The maid in our holiday appartment (see
previous post) brought in this puppy.
The owners wanted to get rid of it and chances are it would’ve ended up abandoned before long. So, we kind of adopted the poor beast for the time being and have already found someone who is willing to take him in.
The pup is somewhere between two and three months old (too young to have been taken away from its mother) and a cross between a black labrador and a black “Thai” dog. In fact, he has inherited the trademarked ridge of Thai dogs on his back from his father.
Since we are staying in a house full of Italians, his name was quickly translated from “Black Black” to “Nerone” (emperor Nero) and then changed to that emperor’s uncle “Caligola” (emperor Caligula in original Latin). (“Nerone” and “Caligola” are the Italian names for the Roman emperors.)
I’m not sure whether the name determines the character, but little Caligola is a fierce biter. Of course, being a pup, his teeth are still developing so he hones them on any object in sight, including ankles, power cables and furniture.
On the bright side, though, he appears to be quite precocious, having already learned to do his “business” outside. During the night, he’ll usually whimper once to be let out for a moment for a quick pee. An occasional “accident” may occur, but usually he knows where and when to go.
We cannot take him to the beach yet and have to keep a close eye on him, since he is not vaccinated yet; when we first got him, he was running a fever the vet put him on a course of antibiotics first.
Despite his pretty crummy start in life, he’s very lively, curious and active. He has no fear of people and when it’s nap time, he loves to snuggle up to a warm body. It will be very hard to give him up, but it’s important to do sooner rather than later, before he becomes attached to us (right now, the world is Disneyland and everyone is Mickey Mouse).
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