I’ve always had dogs growing up as a child, but that came to a screeching halt when I left for college. The reason why was simple. I could ‘t have a dog at most of the apartments I lived in, and I worked too much to provide the amount of time a dog deserves and needs. Eventually, when I stop moving around (if that ever happens), I will have a dog.
Low and behold, in late September I was walking outside into the backyard, and I see a puppy chained up to the once-vacant doghouse. The chain was several sizes too big and would have been better for locking up a motorcycle instead of a Cocker Spaniel. I immediately lost my shit. We never expected to have a pet in the Peace Corps! I ran inside to ask my host family where the dog came from, and they told me our neighbors gave him to us. The dog also shared the same name as U2’s lead singer, Bono. The similarities end there though because Bono the dog does not possess the singing ability or the desire to rid the world of HIV.
I ran back out to play with him and pet him, and I noticed that something was wrong with his stomach. It was extremely swollen, hard, and protruding from his sides unnaturally. He had some difficulty in breathing and was wheezing a little bit. I thought that he was suffering from bloat, and was afraid that what Rawan wrote about was going to happen all over again. Fortunately, Bono didn’t have bloat. He was just extremely overfed, and his stomach shrunk down to normal the next day. Unfortunately, Bono being overfed would become a common occurrence.
Typically, dogs in Georgia are not fed very well. You will see many stray tags with colored tags on their ears indicating that they have been given shots. The dogs will be lying on the sidewalk conserving energy or hovering around patrons of restaurants for table scraps. Most of the dogs in my city are extremely friendly, and will almost instantly fall in love you if you pet them. Keep in mind that Georgians do not touch these stray dogs, and you will set off the “weird foreigner alert” if you show any kindness to the strays. Dogs are infrequently kept as pets for companionship, but you will see them in villages to help heard cows and other animals. Village dogs, in my experience, aren’t very friendly and were a constant stressor in my life. The Peace Corps had to teach us that we should pretend to pick up a rock to scare away aggressive dogs. Those dogs often aren’t fed or treated very well, so it was common to see them starving hungry.
Bono is not going hungry in Georgia. My host family lets no food go to waste; they feed all the old food to the dog. Nothing goes in the trash. Bono eats almost a half a loaf of bread every day, triple-fried potatoes, and whatever random thing that wasn’t eaten. I tried to tell my family he’s eating too much, but they’re unaware of the fact that dogs don’t get “full.” They keep telling me that he’s so hungry, and I keep saying he’s getting big. Then, my family laughs and says, “Yeah, he eats a lot.” To top it all off, our neighbor uses Bono as her garbage disposal too, so he’s eating two households worth of old food as a 5-month-old cocker spaniel. That’s like shoving the population of China into the state of Texas. It’ll fit, but it’s going to need some rapid expansion.
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Flash forward nearly two months later, and Bono is the same loveable dog I met months ago. He knows how to sit, lie down, and bark on command. He also loves sitting on feet (very weird). Oh, he’s also really fat now (surprise…surprise). His entire body is a love handle, and he runs a 15-minute mile. Rawan and I recently moved into our own place sans Bono, and I was Bono’s only source of exercise… God help that poor, chubby dog. He was getting fat when I was there. I don’t even want to imagine how fat he’s going to become now. It’s a real possibly he could become the fattest dog in Georgia.