Welcome to Morocco Hermès the Argentine Mastiff (Dogo Argentino)

Hermès and I

Désolé mes amis français, il va falloir traduire avec Google ou lire en anglais ce post car j’ai vraiment par le courage ni temps de le réécrire en français… enfin en tout cas pas pour l’instant…peut être un autre jour…

Hi everyone!

So as you probably know by now we have a new member in our little family. It’s Hermès, our Dogo Argentino puppy. If you’re friends with me on Facebook you’ve seen photos of him, but here I’m going to tell you a bit more about him.

He is really a good little puppy. I hear all sorts of stories about people who have dogs that crap everywhere and destroy furniture and shoes. He does nothing of all that. Only thing that he destroys are his toys, so that’s ok I suppose.

Hermès in his comfy cushion

So how does our little story with Hermès start?

We got him from a breeder in France. That day he seemed so excited about coming home with us! The breeder was about 2 hours drive from our house. The drive home was obviously quite stressful for little Hermès. It was no fun for him or us. If I remember correctly he crapped about 3 times (really runny shit) and was sick 2 times. Poor puppy.

The trip down to Morocco was not looking good. If we had to stop every time that he was sick or pooped, which seemed to a lot, it would take us a week to get back home!

For his first night at my French house he was a very good boy. It must have been quite hard for him to sleep alone in the veranda (at the breeders he was always with his brother). We didn’t hear him at all during the night. (Maybe he did howl, but the house is so big with thick walls). The next morning I was pleased to see that the good little (well, sort of little, he was already 15kg) puppy had not destroyed his pillow and had only urinated on the newspaper we had put down for him.

Hermès and I on the beach (as you can see with my hair, it was another windy day at Tangier)

The time had come for us to stat our long trip back to Morocco. The car was jam-packed with all our stuff. 

We don’t often go back to France by car so this was the one in a million time that we could bring bigger things back with us (things that you cannot bring back by plane). Luckily I hadn’t packed many clothes for this holiday in France, but I had a whole load of other things to bring back with me. My printer, PlayStation, Wii, car fridge and big 200l fish tank took up most of the room. I was so glad that day that I had a big car instead of our small sporty cars we used to have (not so glamour but really useful). With all that stuff Hermes still had half of the boot to himself (half a Jeep Wrangler boot is big, lots of space).

Just after lunch we started our long drive, with loads of newspaper in the back for Hermès’s car-stress related problems. We had decided to take breaks every 2 hours (more if we smelt dog poo poo or vomit). 

2 hours is long for a puppy. 

Very long.

Hermès and Franck

He was so good during that trip! He waited for every stop to pee or poop. He didn’t try too much to move the security bars to climb into the front. He just slept. He was sick only once, and that was when we drove along the roads that wind thought the Pyrenees Mountains.

We arrived at the hotel we had booked in Spain at about 8pm. 

Yes, this time we booked a hotel. Not only because other times we have been caught out by not booking (hotels full or reception not open late and having to drive the entire night), but also because in Spain not many hotels accept animals. Keep that in mind if you are planning on traveling though Spain with a dog!

Beautiful light that evening! Shame I didn't have my camera! Only cellphone shots!

At the hotel.

Check in went ok. We paid extra to put the Jeep in the hotel's garage instead of the outdoor car park, which had no security. Still at the reception desk, my eyes fell upon a warning sign: attention, car park height 1m90. Damn. Big cars are good for luggage but not for slipping into tight garages. I know that the Jeep goes under 2m stuff, but 1m90 seemed short. I immediately told Franck. The guy waiting behind us obviously herd what I was saying (he was also French) and said that he had tried to get in with his Mercedes Sprinter van with no success. 

I went outside and measured, with my arms up in the air, the height of his car and ours. The Jeep was slightly lower, so we decided to try.

It was than that Franck kind of knocked me out with the Jeep. 

He was driving because I am really crappy at parking cars. I had to get out of the car to ring the bell so reception would open the garage. Just as I jumped (yes the car is high so you have to jump out) he decided to move forward. Suddenly, he realised that I was jumping out so he slammed on the brakes. The thing not to do. I went flying into the open door headfirst. Jeep doors are tough. It hurt. I was now tired and sore.

We managed to park the car all right. It was tight (only about 1cm between the car roof and garage ceiling).

We (including Hermès) were all happy to stop driving. 

