OUR DOGS
We hope you love dogs, or at least don’t mind them. We currently have 4 Bali dogs and 1 mixed Bali dog / German Sheperd, from 11 a while ago..! We love them all. At least most of them, most of the time… It wasn’t really our choice to get dogs though, at least not completely…!
Here is the story, and the dogs.
Malu
“Malu” in Indonesian means “shy”. And that’s what she is. Very shy… She came with the plantation when we bought it.
She had a very traumatic past, was chained, and most likely often beaten. She eventually found refuge in the plantation we bought. She still had a piece of rope around her neck, buried deep into her skin… She couldn’t bark, and was incredibly skittish. She didn’t want to be touched, at all, and would always keep a safe distance. So we just fed her, and accepted her presence. Slowly but sure she accepted our presence, but always kept safe distance. It took a few months before she would carefully take a treat out of our hand.
A few months later she started to slowly bark a bit, and effectively became a decent guard.
We wanted to vaccinate and sterilize her, but the problem was that she was so scared of other people that she’d hide immediately when a vet came to try to use a blow pipe to tranquilize her. We tried tranquilizing tablets, but the highest dose would not bring her down…
And then she became pregnant! At first it seemed she had a miscarriage. We didn’t mind, as we did not really want more dogs. But it turned out to be only half a miscarriage; a week later she gave birth to 2 puppies. She left them out in the bush, in the cold, in the rain. She didn’t care for them at all…
So we did. We took them in and bottle-fed them for the first few days. Until slowly but surely Malu showed more interest and eventually started to give them milk. Nothing more, nothing less. She didn’t keep them warm, she didn’t sleep with them… This is when we learnt that puppies are a lot stronger than what we were made to believe! They survived the cold and wet nights, alone in an empty drum we used as nest for them.
Malu
“Malu” in Indonesian means “shy”. And that’s what she is. Very shy… She came with the plantation when we bought it.
She had a very traumatic past, was chained, and most likely often beaten. She eventually found refuge in the plantation we bought. She still had a piece of rope around her neck, buried deep into her skin… She couldn’t bark, and was incredibly skittish. She didn’t want to be touched at all, and would always keep a distance. So we just fed her, and accepted her presence. Slowly but sure she accepted our presence, but always kept safe distance. It took a few months before she would carefully take a treat out of our hand.
A few months later she started to slowly bark a bit, and effectively became a decent guard.
We wanted to vaccinate and sterilize her, but the problem was that she was so scared of other people that she’d hide immediately when a vet came to try to use a blow pipe to tranquilize her. We tried tranquilizing tablets, but the highest dose would not bring her down…
And then she became pregnant! At first it seemed she had a miscarriage. We didn’t mind, as we did not really want more dogs. But it turned out to be only half a miscarriage; a week later she gave birth to 2 puppies. She left them out in the bush, in the cold, in the rain. She didn’t care for them at all…
So we did. We took them in and bottle-fed them for the first few days. Until slowly but surely Malu showed more interest and eventually started to give them milk. Nothing more, nothing less. She didn’t keep them warm, she didn’t sleep with them… This is when we learnt that puppies are a lot stronger than what we were made to believe! They survived the cold and wet nights, alone in an empty drum we used as nest for them.
Pokat
“Pokat” is the local name for avocado. We have plenty of those as well.
Pokat is the underdog in the pack, although he’s doing his best to change that position, his own way. As a puppy he had a weird but serious illness, which somehow affected his mouth and ability to eat. He has recovered well and is slowly gaining in self-confidence.
Pokat is also the stubborn one, and never ever listens to us…
Pokat
“Pokat” is the local name for avocado. We have plenty of those as well.
Pokat is the underdog in the pack, although he’s doing his best to change that position, his own way. As a puppy he had a weird but serious illness, which somehow affected his mouth and ability to eat. He has recovered well and is slowly gaining in self-confidence.
Pokat is also the stubborn one, and never ever listens to us…
Boni
“Boni”, or Buni, is the local name of a fairly rare fruit, which is often used in Rujak.
As a puppy Boni suffered from some kind of polio. His legs got increasingly bended, and he had difficulties walking. He couldn’t run or go up and down stairs, and preferred to spend his time laying around the house.
We adjusted Boni’s diet and eventually he got much better and more mobile. Nowadays Buni can run very fast, and as his body seems to have stopped growing at a young age he is one of our most agile dogs. As he spent so much time just on his own under our house he is still not used to have other people around, and loves barking at every “stranger”… You’ll hear him!
