DROWN THEM;  FIND THEM HOMES;  ADOPT THEM;  BEHEAD THEM

That about sums up the progression, and the mix of opinions, on what to do about a litter of cute puppies.  They were abandoned in the riverbed  near our village by some passing city-dweller.  A common practice this, for such folks to drive to some remote village like ours here in coastal Mexico, push the puppies or kittens out the door, and drive away.  Problem solved..... for them.

For us, it was just the beginning.

I am writing,  again, about our life in a little village along the great coast of Mexico -- the only gringos in this sweet, peaceful place.

We were lounging in hammocks in the shade of our home-built ramada one afternoon -- after a day in the surf.   Just one little puppy, all bones and weak and exhausted, wandered into our backyard where we were.... He could barely walk, stumbling, falling, and lying down to rest... Neither of us could stand it, of course.  I got a plastic container and filled it with water, while Robert unearthed a bag of dogfood bought from a previous year's concern.  The puppy sated himself, and collapsed awhile, then came over to lick my hand and....   then took off and returned with his sister!  We fed her, too.  Then, surprise, the other two brothers joined them.  Four adorable sweethearts.

Not surprisingly, they stuck around -- and took up sleeping against the back wall of our casita...  Very sensitive, gentle, and intelligent creatures,  quickly responsive to our slightest  messages.  A simple "Sssssssttt!" is all they need for warning.  For instance, they know that they are not allowed to come up the stairs onto our porch, nor into the casita.  And of course, they are so playful now -- big puppy piles and chases all around our land, then coming to us for petting, and to give us passionate licks before racing off again.

And so began the progression of solutions.  Our first solution:  we tried to donate them to the no-kill animal-rescue place in Zihuatanejo but the place is full, and also, any animal donations must already be neutered.

Next, the thought of putting them in a bag and tossing them into the ocean was offered (NOT supported by me -- though I do know that this is how my Uncle Herb dealt with the many litters of kittens on his Minnesota farm).

Then... in fact, we are still in this stage...  there is the hope of having them adopted out.  Some success there.  Coyote and Manuela have been accepted by our neighbors just across the dirt road from us (oh, yes, we named them all, which -- of course -- only strengthens our attachment...mine anyway....alas)!!  So!  Twice a day these two now go over there, and these neighbors feed them.  The puppies know just what time of day that is.  Their new owners  do not --however-- pet them and play with them.  Thus, the puppies still spend their days at our place playing with their littermates....  and sleeping in a puppy-pile there by the side of our house.  Hopefully, when we return Stateside, they will bond more with their humans.

No such luck, however, with sweet Pirata (for mascara´d eyes like Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean"), and gentle Guantes (meaning gloves, for the white four feet;  pronounced  HWAN-tays).

Robert gently, firmly, nixes the idea of adoption --  which would entail carting them back and forth between US & Mexico just for starters.  However, the wife of our closest dearest friends offered a compromise to that!  She says that she will come by everyday for the four months we are gone, and feed them.... (but as a fellow human being, I can imagine that this could become quite an unrewarding burden over time).   Yet clearly, she and I share the attachment and tenderness for them...

And then there is the Final Solution, echoing the first one mentioned above.  It came up again, as we shared breakfast on our porch...   Both her practical husband, and my practical husband, offered a more concrete solution.  Each of them have made a vicious, fast, hacking gesture while indicating a puppy's neck.