of a Rottweiller but once people get up close to him the realize that he just wants to greet them and give them a kiss.

Capucho had a great life in San Pedro de Vilcabamba. He got to go swim in the river, got to chase cows around the pastures, and got to go on a decent walk along the river pretty much everyday. His life will be pretty different in the USA but seeing as all the Ecuadorians loved to joke about eating him I think he will be much better off in the USA. The process to send him home was somewhat of a long one mostly revolving around trying to find a kennel big enough to send him away in. But thanks to my loving parents we were able to find a used one on craigslist for $75, then with some luck the airline I was flying back to Ecuador on during Christmas let the GIANT kennel pass through without questioning its size. From there it was just a waiting game until this past week when Capucho and I flew from Loja to Quito where he was to get his last approvals before his big day of travel. Unfortunately when Capucho and I embarked on our journey no more than 2 minutes down the road from my house the driver yelled “ He fell out, he fell out!” I quickly ran around the side of the truck only to find his leash and collar just dangling there on the side of the truck. Then poor Capucho came limping up the road out of the darkness. He had fallen out of the truck and been dragged for a little bit, ripping the skin off of the pads of his paws and really shaking him up. So that was a little stressful but we made it to Quito where he was still walking with a limp. But all his eating, peeing and pooping functions were working ok so I assumed he was ok internally. So we continued with the process of getting him approved and then we went to the airport at 4am on Wednesday morning for his sendoff to the US. From there he flew out to Houston at 7am and then to Baltimore where he got in at midnight. My Dad said he is still stiff and low on energy but they are taking him to the vet this evening and hopefully everything will turn out ok.

I cannot believe we were able to go almost a year and a half without incident only to have this happen right before he was leaving (He had ridden in the back of a pickup truck 1000 times before without any problems). Oh well I guess that is just how life is. The good thing is that now he is safe in the good old land of the free and of Veterinarians whose training is more than a two week online course. So hopefully the vets in the US can get him all fixed up and he can return to being the 110lb playful puppy he was before the accident. I am already going through some withdraw of him right now and my house back in Vilcabamba is going to be super quiet without him for my last couple of weeks. But it is comforting to know that he is safe and sound in the US and is waiting at my parents house to greet me once I get home.