Boni
“Boni”, or Buni, is the local name of a fairly rare fruit, which is often used in Rujak.
As a puppy Boni suffered from some kind of polio. His legs got increasingly bended, and he had difficulties walking. He couldn’t run or go up and down stairs, and preferred to spend his time laying around the house.
We adjusted Boni’s diet and eventually he got much better and more mobile. Nowadays Boni can run very fast, and as his body seems to have stopped growing at a young age he is one of our most agile dogs. As he spent so much time just on his own under our house he is still not used to have other people around, and loves barking at every “stranger”… You’ll hear him!
Duren
“Duren” means Durian, a fruit we love very much. He is our youngest dog, and the only survivor of Malu’s third litter. As he was the only puppy he had all Malu’s milk for himself, and he soon grew bigger than all others. He’s been slowly fighting his way up the ranks, and eventually even dominated Wani. Since Tangi’s passing he is effectively the leader of the pack, but as he’s still very much a puppy he doesn’t yet know how to be one..!
He’s a very strong and muscular boy, and he’ll eventually become a real leader of the pack!
Timmy
Timmy is the latest to join our pack. We adopted him when he was about 8 months old, when we learnt about his sad first few months of life. As a puppy he was thrown away on the street; he was eventually rescued by a dog foundation, treated for his skin and other diseases and put in a temporary foster family, at a villa in south Bali.
Long story short, he has been welcomed by our pack and is now thriving here, truly enjoying the space, the green and so many new experiences in the outdoors.
Timmy is what we call a “house dog”, a people’s dog. He loves to play with us and our guests, and has become a real guests’ favorite. He often joins our guests on walks through the fields, and loves to play with them. If he’s not playing with guests or others from our pack he will always find something to play with himself: a branch, leaves, a rock or anything else that he can find.
Duren
“Duren” means Durian, a fruit we love very much. He is our youngest dog, and the only survivor of Malu’s third litter. As he was the only puppy he had all Malu’s milk for himself, and he soon grew bigger than all others. He’s been slowly fighting his way up the ranks, and eventually even dominated Wani. Since Tangi’s passing he is effectively the leader of the pack, but as he’s still very much a puppy he doesn’t yet know how to be one..!
He’s a very strong and muscular boy, and he’ll eventually become a real leader of the pack!
Timmy
Timmy is the latest to join our pack. We adopted him when he was about 8 months old, when we learnt about his sad first few months of life. As a puppy he was thrown away on the street; he was eventually rescued by a dog foundation, treated for his skin and other diseases and put in a temporary foster family, at a villa in south Bali.
Long story short, he has been welcomed by our pack and is now thriving here, truly enjoying the space, the green and so many new experiences in the outdoors.
Timmy is what we call a “house dog”, a people’s dog. He loves to play with us and our guests, and has become a real guests’ favorite. He often joins our guests on walks through the fields, and loves to play with them. If he’s not playing with guests or others from our pack he will always find something to play with himself: a branch, leaves, a rock or anything else that he can find.
In Memory
Tangi
“Tangi” is the local name of one of the 2 large trees we have right in front of our home.
Tangi was the smaller of the two, and the underdog. But it was obvious a matter of time that he’d put his brother Wani to submission and became the leader of the pack.
Tangi was a very proud dog and excellent guardian of the plantation and us. He was also an excellent hunter. Sometimes unfortunate, as he once in a while liked to go out to hunt down chickens in neighboring plantations…
One evening in June Tangi disappeared, and we feared the worse. About 10 days later a farmer found his body, in an irrigation canal. We can only speculate what happened to him.
Tangi was our favorite dog, and we miss him a lot…
Vlekkie
“Vlekkie” is Dutch for “spots”. She and her sister were thrown away by her owner, in front of our plantation. I guess they knew we like dogs, and didn’t mind a few more…
Initially we left them on their own, but when her sister apparently had eaten a poisoned rat and became very sick we decided to take them in. Her sister didn’t make it…
Vlekkie was a real lady. She knew how to behave and loved cuddling. She was well-accepted by the rest of the pack, eventually even Malu!
Vlekkie recently unexpectedly died when we were on holiday, the same night Wani died… We miss her a lot, and without Vlekkie life here won’t be the same anymore, at least for a while…
Wani
“Wani” is the local name of one of the 2 large trees we have here.
Wani was the sweetest of all, and often also the most funny one. His ever sad face made us smile. He loved to play with his younger brothers and adopted sister and really looked after them in an adorable sweet manner.
