Some pictures of Hakchai, previously already mentioned in this blog, and his new friend, Lucky. Hakchai and Lohwong were the only two dogs that we kept from a litter of puppies by Rainbow. Rainbow was herself originally owned by one of our local Solomon Islander employees, but after he resigned for medical reasons, he left Rainbow here and I kind of adopted her. She’s a mongrel, and still a little wild. She’s a pretty small dog, but she loves chasing and killing things smaller than her, like birds, chickens and kittens.
Hakchai was wounded in a car accident when he was a puppy, so one of his rear legs is really weak. This means he can’t jump, so when he gets excited instead of jumping around, he just kinds of claws people’s feet instead, which can be painful. He’s also a really, really timid and submissive dog. When he was a puppy, as soon as anyone yelled or even glared at him, he’d curl up on his back and pee in submission. This means he’s totally useless as a guard dog, but also means that he’s perfectly harmless. He does make a lot of strange noises and howls sometimes. My wife says he likes to sing.
Lucky is a purebred female Rottweiler. My wife and I didn’t want her but the boss insisted on keeping her in the compound. This was because we knew that she’d grow up to be a big and mean dog, and we were afraid that we wouldn’t haver enough space to keep her here when she grows up and she’ll end up biting people and getting us into trouble. I’ve seen her parents at my boss’ house, and they look absolutely huge and fearsome to me.
Lucky was pretty aggressive even when on the first day they brought her here, growling at people who offended her and being really stubborn despite her small size. She barked at Hakchai when she first came, as if claiming the veranda area as her personal territory and refusing to let Hakchai come up. Poor Hakchai was quite confused, as if asking us, “Why is this tiny thing acting so fierce?” We’ve tried our best to make them friends with each other, and I think it’s working well.
They play with each other now, Lucky very enthusiastically and Hakchai sometimes reluctantly. Lucky will do all sorts of things to get Hakchai to play with her, nipping at his neck, biting his tail and sometimes his balls too. She also likes to climb up on top of him, which annoys Hakchai. But they can be very cute when they play peacefully with each other as the above photo shows.
Sometimes however Lucky gets too annoying when she insists on playing and Hakchai just wants to lie down for a while and Hakchai loses his temper a bit and pushes her down with a paw or clamps his jaw gently around her neck to show her who’s boss. When Hakchai gets too forceful Lucky yelps in pain, but this never seems to dissuade her for long and soon she’s back to bother Hakchai again.
Look at how sweet and innocent Lucky is! But my wife says not to be fooled because she’s a mean little bitch! Since she’s so adorable at the moment everyone in the house, even those who usually stay away from dogs, can’t resist petting her when she wags her tail and scampers up to them. But we know that Rottweilers can grow up to be really big, strong and bad-tempered dogs. We only hope that she gets along well enough with Hakchai that she won’t bully him when she grows up to be bigger than he is.