Somebody to Love

Before coming to Peace Corps, I had decided that I wanted to have a dog at my site. I figured it would be a good combination of protection and companionship. When I moved to my site I kept thinking about it, but the timing just never seemed right. I didn’t want to get a pet before IST and then have to leave it alone for 2 weeks. And after IST I sort of kept half an eye out for puppies or even kittens, but I didn’t really see any. But in preparation for future pets, I came up with both a cat and a dog name…just in case.

Waka Waka

And then one day my host brothers brought me a kitten! They had found it out in the fields. Poor little guy was soooo tiny. I named him Waka Waka after the Shakira song that Alima and I sing together. As soon as Alima came over, she took one look at Waka and said, “That’s not a cat.” I responded, “Of course it’s a cat.” (I know what a cat looks like, for Pete’s sake!) Alima said, “No, that’s not a cat!” This went back and forth for a bit. Finally I asked Alima what it was and she said he was a kongo kono jakuma – a sort of wild cat. Other people from my village agreed – and he did indeed look just a little bit different. Some people said it was fine anyway, some said it was bad to have a wild cat. Some said once he grew up he was going to run away from me. And everyone laughed at his name!

Waka Waka!

Waka Waka was quite the challenge. He was just so small. Way too small to have left his mother, who apparently had run away. I tried everything I could think of to feed him, but he just wouldn’t eat. The head doctor’s wife got him to drink a tiny bit of milk, but it was just a little bit, and he basically ate nothing for the first three days I had him. In fact, I hadn’t wanted to name him because I wasn’t sure he’d make it, but after people started asking for his name that’s when he was officially dubbed. For those first few days, he cried almost 24/7. I’d leave to him crying, come home to him crying, and wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of him crying. It was so sad!

So tiny!

Finally after three days, I went out in the morning with my homologue to do polio vaccinations in the village. At some point it occurred to me that the droppers we used to administer the polio vaccine are kind of like tiny baby bottles…maybe Waka Waka would drink from one of those?  Djeneba gave me a used one which I washed out at home and filled with milk.  (I figured if there was any residual vaccine my cat would be protected from polio!)  Waka Waka, as usual, was not very receptive, but I managed to force the tip of the container into his mouth and squeeze out a few drops.  He didn’t seem to be choking so I continued to squeeze the milk into his mouth, and eventually it was gone – success!  He was still crying so I gave him a second “bottle.”  In those 2 bottles, he ate approximately 4 mL of milk, the most food he’d had in the 3 days that I’d had him combined.  Poor little guy. 

Waka's Last Feeding

This method worked really well for the next several days. I could only feed him 2mL at a time, but at least he was eating. After a few days I had to go into San for some meetings, and I took Waka with me. He did great on the bus and was looking good when we got to San. After a few hours I fed him, but he was starting to seem a little lethargic, and I wasn’t sure what to do. I took a break to eat my own dinner, and came back about 30 minutes later to try to feed Waka again. But it was too late – my poor little wild kitten had died. I’m still not quite sure what he died from, but I knew from the beginning it would be a miracle if he survived. The next day my friend JClay helped me bury him in a field behind the San house.

Months later, I visited Chrissy, who had recently been given a kitten about the size of Waka. This little guy was a bundle of energy and could eat fish and chase chickens, so I guess something was probably wrong with Waka to begin with. :(

Moose

After Waka died, I still sort of wanted another pet, but again I went through a period where it just wasn’t a good time. Eventually, right around the same time, 2 of my PCV friends offered me both a kitten and a puppy! Like a fool, I decided to take both at the same time. Luckily the kitten fell through, but my puppy arrived at the San house at the end of October, a chunky little guy probably about 2 months old. I named him Moose, after my homestay brother Moussa. (Moussa has told me repeatedly what a stupid name that is for a dog). ;)

First meeting with Moose!

My little Moose is soo cute! He’s the perfect combination of spunky and loveable. He’s actually not that little anymore. He’s about 6 months old, and he’s gotten so big! And he’s so smart! I told my parents that new moms must just be nauseating, because when my parents call, all I want to talk about is Moose, and he’s just a dog!