Although he loved to play he was a bit lazy and a lack of exercise made him rather chubby. But that made him look even sweeter!
Wani recently unexpectedly died when we were on holiday… We miss him a lot, and life here without Wani won’t be the same anymore, at least for a while…
Tangi
“Tangi” is the local name of one of the 2 large trees we have right in front of our home.
Tangi was the smaller of the two, and the underdog. But it was obvious a matter of time that he’d put his brother Wani to submission and became the leader of the pack.
Tangi was a very proud dog and excellent guardian of the plantation and us. He was also an excellent hunter. Sometimes unfortunate, as he once in a while liked to go out to hunt down chickens in neighboring plantations…
One evening in June Tangi disappeared, and we feared the worse. About 10 days later a farmer found his body, in an irrigation canal. We can only speculate what happened to him.
Tangi was our favorite dog, and we miss him a lot…
Wani
“Wani” is the local name of one of the 2 large trees we have here.
Wani was the sweetest of all, and often also the most funny one. His ever sad face made us smile. He loved to play with his younger brothers and adopted sister and really looked after them in an adorable sweet manner.
Although he loved to play he was a bit lazy and a lack of exercise made him rather chubby. But that made him look even sweeter!
Wani recently unexpectedly died when we were on holiday… We miss him a lot, and life here without Wani won’t be the same anymore, at least for a while…
Vlekkie
“Vlekkie” is Dutch for “spots”. She and her sister were thrown away by her owner, in front of our plantation. I guess they knew we like dogs, and didn’t mind a few more…
Initially we left them on their own, but when her sister apparently had eaten a poisoned rat and became very sick we decided to take them in. Her sister didn’t make it…
Vlekkie was a real lady. She knew how to behave and loved cuddling. She was well-accepted by the rest of the pack, eventually even Malu!
Vlekkie recently unexpectedly died when we were on holiday, the same night Wani died… We miss her a lot, and without Vlekkie life here won’t be the same anymore, at least for a while…
Manggis
She Rests In Peace now, under her favorite Manggis tree, Mangosteen.
She was the only girl in Malu’s second litter, but a serious match for the boys. One day she slowly lost her appetite and eventually stopped eating and drinking all together. She started to avoid us and the rest of the pack, hiding in the bushes, slowly getting worse. A few days later she must have come back to our house at night, for her last breath… We found her in the morning. Very sad.
Gamal
“Gamal” is the local name of a tree often used as shade tree for coffee and other crops. We have plenty of them!
Gamal was the dominant male of the puppies. He was usually going his own way, and was relative quiet and easy going. Except when he reinforced his dominance over his brothers…
Gamal was a brave puppy, perhaps too brave… He died of poisoning. We want to believe it was a dead (poisoned) rat he ate, and not a poisoned bait by one of the farmers…
Kopi & Coklat
Kopi & Coklat, Coffee and Cacao, were the first 2 girls thrown away by their owner, in front of our plantation. We took them in and cared for them throughout their early lives. We were not sure to keep them though, as somehow they didn’t fit into the pack. They were independent rebels, noisy, and often trouble…
Kopi and Coklat were always going their own ways, individually. They became eventually very capable of looking after themselves, even finding enough food throughout the plantation, until late at night.
Eventually we decided to set them free in the bush, hoping they would simply survive as wild dogs. We lost track of Coklat the moment we set her free, but Kopi was often seen by one of our friends. She was doing very well, and indeed very capable of looking after herself. Maybe too good… She was found dead a few months later, most likely poisoned. I guess she was too good as a chicken hunter…
Manggis
She Rests In Peace now, under her favorite Manggis tree, Mangosteen.
She was the only girl in Malu’s second litter, but a serious match for the boys. One day she slowly lost her appetite and eventually stopped eating and drinking all together. She started to avoid us and the rest of the pack, hiding in the bushes, slowly getting worse. A few days later she must have come back to our house at night, for her last breath… We found her in the morning. Very sad.
Gamal
“Gamal” is the local name of a tree often used as shade tree for coffee and other crops. We have plenty of them!
Gamal was the dominant male of the puppies. He was usually going his own way, and was relative quiet and easy going. Except when he reinforced his dominance over his brothers…
Gamal was a brave puppy, perhaps too brave… He died of poisoning. We want to believe it was a dead (poisoned) rat he ate, and not a poisoned bait by one of the farmers…
Kopi & Coklat