Travels with Tiki

Thunderpaws Mystique, a.k.a. Tiki, has crossed the Rainbow Bridge, most likely with her head held high and prancing her show dog prance. Before she crossed, though, she had adventures that few dogs can even dream about, if dogs dream about things such as moving to foreign countries, meeting new dogs and people, and becoming a semi-celebrity.

Tiki’s History

Tiki started her life as a show dog with the fabulous Thunderpaws Kennel out of Colorado. We had first been introduced to her family many years ago when we adopted Misty (Miss T), Tiki’s great aunt. Brenda, the owner of the kennel, won’t let her female dogs have more than two litters. She then spays them, meaning they can’t go back in the show ring, and, thus, she ends up with excess females.  

At age two, Tiki exhibited a congenital shoulder problem that required surgery. Since Brenda wouldn’t breed her with that problem, she was spayed, meaning no more time in the show ring. About that time, we called to find out if the kennel had any females available because Misty had passed away and Nick, our big sweet, red, adopted husky, was pining away for a pack mate.

Tiki moved into our home and instantly became the figurehead queen to Nick, the hardworking prime minister. They both adored and cared for Spotnic, the little mutt that ran into our lives in January 2012. Tiki, taking life easy as she did, out lived both of the boys. In the meantime, we decided we were going to go off on this crazy retirement adventure, traveling around the world. What to do with the dog? Take her with us—of course!

Getting Her Abroad

The most stressful element of moving to Panamá, bar none, was getting Tiki’s paperwork done. She had to have a shot that our vet didn’t even have in stock (thankfully a vet in Albuquerque did). Then she had to have a health certificate signed off by her veterinarian. That certificate had to be authenticated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (office in Stockton, CA) and then given an apostolate (international notary) by either the U.S. State Department or Panamanian Consulate in Washington, D.C. That certificate could not be more than ten days old by the time we entered Panama.

Also, we had to fly out of Denver because none of the airlines in Albuquerque flew big enough planes for her extra-large crate.

That meant the paperwork had to go overnight from Albuquerque to California. Overnight from California to D.C., and then back to Albuquerque in time for us to receive it, drive to Denver, fly to Houston, spend the night in Houston, and arrive in Panamá—all within ten days. We made it. Barely, as the paperwork showed up in the morning and we headed to Denver, in a snowstorm, that afternoon.

Once we arrived, we had to pay a fee to the veterinarian at the Panamá City airport, answer a number of questions (all in Spanish, which was the most frightening part of the ordeal), and fill out more paperwork. The vet never even looked at the dog, only the at the paperwork and the money. After about 1.5 hours, we were out of there. Whew.

Urban Living

We had no idea how Tiki, who had lived nearly ten years of her life with a doggie door and big backyard, would handle living in a high-rise apartment with an elevator. She took to it like a champ. In her later years, she’s been pretty lazy, still enjoying a morning walk but sleeping most of the rest of the day and not requiring much else out of life other than two meals a day. Urban living suited that lifestyle just fine.

For the first day or so, she had some confusion over why we had to use the elevator, but it soon became routine. In her whole time in apartments, she had two accidents, and both of those came when she had a bit of an upset tummy from eating something that she shouldn’t have which she found along the path.

Tiki Should Have Had Her Own Instagram

The park near our apartments in Panamá City not only had an off-leash dog exercise area. From the beginning of December 2019 through the end of January 2020, it was home to an ice-skating rink. Really! As a result of that and many other activities throughout the holiday season like concerts and dance contests, not to mention the incredible Christmas lights, the park proved a busy place every single night. We would take Tiki for a “before bedtime” stroll, and she received all the love and attention she felt she deserved.

The teenage girls, especially, fawned over her. We talked about getting business cards made for her with the Instagram symbol and #tikienpanama to hand out for all the selfie takers. We didn’t, but that would have been fun.

Ten-year-old boys thought she was a wolf, and we quit disabusing them of that notion since several years from now their memories of “that Christmas when we saw the wolf” will be way better than “that Christmas that we saw the Siberian husky.”

Learning the Language

I’m not sure Tiki ever learned to speak Spanish, although I asked her, “Como estás?” every time we came in the door. She just stared at me. She did, however, force us to learn a lot of Spanish quickly.

The number one question, is the dog male or female? “Es hembra.”

Is she mean or nice? “Ella es muy simpática y amable.”

How old is she? “Tiene doce (then trece, then catorce) años.” Nobody could believe such a lively dog was that old.

Has she had puppies? “No, porque su hombro es mal.”

And the compliments kept coming. “Que bonita!” “Que linda!” “Que hermosa!”

She was beautiful, and she knew it.

Friends Far and Wide

Tiki has always made friends wherever she’s been. She’s had dog friends like Daisy (Coene) and Sky (our hosts in El Valle de Anton). Of all of her Panamá friends, Oliver, the doorman at our apartment building in the city, and Sei, the mural artist who was working at our B&B in Las Lajas (where we were during the worst of the lockdown) were her favorites. She particularly loved how cool Sei kept the air conditioner in his cottage—and the treats he snuck to her. He painted her portrait on a palm leaf, and we have it proudly displayed in our new home.

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In the End

In the last few months, Tiki slowed down noticeably, going from daily 2-mile walks to 1-mile walks to every-other-day walks and soon just walks around the block. She still ate well, took an interest in visitors and neighbor dogs, and wanted attention on her terms, as she always had. When her interest in food waned, we knew something was wrong. A trip to the vet confirmed tumors in her liver and spleen.

One night, she went to sleep and didn’t wake up.

Tiki had a great, long life. We were happy to be part of it for so many years. We are sure she is with Nick and Spotnic again, sleeping a lot, eating a lot, and in between reminding everyone that she is the boss of them.