And my dream burst like a big bubble!

It was my dream to have several dogs of several breeds living together in peace and harmony. Well, it didn't work.
After Mia (another 6-months-old Beagle) came to us, we had more and more fights between Babygirl and Merlin. And Merlin would also regularly attack the Beagles. So, I figured that we would probably have to sell him.

But then it happened: all the dogs were playing and Fibi found a toy which all the other dogs wanted as well, so everybody was running after her. But suddenly Babygirl attacked Fibi, pulled her ears, bit her legs with a strength that Fibi cried like crazy. I tried to stop them, but Babygirl didn't let go. It felt like an eternity that passed before I could separate and stop them. Fibi had both of her ears bloody, one now hangs a little lower and her feet had scratches. And my hands didn't look any better. I do feel sorry for Babygirl, but she had to go, so we sold her. Those American Staffords simply get too big to be trusted with a small breed like Beagles. And at the moment we are still trying to sell Merlin because I don't want the same to happen again. Neither Babygirl nor Merlin are aggressive with people or with dogs in general, but when they freak out, it gets bloody.
In the meantime, we are having a little (about 5 months old) American Stafford mix in our home. We are giving him into adoption because he was found abondaned on the streets. He is a very good guy and very cute!

Furthermore, we hope that Nala is pregnant and is going to have her puppies in August.
And Peluche is now finally old enough to be a sire and if he did a good job, he'll be father very soon.

Now we are complete

Although I already had 5 dogs, after Kal-El’s death I wouldn’t stop looking for a new male American Stafford. And now I finally have it.
A friend of us has a female and she had babies, so he made us a very special price. Merlin is only 6 weeks old, but already looks very strong! Most of the time I just call him “enano” (dwarf) because right now he is the smallest of the family.

And then we got unlucky...

On a Saturday when Cristian was bringing me to work, we nearly hit a small puppy on the street. It wasn’t of a breed, but we thought we could just bring it home, give it a bath and then give it into adoption. However, we soon found out that she was sick. We didn’t know what it was but it seemed to be serious because she didn’t want to eat and had blood in her faeces. The next day she had already died. We buried her in the mountains close to a river.
A week later, Fibi got sick. She didn’t want to eat and was throwing up continuously. I thought that maybe she had eaten something that wasn’t good for her, but after she was one whole day without food or water, we brought her to the hospital. And the news weren’t good at all: She had parvovirus. It’s a sickness that doesn’t have a cure and once a dog has it, there is only a 50% chance of surviving. And of course, it is highly contagious.
Two days later, Kal-El started with the same symptoms and we also brought him to the hospital. We were full of hope because we had brought him so early.
On the day when the hospital called us to inform us that Fibi is great and can leave the hospital, they also told us that Kal-El died.
We were so frustrated because all of our dogs are vaccinated against this sickness and we lost one and it cost us a lot of money to have Fibi in the hospital.
In general, the whole months of March was filled with a lot of unlucky events. I broke my finger, but cured it myself (without going to the hospital because I didn’t want to wait in line forever), I fell down a whole and hurt my knees, had an accident on the scooter (and got lots of bruises) and Nala bit June because she came close to her while she was eating (the only time when Nala gets aggressive).

We need an even number of dogs!

Well, normal people would say that 5 dogs are enough, but one day I found a 3-months old Beagle-girl for sale for very little money and she had papers. So, I convinced Cristian to get her as well. Her name is June.

New house, new dogs

After my family had left, we finally found a good house for rent for us. We had been looking for over two months and were hoping that we would find one before the arrival of my family, but house hunting in San José is a pain. Most of it is way too expensive and/or in very bad shape.
But now we are renting a good-sized house with a yard in the back and a yard in the front in the mountains of San José. The weather is a bit colder than in the centre, but the environment is very nice.
And since we now have more space and a front and back yard, Cristian was of the opinion that we should get more guard dogs, so we got Babygirl and Kal-El. They are both American Staffords.
Babygirl was extremely small when we got her, so that’s why the name stuck. On the contrary, Kal-El was extremely big and heavy for his age.

The Family

In December 2010 and January 2011 I had my family visit me in Costa Rica. At first only my mom and Olaf (her boyfriend) wanted to come, but then my sister decided to join as well. Since I only had a small apartment at that time, that extra person made me worry a bit. But at least we had one dog less because Nala was at a dog school getting an education! :-P
Before they came, I had made a plan. At first we wanted to spend a few days in San José, then go to Puerto Viejo (the Caribbean coast), come back to San José for 2 days and then go to Playa del Coco (the Pacific coast) and stop by La Fortuna (to see an active volcano) for a day.
After picking them up at the airport late at night and me being surprised that I actually found the way back to the house, we had a quick beer and went to bed. However, the next day it became clear that our apartment was definitely to small to host all of my family, so they decided to spend the rest of the time in a hotel close by.
However, the first day we took a trip to the waterfall La Paz (The Peace). The road to there was terrible and the weather wasn't much better. December is the end of the rainy season and it tends to get fairly cold as well. But my mom and Olaf liked it anyway. My sister didn't because she always finds something to complain about.

