Saturday, February 09, 2008

I Have a Good Excuse

I have a perfectly good excuse for posting so late today. And what a story it is.

See this place? Take a good look because you are going to want to avoid it.



It is the oldest hostel here on the island. They have really cleaned it up in recent years and I hear that it is a nice place to stay now. If you like dorm living and sharing a bathroom with strangers. They also have a pretty good restaurant here too. More for the people staying there than the general public. I've never eaten there so I don't know first hand.

They have a lovely location, set back from the water on the east side of downtown. The back of it is all sandy beach and they hold volleyball games there. They also have this after hours bar and dance floor. It can get very crowded late at night.



The bathrooms are located in the main building and it is a long walk through the sand to get to them. I was there with a group of friends last night and had to use the bathroom. No big deal. They also have two guard dogs that live back there and bark at everybody. One of them always comes charging up to you, hackles raised, teeth showing and barking like crazy. He does this to everybody. It is very intimidating but I have never seen or heard of him attacking anybody. Until last night. Here's a picture of him at the entrance to the hostel. The little road is where you walk to get to the bar behind.



So, on my way back from the bathroom I had to pass by where he was lying in the sand. He didn't even raise his head to look at me. I got about five feet past him when WHAM! I felt a sharp pain on my right calf. The damn dog had bitten me! He ripped a hole in my blue jeans too. I walked back to the bar and told everybody what had happened. The staff just had this DUH expression, like what do you want me to do about it. I pulled up my pants leg and there was blood running down my calf. The damn dog had actually broken the skin. They wouldn't even go try to find the dog or anything. I told them I would be back this morning.

First I went to my vet. I wanted to find out the procedure for getting the dog picked up and tested. Or at least find out if it has had all of its' shots. He wasn't there but his staff told me to go talk to the manager of PocNa. So I did.

I told them that one of their dogs bit me last night. They immediately said "Yes. That was Kimba. He is very aggressive sometimes." But they were just as calm and matter of fact as can be. I told them they had to catch the dog and take it to the vet so it could be tested. They said that the dog has all of its' shots and the records are with the other vet in town. They did not have any copies or proof of this. I told them that if they could not furnish proof, I would be going to the police and making an official report.

Off to the other vet's office. He was expecting me. They had called him. Except that he couldn't readily locate any papers for this dog! He said they were somewhere in his filing cabinet. Could I come back around 3 PM? That would give him time to find them. I repeated to him that the dog is too aggressive to be allowed around the public....especially now that he has bitten somebody. He agreed but said there is nothing he can do about that.

So here I sit. Two hours away from getting proof that I am not going to have to endure rabies shots. But there is a pile of questions too. Like, do I report this dog to the police anyway? (animal attacks, unlike break ins, are taken very seriously here and acted upon immediately) Do I pursue getting the dog independently tested? (I am not too sure that the papers I will be shown will be authentic and not just made up today) Should I go to the doctor? The bite did pierce the skin but it looks ok today. Not sure what, if anything, a doctor could do at this point.

I am really stressing out over this. I hope it all turns out ok. One thing for sure, I will NOT ever go back to that bar and I would encourage all of you to stay away from it too.

UPDATE: I went back to the vet's office at 3 PM. He showed me the official rabies certificate and I believe it. It is exactly the kind I got from my vet when Simon had his rabies shots. He also dug through his back receipts and found the receipt for all the rest of the work this dog had done on Jan 3 of this year. (glad he waited a month to bite me!) Everything seems in order. Unless my leg looks like it is getting infected or something, I am just going to leave it alone now. I would dearly like to see this aggressive dog destroyed but that is not going to happen.

11 comments:

Brenda Maas said...

I was wondering where you were this morning.
That is awful, good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Anonymous said...

Wayne, Got to a doctor first, then go to the police and have the dog put down. Tolerating stupidity only reinforces it. Dogs don't bite unprovoked unless they are "biters". The dog WILL continue to bite people. Just my 2 cents. Mark

Anonymous said...

