Mana

And you wondered how she read all those books! Osmosis. She sleeps on them and just absorbs the words. Those black marks on her coat are really letters! Really, we swear! If you believe that, we have a nice bridge in Brooklyn to sell...

Mana is a genuine Puerto Rican sato, which is Spanish slang for "street mutt". From her appearance and behavior, we guess there's a little Chihuahua, whippet, and basenji in her background. Chihuahuas are best know as "the Taco Bell dog", whippets look like miniature greyhounds, and basenji are an African dog breed best known for what it does NOT do, namely bark. Mana can bark (basenjis can't), but usually doesn't. She'll howl, yowl, or make yodelling noises if she sees another dog walk by outside, but that's usually the only time she makes noise. She's about 13 pounds and stands about an inch to two inches taller at the shoulder than your average house cat. In the picture her tail is out straight, but when she's running around, its usually curled over her back. It only goes straight when she's laying down or sitting. She's a fairly typical example of a sato.

She was rescued in Puerto Rico by a group called Save-a-Sato that takes small dogs off the streets in Puerto Rico and sends them to shelters in the continental US that have space available. Most satos are small to medium sized, generally under 40 pounds, and make good house dogs once they adjust to living inside. It's difficult to find homes for them in Puerto Rico because there are so many stray dogs that few ever find homes. Yet shelters in the the continental US have done such a good job with spaying and neutering pets that its often difficult to find small breed dogs at them. This often forces people looking for a small dog to spend several hundred (or thousand) dollars to purchase a small breed puppy from a pet store, which are frequently ill and riddled with genetic problems. By bringing unwanted dogs from Puerto Rico to shelters in the US, it helps save the dogs from a slow death on the streets and also gives people a chance to find a small, healthy dog without having to pay outrageous amounts.

Mana is a little over a year old. She was reportedly owned by someone in Puerto Rico, but they kept her tied up constantly and barely fed her. When I got her, she was very timid and would hide if you looked at her funny. Her hips were sticking up out of her back almost an inch. She had never seen stairs or played with toys. I got her through Danbury Animal Welfare, in Connecticut, shortly after they started working with Save-a-sato. There's only about a dozen shelters in the US that place satos, most of them in the Northeast or Florida. She was flown in to Hartford with about a dozen other satos, and stayed with a foster family for awhile to get used to living in a house.

Now she's got people to come in a pet her all the time, give her treats, and exclaim over what a pretty dog she is, or how well behaved. She still hasn't quite figured out what toys are, but will play with people, and has unsuccessfully tried to play with my cats at home. The cats idea of playing it sitting half way down the basement stairs and taunting her so she'll fall down the steps. She gets along with the guinea pigs, but they pick on her too. When they're loose on the porch for play time, they'll sometimes climb on Mana while she's sleeping and give her a fright. She's bottom dog at home, but top dog at the store.

For those that would like to bring the top dog a treat, Mana prefers chewy treats to biscuits. Or anything you're eating, particuarly if she can steal it while you're not looking. She's strangely fond of rice (even plain white rice) and pasta sauce. Her favorite food is cheese.