When people come in and see my beautiful dog they often wonder at her strange name. Pancake? Pockets? Hotcakes? No, no, Potcakes!
Meet Potcakes!
Her name is Potcakes because that is what she is! She is a Potcake Dog. These are mixed breed dogs from the Caribbean islands that got their name based on the rice and pea mixture that residents would feed the dogs. For the most part, these dogs have soft and smooth coats, long and narrow faces, and cocked ears.
How I Met Potcakes
While on a beach in the Bahamas, Potcakes (unnamed then) was lurking around the patio area of the resort I was staying at. She looked hungry. Very Hungry. But she wouldn’t come close enough to us to feed. We grabbed the menu and ordered some hamburgers.
Hard to resist $20 hamburger, she slowly inched her way towards me. From there, she stood on the sea wall and watched people in the water.
“I Will Love You, If You Let Me”
One day, I told this sweet little dog, as she watched us from the shore, “I will love you, if you let me!” Sure enough, she came to my chair that afternoon. She raked her paw in the sand and let me pet her. From that moment on, she wouldn’t let me out of her sight.
Whether she was laying under a lounge chair by my room or coming to the pool, or the office. On a trip to the resort next door, I learned that the hotel was owned by the Potcakes Rescue organizer for the island. Knowing I couldn’t leave this dog, I canceled the remainder of my vacation and began making the plans to take her back to Alabama.
The Voyage Home to Huntsville Alabama
Well, there was no airline that would allow Potcakes to travel in the cargo area because of the heat. Then, she was too big to travel on the plane with me. And, unfortunately, Exuma had limited resources for dogs. What did I do? I got a crate, got her shots, and I got her off the island!
I borrowed a crate from a woman at the neighboring resort. She also got me a vet appointment for her on the island of Nassau. From there, we got tickets onto a small airline for me and my new (paperless) dog and got cleared to make the short jaunt to the vet.
Once Potcakes was checked out and brought up to date on her vaccines, I arranged for us to travel to Ft. Lauderdale where I rented a car to drive us home.
This stray dog was my new best friend and was experiencing the world as a traveler- through taxis, in cargo, private planes, rental cars, and Marriott hotels! We took 4 days to drive the 20 hours, where we enjoyed plenty of take out and pizza. Potcakes also snacked on the seatbelt and two leashes – but we made it!
Potcakes at the Leigh Daniel Law Office
She recovered from the various maladies she had picked up as a stray and soon became a fixture at my law office. She is super sensitive to emotion and tends to come up to the clients to see that they are ok. She’s my beach dog who became a law dog and I couldn’t love her more.