The next day we spent in San José. It is not pretty at all, but if you are in Costa Rica, you should at least see it. (By the way, the weather still hadn't improved and it was very windy.)

After that we went to Puerto Viejo in my car. Not surprisingly for me, it was also rainy at the coast. So, we did the best out of the situation and bought some beers.

Fortunately, the next day it brighten up a little and we went to the National Park Cahuita where we saw some racoons and monkeys threw sticks at my sister. And since I had a cold and had worn tennis shoes, Olaf had to carry me over the little creeks.

The second day in Puerto Viejo we rented some bikes and rode along the coast. Finally the sun made it appeareance and I immediately got sunburned. (By the way, the streets in Puerto Viejo all look like that or worse. But they are lined with lots of little animals.)

And here the negative side of Costa Rica: Crime absolutely everwhere!

The day we left Puerto Viejo, we finally had blue sky and endless sun! *lol*
Back in San José, we visited the local zoo and then prepared for New Years Eve. However, my family already left my apartment at 10 pm and I went to bed with my dogs. Surprisingly they did not wake up from the fireworks and slept soundly.

Then we rented a car and went to Playa del Coco. (On the way back from Puerto Viejo, my old car was giving trouble again. It was getting very hot and the clutch didn't work part of the time. So, the safer option was a rental car.)
At the Pacific we had sunshine and endless beaches. So, guess what we did all day!?

However, the next destination was La Fortuna which is situated high in the mountains and again it got rainy and windy.

But we were super lucky and the next morning, it cleared up a little bit and we actually got to see the volcano. (Not everybody who has been there can say that. Because 70% of the days of a year the volcano is covered in clouds.)
And after a nice long walk we spend the rest of the day at a hot spring. (The water was really heated by the lava of the volcano.)
On the way back from La Fortuna I dropped my parents of at a hotel close to the airport and spend the rest of the day there. The hotel had given my parents some voucher to play at the casino and I managed to win around 40$. It wasn't the checkpot, but better than nothing!
I know that my parents enjoyed the trip a lot, but I don't think that my sister did. Because she had been to Costa Rica before, seemed to be bored all the time and the continous criticism of my lifestyle didn't seem a good sign.

Once you start getting dogs, you cannot stop

At least that seems to be my case.
After we had gotten Peluche (our male Beagle) and saw how well he and Nala got along, I wanted to have another dog. Cristian always wanted to breed dogs, so getting another Beagle (but this time a female) seemed to be a good idea.
After having looked at several internet pages for quite a few weeks, I found her: a bicolored Beagle (3,5 months old). Her owners wanted to sell her because they didn't have enough time or space for her. She is one of the most beautiful Beagles I have ever seen in my life, but she doesn't behave well at all because she was never taught. She was treated like a doll by her former owner: she had to wear clothes, was carried around all day and never once was a single minute alone. She had to go pee in a small back yard and had never been for a walk. Even today she will not pee during our walks, but will wait until we are in our yard.
Other than that: Fibi is a typical Beagle. She doesn't listen, eats a lot, is hyperactive and barks all the time. I love her! :-P

And for Peluche it was also love at first sight:

