Mila came to change our lives just when the perfect weather turns into a nightmare in Guanacaste Costa Rica; blue skies turn gray for many days in a row and it rains non-stop. Streets and roads turn into muddy rivulets and people in poor communities suffer from flooding. The animals too; Unfortunately, many are thrown out on the street, abandoned because their priorities are different and some people don’t see in these beings the angels that they really are and all the good that they can bring to our lives.
This is the story of Mila, who came one very rainy afternoon to the house of one of the founders of the Pura Vida Foundation. She arrived dirty and sad, she had wandered for days as we found out later; Apparently the person who had her for a while, tied up outside her house, threw her out on the street suspecting that she was pregnant and was going to have puppies any time soon.
So Mila wandered up to the porch of the little wooden house where our partner lives, with her very pampered kitten adopted from her a few months ago.
At first she thought that Mila belonged to the cute gang of dogs from the neighboring farms that every afternoon pass by the property where she lives cutting the road to get home after having many adventures, but this puppy looked different, she looked in abandoned and had on a bib and a cut rope hanging down.
Thus began the search for the possible owners of Mila. It took a couple of days for someone to say that they had thrown her out on the street and that it was useless to look for her former owner since they didn’t want her back.
The puppy was taken to the vet and after several tests it was found that she was not pregnant anymore, so she was immediately neutered. She began to gain weight and confidence in people who loved her immediately because of her sweetness and how fragile she was. The workers of that property took care of her and also protected her as if she were a little bit of everyone. She made friends with the local dogs who came to visit her every day. Our friend’s little cabin is not fenced in but Mila had everything she needed and plenty of room to play with her friends. It was all too good to be true.
One person told the workers of that property that Mila was not welcome on theirs, the puppy had started to accompany her friends back to their houses after playing and this person was not comfortable with the idea, (possibly she met Mila when she lived with his past owner and didn’t want to get involved, no one knows).
One day when her new mom was on a trip for work she received the bad news, Mila had not returned in the afternoon and the next day they still did not hear from her. Thus began the search for Mila. The neighbors who loved her also made posters and searched everywhere for her, after more than a week Mila appeared, once again tied to a post in a house miles away from her house. Her neighbor went to retrieve her and brought her to live for a few days at her house with her other puppies, until Mila began to sneak out again. The person we thought that got rid of her before, once again expressed that she didn’t want to see Mila passing through her property. Such a sweet little dog! We never found out what exactly the lady didn’t like about Mila but we couldn’t risk losing her again. In the few months of her life, Mila had survived many things, some that we will never know and others that we will. So in complete desperation we find who would forever be the mother and protector of this sweet puppy.
Mila was taken to Mari’s house, an angel who had adopted another dog that wandered the streets of the capital of Costa Rica, Mari thought that Kiwi and Mila would be very happy together and would keep each other company when she was not at home.
And what do you think?
That’s how it is.
Mila, Kiwi, Mari and her son live happily the best of their lives. They all sleep together if they want, they go for morning walks everyday, the puppies love each other like sisters, they chase each other, they give each other affection, they share everything, especially the love of their new mother; the one who promised to care for and protect them forever.