I could write a book about all of my Moose stories, so I guess I’ll have to just choose a few. And I’m sure more will crop up here and there.

Tiny Moose Passed Out.

Moose Copperfield

Moose chilling in the drain hole.

Moose is quite the escape artist. Our first morning back in my village, I let him out to pee while I stayed in bed (outside) reading. All of a sudden there was a knock at my door, which annoyed me because I don’t like it when the kids come over sɔgɔma joona – early in the morning. Turns out my goofbutt puppy had squeezed himself through the drain hole in my wall and escaped! Except I didn’t know yet that’s how he did it, so 10 minutes later there was another knock at the door: “Michelli! Moose left again!” So for the first few months that I had Moose, the drain hole was blocked up from the outside by bricks and rocks. But he’d still wiggle in as far as he could and just hang out there in the hole.

About 6 weeks after Moose came home, I left early in the morning to participate in my village’s USAID funded mosquito net distribution, leaving Moose behind in my courtyard. A few hours in, I decided to stop home and grab my camera. I walked in my courtyard and saw my ɲεgεn door open – uh oh! I'd been making a point to close and lock it every day, because it also has a drain hole, but I’d forgotten to lock it that day. But then I saw Moose sitting in my yard – what a good puppy! He didn’t even escape! And then I walked into my ɲεgεn and saw the rocks stuffed in the hole. Apparently he wasn’t such a good puppy after all. I went to my host fam’s house to ask what had happened, and my brother Sinali told me Moose had escaped, and he’d dropped Moose back off at my house.

Later that afternoon Alima stopped over and said all excitedly,
“Michelli! Moose escaped today!”
Me: “I know, Sinali told me.”
Alima: “I brought him back home.”
Me: “What are you talking about? Sinali said he brought Moose home?”
Alima: “Oh, he escaped 3 times. He came all the way to my house!”
What?!? 3x?!? And he went all the way to Alima’s house? My host fam’s house is understandable, they live right across from me and Moose goes over there all the time. But Alima’s house is a decent walk for a tiny puppy, through lots of twisty paths and into a narrow alley entrance – I couldn’t believe he made it there!

Needless to say, the rocks stayed stuffed in the ɲεgεn hole until about 2 weeks ago, when I was positive Moose was too big to squeeze through.

Moose and the ɲεgεn

Moose has a weird thing with my ɲεgεn. It started when he was just a puppy. He really likes to go in there with me. At first I thought it was because he was jealous that I was in the place with the escape hole, and he needed to make sure I didn’t use it without him, but the hole stayed closed for months and he still followed me in every time. If I shut the door but don’t lock it he can (and does) open it. If I lock it, he scratches his nails on the metal door and cries till I come out. So these days I usually don’t even bother shutting the door. He just comes in, checks it out, and sits down to wait for me. I don’t get it. Even when we both get up in the middle of the night, he goes behind the tree, I go in the ɲεgεn, and he comes running in to make sure he gets in before I leave. And recently he’s picked up a new habit: when I let him out in the middle of the night to pee and don’t go outside myself, he still has to check out the ɲεgεn before he’ll come back to bed. N ma faamu. (I don’t understand!)

Moose and the Kids

Moose LOVES the kids, and they love him! At first I was worried that they would hit him, especially because he bit a lot when he was little. I was his favorite chew toy for about the first 3 months I had him, and my arms are now covered with tiny scars from his teeth. But after yelling at only a few kids for hitting Moose (they’ve never heard me yell so much!), that quickly stopped, and they’ve been great with him.

Tiny Moose and his football

I used to have a rule that the kids couldn’t come over in the morning, but how can I say no when they come over and ask if they can play with Moose? Puppies need their exercise! So I let Moose out to play, and eventually they all wander back in together, and my peaceful morning is over. I’m such a sucker. When he was little, and totally rambunctious (and biting), he used to scare the crap out of most of the kids, but they still wanted to play with him. It’s like when I was little and my mom would take me to Cedar Point. I’d beg to ride the Ocean Motion (pirate-themed swinging boat) and then scream and be terrified the whole time I was on it, but as soon as the ride was over I’d beg to ride it again! That’s how the kids were with Moose. We’d take him for a walk and they’d run ahead and egg him on, but then as soon as he approached they’d scream with terror and run away – and of course, Moose would follow!

Sometimes when they take him out to play, or occasionally even when they’re playing outside without him, I can hear them from my house chanting in a group, “Moose Sogoba, Moose! Moose Sogoba, Moose!” But by far my favorite is Alima: when I leave Moose at home and go out and then come back, I greet him in a high-pitched voice saying, "Hi, Babydoll!" (Yes I do realize I am turning into my mother). Alima heard me say this so many times that she icked up on it, and now she greets him with me, and when she takes him out to lay I can hear them running around and Alima callling, "Ah Bεbεdah! Ah Bεbεdah!"

Moose and My Village

Aside from being exactly the companion I needed, Moose has been a great talking point in my community. Sometimes it’s hard to get past the standard greetings with people I don’t know as well, but once they got used to seeing me with Moose he always comes up in conversation. Even though Malians rarely name animals (most dogs, if they even have a name, are called “Polizi” – like “Police.”), every single one of them asks me what his name is. Just as they call me “Michelli,” Moose is usually called some form of “Moosi,” “Mooshi,” or “Moosh.” In fact, I often call him “Moosi” because I hear it so often that it just seems natural.The best is the little kids whose house I pass on the way to the CSCOM. They spot me from afar and run to their courtyard entrance yelling, “Mee-shellll-eee! Mooooosh!”

The adults will always ask me how he’s doing: “Michelli! How are you? How is your family? How are your kids? (Doesn’t matter than they’re well aware that I have no kids). How is your Mooshi?” I get a kick out of the way they say your Moose. And once he’s entered the conversation, I pretty much always have a Moose story I can share. If they ask his last name, I like to tell them of course he’s a Sogoba – not only is he my dog, but he eats any and all food except for beans – and everybody knows only Coulibalys are bean-eaters. And it’s true! Moose will eat cooked beans if and only if they are the only food he’s given, and once when I made pasta with veggies, he ate the entire thing except for the green beans. Although the other night at my host fam’s house someone made a great joke – he told me Moose must be a Coulibaly because Moose has a tail, and Coulibalys have tails! We must’ve laughed over that joke for a good 10 minutes, because I turned and asked a visiting cekoroba (old man) if he had a tail.

Moose the Guardian

I have never felt unsafe in my village, but if I felt safe before, I feel super safe now! Ever since he was just a tiny little guy, Moose has been quite the guardian. He’s fun and playful during the day, but once the sun sets and it’s dark outside, his whole demeanor changes. He gets agitated very easily to the point where I finally told the kids they can’t play with him after dark. He stays right by my side to protect me, and barks at any noise he hears, even the ones outside of my walls. Even from inside he keeps an ear out for trouble! It’s a little bit annoying when he freaks out at a donkey braying, but luckily as he’s gotten bigger he’s gotten better at judging the outside noises. He’s also gotten more aggressive though. He does not like it when anyone over the age of 12 enters my concession at night, or even at dusk, men in particular. My favorite neighborhood boys have an older brother who is probably about 16, and day or night, Moose freaks out when Adama comes over, to the point where I have to put him in the house. So rest assured, all you worry warts (ahem, Mama), I am well protected by my little Moosi!

Moose and the "Moose" Jack-o-Lantern he inspired!

My host dad gets a kick out of charading Moose’s Guardian skills: he pretends to sling his gun over his shoulder, charades tip-toeing sneakily along, and then bursts out with Moose’s part: “Wooo wooo wooo wooo! Wooo wooo wooo wooo!” And then he runs away and cracks up laughing. My dad is such a character!

Moose the Dog

A few things about Moose:

1). He’s wickedly smart. He’s probably the only dog in Mali who sleeps in his owner's bed (under the mosquito net, of course) and he has never once had an accident in bed. I never even had to train him. We had a few issues at the very beginning with peeing in the house, but I figured that wasn’t really his fault, since he rarely ever even goes in a house to learn not to pee there. From the first night, when he was just a little guy, Moose wakes me up if he needs to go out. He walks around and around until I wake up, and once when I refused to wake up, he came over and touched his little cold nose to my upper lip – so smart! Once in the first week he got sick and threw up in my bed 3x before I woke up, but he was desperately trying to wake me when I finally woke, so at least he was trying. I got him outside in time for his last 2 vomits.