New Family Members

I bought 4 more fishes, 3 Kois (well, mini-Kois) and another veiltail.
But that's not it! We also got a second dog. We thought it would be good for Nala to have a friend. Cristian wanted another American Stafford, but I didn't really want to have another dog with that strength and that stubborn character. Nala can be very friendly, but she can also be a real bitch. She doesn't really like strangers coming to our apartment. I guess, it is natural for a guard dog, but it makes receiving visitors a bit difficult. Plus she is also scared of a lot of things and when she pulls on the leage or growls at somebody, she is just enforcing the bad reputation that fight dogs already have.
That is why I wanted to have a dog that's very intelligent and a big people-lover. And the first dog that came to my mind was a Labrador. I am not a big fan of the yellow ones, but would love to have a brown one. However, we have an apartment which is not exactly huge and therefore a labrador didn't seem to be the best idea.
Cristian wanted to have an English Bull Terrier, but I was completely against that. They are fairly aggressive, ugly and incredibly expensive.
But then I saw an ad on the internet where they were selling a 2-months old Pocket Beagle. It's a small Beagle and he was so cute!!! So, we went to see it and bought it!
Nala has always been very friendly with other dogs. But when we brought the little Beagle, she was a bit angry. She doesn't like new living beings in her house. But within minutes she realized that this could be a new friend and she became all excited. So excited that we were afraid that she would hurt the little one while playing. But she also understood that she has to be more careful with the little one. I know, it's hard to believe that a supposedly so mean breed of dog (like an America Stafford) can be so lovely with such a little creature.
By that time we still didn't really have a name for our small Beagle. At first we wanted to call him Frodo because he is small and Hobbits are also small. But then Cristian's sister said: "He is like a stuffed animal with batteries." Because he is so cute and has so much energy. From that moment one we only called him Peluche (which is the Spanish word for "stuffed toy animal").
So far Peluche has tried to chew and eat everything, is continuously playing with Nala and peeing in the house. For housebreaking him I will need lots of patience because Beagle are said to be stubborn! (Didn't I mention I don't want another stubborn breed? Well....)

And here come the pictures:

Peluche:

Nala and Peluche saying Good Night to each other:Nala and Peluche very tired after having played all day:
Peluche and Peter (the 11-months old Golden Retriever of Melissa, Cristian's sister):

Piccolini (a 2 cm "big" veiltail):Pocahontas (the red Koi) and Bambi (the yellow Koi):

Shiva (also a Koi; all my Kois are only about 4 cm long):

No luck...

And another fish died. This time our bala shark Bagira. Why? Well, I blame it on the petshops. Everytime we buy a new fish we always ask if it can live in a small aquarium and if there is something special this kind needs. We are just beginners and don't know a lot of aquariums.
The petshop told us that the bala shark (Bagira) and the shark catfish (Chispa) will grow to about 20 cm, but that it will take about 20 years. The petshop didn't say anything about other special conditions. Well, in the future we were planning on getting a bigger aquarium anyway, so we were fine with the fact that the fishes will grow more.
However, 5 or 6 days ago, Bagira started to spend lots of time hiding in a corner and not moving much. He also didn't eat. Sometimes he would start floating, but with the head down and tail up. I once took him out of the aquarium and put him into a bowl and fed him seperately. After that he seemed to be better, swam more again, but would still float in that weird position. That was when I started reading about his kind. It turns out that this fish needs an aquarium of about 1,5 m (even when they are small), a lot of oxygen, sand on the ground and that they do not want to live alone. Well, our aquarium is a very small one, we have stones on the ground (like the petshops as well who sell those sharks), we have our oxygen pump on low and there are often electricity blackouts and we only bought one of his kind. So, did he die because he didn't get enough oxygen during one of the blackouts or did he swim so fast that he hit the wall and hurt himself? I don't know, but sure is that we definitely didn't have the right place for him.
Yesterday, I looked at the aquarium and saw all the veitails in one corner...attacking Bagira. I chased them away, but Bagira couldn't turn around anymore; he was swimming with the belly up now. And the other fishes continued attacking him. So, I took him out and he was barely breathing. After 5 minutes, he had died.
So, now we have 3 veiltails and 1 shark catfish left over. And here a little story about our shark catfish. The petshop told us he would grow to a size of 20 cm and that he is a very peaceful fish. In reality, he will grow to up 1 m and when he is big enough he will probably start eating the smaller fishes. I guess, we will have to sell him than. For now I want to keep him; at the moment he is only 4 cm long.

And here the pictures and little explanations (but I am not so sure about some of the English names):
Chispa is an albino shark catfish (Pangasius hypophthalmus var. Albino). As mentioned above: Right now only 4 cm long, but will grow A LOT!
Nakoma is an orange veiltail (Carassius auratus var. Red Comet). She is the biggest. Around 6 cm long and very fat; she eats a lot! (Brida was as big as her.)
Balu is an calico veiltail (Carassius auratus var. Calico). He is the smallest with only 2,5 cm. He only has one eye, but is doing just fine.
And Sophie is a (normal) veiltail (Carassius auratus). She is a bit smaller than Nakoma, around 4,5 cm. But she also likes to eat.
Nakoma, Balu and Sophie belong to the group of goldfishes and are easy to take care of, but they will all grow more. Chispa belongs to the group that is supposedly the hardest to take care of, probably because of the size.
But they are all oriental fishes.

Sophie:

Balu:
Balu and Nakoma:

Nakoma and Chispa (Bagira is hiding in the corner):

Nakoma and Bagira:

Bagira:

Balu, Chispa and Sophie:

Chispa, Bagira, Balu, Sophie and Nakoma: