A few weeks ago we were getting water from our neighbors well for a project we are working on. While we were waiting we saw a sweet little white dog that appeared to not have a home. This is common here, there are a lot of stray dogs, as well as, a lot of dogs whose owners allow them to wonder. Tags and collars are not a guarantee here so it can be difficult to distinguish between dogs that need help, and dogs that belong to someone.

This was the first time we had seen this particular dog and we frequently drive the road. We asked one of the neighbors if he recognized the dog, or knew who the owner was, he said he didn't know. We had extra dog food in the truck, (we do that to feed another dog on the road, who we don't think is homeless, but is also not well fed) and so we gave her some food and got her water.

The next day we were back at the well getting water, and she came over to us. We were not able to get too close because she was was very shy, but we again got her some water and give her food. When we were done at the well we packed up and started driving home. It wasn't too far after we started home that we realized she was following us. We kept going and she followed us the whole way home, which is about a mile.

What to do?

With her just outside a fence we built around the camper we didn't know what to do, we didn't want any fights with our dogs. We didn't know her and were hesitant to take chances. There isn't any animal control on the island, and it was Sunday, so we didn't think we could take her to the shelter. We had the AC on inside and so kept the dogs with us while we had lunch. Our plan was to work and use the water we had gotten at the well. We decided that after lunch we would continue with our plan and address issues as they came up.

When we came out to start work she was still there! We packed up supplies, our dogs and drove to where we would be working, she followed us the whole way. We set up our work area and let our dogs out. She hung around and wasn't a problem all afternoon. When we were done working she followed us home again. She hadn't been an issue, and our dogs didn't seem to have a problem with her so we let her into the yard when we got back. She got water and we fed her dinner when we fed our dogs. She spent the night with us and we started calling her little bean.

Little bean was so sweet, and it was hard not to fall in love with her. We talked about it and decided that we couldn't take on another dog at this time. We currently have three, one of which is a St. Croix rescue, and given our current workload and living situation it just isn't practical or healthy to take on another dog. We decided to take her to the shelter on Monday so she could get the care and love she deserves.

Animal control on St. Croix

The St. Croix animal welfare center gets a lot of dogs. It is sad to say but we have an animal control issue here and there are not enough homes for all the dogs. The animal welfare center recently updated their website and included some interesting information about animal control here on the island. We don't love the idea of adding to an already overburdened system, but we also don't want to see a dog suffer, and Little bean became special to us. The shelter took her in and put her on a stray hold, in the hopes that her owner would come looking for her. No on claimed her, so she is now up for adoption. The shelter has named her Nirvana, and we have been keeping an eye on her. We hope she finds a good home.

If you find yourself here in St. Croix I highly encourage you to reach out to the shelter, they have a program that you can participate in for free called Paws from Paradise. This program will coordinate with you and a shelter in your hometown to get a dog off the island and adopted in the states. Rob and I have participated in this program and found it to be a great experience.