Moose, post 5:30am

2). He loves to play. When I first got him, we were sleeping outside at night, and he’d sleep all night until about 5am when he woke up and wanted to play. Every day. Needless to say, I did not agree with that plan, especially since his way of waking me up was to walk on my face and bite me. So I’d give him one chance, and let him out to pee and then back in again, and if he still wouldn’t let up I’d kick him out of bed till I was ready to get up. Refusing to give up, and oblivious to the mosquito net, Moose would get a running start and fly into the net, then get bounced back and be so confused! He’s try this a few times, and after realizing it wasn’t working, he walk around the bed, squeeze between the edge of the bed and the wall, which I’d rolled over to face, and fly into the net at my face. So I’d roll over again, put in my earplugs, and go back to sleep. I’d wake up 2 hours later to find that he’d pushed the mosquito net far enough in that he could curl up on the edge of the mattress and go back to sleep till I was ready to get up and play.

3). He’s totally ADD. We’ve tried to play games like fetch, but he gets so distracted after about 2 throws that he forgets what he‘s supposed to be doing and comes over to chew on my arm instead. Or play with a piece of cotton. Or eat some donkey poop ( a particular favorite of his).

4). He’s extremely loveable. He used to show his love by biting, but thankfully he doesn’t do that anymore (much). He knows who his master is, and he knows who protects and feeds him! 

Yaya with Moose: Nov

Yaya with Moose - Jan

Alima’s brother Yaya LOVES Moose, and back when he was tiny, Yaya would wear Moose out playing. Once at their house they were playing and eventually Moose came running into my lap. Yaya marched over and took him from me, and as he walked away, I could see Moose looking over Yaya’s shoulder with a distraught expression: “Nooo! Don’t let him take me!! I’m soooo sleepy!!!” And he always comes running back to me when he needs a rest and he sees a break. (That being said, Yaya is one of the few people that Moose will still calmly let hold him, now that he’s bigger).

Friends :D

He’s found refuge in my lap from the beginning. He sits quietly in my lap in vehicles and even when I take him to the CSCOM (totally not an issue to have a dog in the maternity). He used to scramble his tiny back legs to crawl into my lap when I was on a chair, and I’d have to boost him from behind. Now he just jumps up!

He never wanders far. When he was little I never let him off the leash outside of my house, and gradually as he got bigger I would take him out in the fields to run around and he’d always stay within earshot and eyesight and make his way back to me after running around. Now that he’s a big boy he can go anywhere he wants. I open my door and let him run free, and he’ll go yalla (walk around) for a few minutes and then come home to check in before heading out again.

Moose with the puppies next door!

5). He’s spunky. We’re working on basic commands and he understands “Moosi! Na yan!” (Moose! Come!) perfectly well, but he knows when to pick his battles. He’s well aware if I’m calling him to shut him in the concession, or to put him on the leash, and then he avoids me as I chase after him. Or he’ll come running toward me and then barrel right past me as I scramble to grab him. My family is totally used to hearing me yell, “Moosi! Na yan sisan sisan!” (You come here this instant!) and then seeing me march around the corner to their house, hands on my hips, and then have to chase after him to grab him, the kids falling in to help.

Moose playing with my host fam's puppy.

My host fam has a puppy about 3 months old, and he and Moose have been friends from the beginning. Moose is much bigger but they wrestle and play and bite and chase each other and have a grand old time. The puppy’s mom used to bark and chase Moose away, but after the puppy got bigger, she got used to Moose and now just keeps a watchful eye out to make sure they don’t get too rough.

Like I said, I could go on and on and on! But this is now a pretty long post, so I’ll stop for the time being. But expect to hear lots more about Moose! He’s made such a big difference in my life here. As much as I didn’t like leaving site before, it’s even harder to leave now – heck, I hate leaving him at the house alone for an afternoon! It’s wonderful to have his company at my house, and he’s helped my integration a lot as well. I am so thankful for him!

Me and Moose!