Brownie

When I left home, I assumed I was going to be doing without animal companionship for the balance of my time here in American Samoa. Tucker is happily living with my parents for the last two years and Sara and I have had a hole in her hearts and household without him.

With the rough reputation that local dogs have here on Tutuila, I didn't expect to find much along the lines of a dog I'd get along with. Turns out I was wrong. Sara and I have slowly been adopting a neighborhood dog. He had been the dog of the Risk-Taker, but he and his family moved out of Freddy's Beach. The Risk-Taker asked that I look after his dog in his absence. So all of a sudden, Sara and I have a new ward.

Our first few days, Brownie shied away from us and treated us as most other island dogs do. After a few days, with no one else looking after him, Brownie would start to peek in our window. We would come out and greet him, he'd remain shy, but let us pet him. We'd feed him, but he wouldn't eat until we went back behind the closed door. Even after we went behind closed doors, he would look around, take a bite of food, then raise his head and scan the horizon, then repeat the process. He's a wary old island dog.

Some days he'd show up with fresh cuts and scars on his snout. During the night we will occasionally hear dogs facing off in the dark. I've heard reports of Brownie fending off three other dogs and driving them off. He has the scars to back up those claims.

Brownie's eventually warmed up to us. He'll now stand outside our door in the evenings. Sara and I will bring him out some leftovers or stale corn chips with some sauce. He'll now eat us with us standing in front of him. He's slowly integrating himself into our household. We'll see if he remains as a permanent part of our lives here.