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| Name: |
Linus
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Age: |
Two and a half years old
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| Gender: |
Male |
Breed: |
Brown Dog
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| Home: |
Nairobi, Kenya |
Linus joined me after almost a year of living and working in rural Tanzania and feeling the longing for companionship. A coworker and I both decided we wanted dogs, so we agreed that on our next field visits, we'd keep our eyes peeled for a litter of puppies.
A few months passed before we were in the field and visited one of our farmer clients in a village called N'genza. Her dogs had just had a litter of five puppies. "I think these are the ones," I told my coworker. He agreed. We returned a few weeks later to pick our puppies. We each paid 5000 Tanzanian Shillings (about $2.50) and selected our dogs.
From the beginning, Linus was obsessed with food. It's his main motivator - you can get him to do just about anything for a treat. Packaged dog food was hard to come by where we lived, so he mostly ate eggs, dagaa (dried fish), rice, and ugali (maize meal porridge). The dagaa was his favorite, much to his owner's chagrin (it smells terrible, in my opinion).
After over a year living in Tanzania with his canine housemates Lucy (his sister, from the same litter) and Bruce Wayne (another Tanzanian mutt), I got a new job in Kenya and we prepared for the move. It involved the complicated logistics of flying a dog via Kenya Airways and preparing all of the proper paperwork, licenses, and fees for an international move (lesson learned- next time, Linus will be driven across the border).
After an eventful 24 hours, Linus arrived safe and sound in his new home of Nairobi, Kenya. Within a week, he had moved into his new house and made a new friend and canine housemate- Nelson.
As a doggie expat in Nairobi, Linus enjoys walks (especially in Karura Forest), playing with Nelson, lounging in the sun, and begging his new human housemates for food and attention. He is quickly changing the minds of all who meet him, many of whom believed that local breeds like him were only meant to be fierce and mean guard dogs. Linus breaks the stereotype by being incredibly sweet and attention-seeking with everyone he meets.
His family members back in the US often ask what breed he is - I just reply that he is "Tanzanian Brown." They're very eager to meet Linus someday, and Linus hopes to one day move to the US and become a truly international dog!
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