I call her Brown Dog. I think she has a name but I don’t know it. She is nice and when she greets you at the gate she smiles and bares her teeth in a huge grin. At first it looked a bit scary like she going to attack me but it’s just the way she smiles.
She’s a very gently dog, loving and quiet. However she has this thing about Masai. She doesn’t like them at all. The first time I took her for a walk she lunged at one and nipped him on the leg. I have been teaching her to ignore all people as we pass them and it has been working quite well.
However I still have to watch her carefully when there is a Masai on the road. On Sunday the askari and I were walking the dogs and we came across two of the Masai who work next door and we walked together, the four of us, along a dirt track, chatting and laughing.
Brown Dog was happily sniffing in the undergrowth and straining at the lead to go faster, as per usual. She didn’t take any notice of the Masai. I was quite pleased and I thought maybe my training had had some effect.
Then without warning she flew at the Masai next to me and bit his leg. The man leapt back and when I looked at his leg she had broken the skin but there was no blood – only redness. However I felt bad and the Masai was making a big fuss about it.
We walked back to my house and I dropped the dogs off and took him to the clinic for a tetanus job and sticking plaster. I know being bitten by a dog is horrible but the guy is a fierce warrior, he carries a machete and a throwing club. These people fight lions and now he’s making a fuss about a nip on his leg which isn’t even bleeding.
I paid for the treatment and too him home, gave me 10,000/= (£3) and thought that was the end of it but last night he was waiting at my gate looking for more money to buy some ‘cow oil’ to mix with this terrible looking brown powder to put in his wound.
Honestly I have never seen such a fuss made over such a small wound. Not wanting to make an enemy of him (he’s next door after all) I gave him 10,000/= more and told him that was the end of the matter.