Quick dinner for everyone and time for bed. We decided that it would be best for Hermes to sleep in the bathroom (so that he wouldn’t pee everywhere in the room and destroy everything. Not a good idea. 5 minutes after we got to bed he started howling. Not wanting to wake the whole hotel up we opened the door so that he could come to where our bed was. We had to be up and gone by 6am the next morning. As I was the morning driver, Franck told me to sleep and that he would keep an eye on the dog. We really thought that he was going to be a pain sleeping with us.  You know, he’s only a baby and had been locked in a car boot all day. I really thought that he would try and climb onto the bed, chew stuff, pee everywhere…

Yet again I was pleasantly surprised. He did one tour of the room and went and sat on his cushion. He watched us all night. He guarded us. He went into the bathroom to pee on newspaper. He didn’t chew anything, not even my clothes and shoes that I had left on the ground. He didn’t moan, bark or howl nor did he try to climb onto the bed.

I couldn’t believe it. This puppy had only been with us for 2 days, most of the time spent in the car, and he was this good!

I know that everyone thinks that their dog is the best. But after that day I knew that he was the best dog!

Not too sure about the water!

Next day another long drive. 

Hermes was adorable as usual. We arrived at Tarifa in the south of Spain, just on time to catch the 5pm ferry. The ferry was another thing I was worried about. Dogs are allowed ‘on’ the ferry, but not ‘in’ the ferry, so poor Hermès would have to spend the 1h trip to Morocco in the jeep in the car deck. All on his own. Locked in the car. In the dark. There was no other choice.

I was really sad and stressed during the trip. I just couldn’t wait to get back down to the car to see if my poor little puppy was ok.

The ferry was fast. Only 45 minutes. The fast ferries that link Spain to Morocco always seem to speed up near the end of the day. When you catch the first ferry in the morning they always seem to take off 30 minutes late and the trip takes an hour and a half. But as soon as the clock hits 5pm they are on time! The 5pm ferry always takes of at 5pm sharp. And they obviously push the accelerator hard because the trip only takes 45 minutes! Maybe in a hurry to finish work…

Damn I’m off the story again.

So as soon as they opened the car deck we were down and back in the car. Hermès had yet again been so good! No wrecked car. No pee or poop. Such a good puppy! Before the ferry had stopped we had moved the car to the front, ready to off-board first (we wanted to get home ASAP so that Hermes could run and stretch his legs).

Waiting for the door to open a lady came over to us. 

I am so used to getting told off for doing stuff you’re not supposed to, like start and drive a car before the ferry was stopped; I was sure I was going to get a scolding. But no. She just wanted to ask what I thought of the Jeep because she loves that car. People who like Jeeps are my friends! ;) Jeep family. Funny thing was they also had a doggy! A beautiful Collie! And they work in the free zone like us! I do hope I will see them again, not only because they like jeeps, but also because they seemed like really nice people.

Out of the ferry and back home.

A very long drive (1400km) for a baby dog.

It’s been more than a month now. Hermès has of course grown, he now weighs 25kg and he’s only 5 months old. How big will he get? His grandpa weighed 68kg and his dad 63kg.

A friend told me that the ball would not last long (experience with her dog)

At first we tried keeping him in the kitchen at night, but he hated it. Now he sleeps in the living room where he can keep an eye on all the bedroom doors. He just wants to guard us! Which is great because I’m still sort of freaked out from the burglar event.

'I distroyed zii ball!!! (the camera flash made him have demon eyes)

He is still small, but is sort of scary. When I walk him round town people keep well away. Not only do not many people have pet dogs in Morocco (I learnt from a work college that dogs are considered dirty in the Islam religion). And his bark! He even scares me when he barks in his sleep! (Like me Hermès has very ‘lively’ dreams. He snores, moves, growls and barks).

Hermès and I. Training session!

Training is going well. He knows his name, come, sit, down, wait, and best of all not to take food from the table or food that falls on the ground. He also doesn’t need newspaper at night anymore. He waits till he is let out in the morning to pee.

One thing though, he won’t pee or poop when he’s out on a walk! He prefers to wait to get back home or sometimes in the car! If someone who has a dog reads this, please tell me how to get him to ‘mark his territory’ when out on a walk, not in the car!

One sad thing. People, who know a bit about dogs, know that white dogs are rather ‘skin sensitive’. Of course, when the sun is shining Hermès gets covered in sunscreen. But these dogs are also allergic to loads of stuff. We found out fast that Hermès is allergic to grass and nylon. He only has pure cotton sheets now! (Luxury bastard! lol). 

He has to take medication every day, pills against allergies. Strange thing is, the vet has given him the same anti-allergy meds that I take! Kind of funny! Mistress and faithful dog both take the same pill in the morning! 

It has got me thinking though… does the vet give human pills to dogs or does my doctor give me dog pills… hmmmm....

Anyway, that’s a bit about Hermès! 

This was supposed to be a short text but it turned out rather long! Sorry!

More news soon!

xxx