Wayne - If they do produce papers showing the dog has its shots then it would be unthinkable that those papers are fake! If they show you papers then I would believe them. Showing proof of a fake rabies vaccine would be beyond unethical, I can't imagine anyone doing that.

And I hope they show you papers because you don't want to get rabies shots.

What a huge drag! I hope it works out. Let us know how it goes.

Steve Cotton said...

Wayne --

As you know I am a dog lover. My blog should be proof of that. But agressive dogs are simply dangerous -- especially when they are allowed to run free at a business open to the public.

You know the politics better than I could. But I do understand that this dog will bite again. And the next victim could be a child.

Hollito said...

Wayne,

I´m sorry for this, but don´t blame it to the dog. This poor animal just does what it has learned (or not) from the owners.

I grew up with a dog that reached the age of 18 (!) years, and that race (German Jagd Terrier) was said to be a pure hunter dog, never suitable as a family dog.
Bullshit! Our dog was wild outside, never avoiding any mud hole or water pit, pulling pieces of wood bigger than itself for the "throw & return game". But at home it was friendly, quiet and always looking for body contact. Waited for me at the front door every day I came from school. Scratched on the door of my room at the weekend morning to sleep a bit at my shoulder.
Even came back to any person it has been agressive to before just to "put up a feet" as a sign of apology...

Again: Do not blame the dog, blame the owner who did not educate it! Well, in MX it must be difficult to find someone educating his dog - this may take a bit of time, and in MX dog education is unknown...

But I hope and wish you are okay! :-)

Anonymous said...

I hope that you are not simply leaving it alone and are putting lots of antibiotics on the wound. Rabies isn't the only concern from a dog bite. Many germs in a dog's mouth - take precautions.

Anonymous said...

sorry that happened to you wayne. good thing you had jeans on, or it could have been a lot worse.
meg

Anonymous said...

-Jeeez Wayne for a guy living a quiet life in a sleepy little Mexican town you do have some adventures!

I WOULD blame the dog as well as the owners. Like people there are good dogs and not so good ones.

Subjecting the public to an aggressive dog is really thoughtless and worse.

I bet at the end of the day nothing will be done or change - just the way things operate in Mexico I think.

If you take up the gauntlet and force the issue - it will be interesting to read about.

In the mean time neosporin and tequila are my suggestions.

Stay out of trouble amigo!

Juan Calypso

Islagringo said...

Rest assured one and all, I am taking very good care of the wound. I check it frequently for signs of blood poisoning also. I seem to be suseptible to that a lot.

I agree with all of you. That dog is going to bite again. I doubt that it will be a child since a patrols a late night bar area. Still. I will bet money that I am not the first person this dog bit. Probably a tourist here and there who can not stick around and cause trouble or ask to many questions. Since the dog has all of its' shots, there is not much I can do about getting rid of it. This dog is vicious and I have seen him go after other people at this bar, charging them, hackles raised but never actually biting. Just scaring the shit out of people. I think he is more of a sneak biter. The kind that circles around behind and grabs you. He never even raised his head from the sand when I walked past. Waited until my back was turned to attack. Gotta stop now. I am getting mad all over again!

Passante said...

"Don't blame the dog" is not the point, aside from the fact that blame can be attributed only to rational, thinking beings who can make a choice. Last time I checked that didn't apply to dogs.

The point is also not whether or not the animal has had its shots (of course, I am glad for your sake that it apparently has).

The point is whether an animal that is erratically and unpredictably aggressive and that has bitten at least one person should still be at large to do it again.

I don't own animals. However, I buy only household products and cosmetics that have not been tested on animals. I buy cage-free eggs (from chickens that have not been confined). I don't eat meat or poultry, but if I did, I'd buy free-range. So I respect the rights of animals and do not wish to cause them harm. But I think this dog should be put down before it hurts someone else.

Shana said...

huh. that's pretty scary.. my friend stayed at poc na so we went to the beach bar almost every night.. i didn't have a bad dog experience though. actually there was a black and tan medium sized dog that was very friendly. i probably let him lick my face. haha
good luck with that wound though, ugh.