Rudy on Duty

Rudy is a love dog. He greets everyone with a wag - and a lick if he can get close enough. He loves everyone, especially children and people drinking beer (he is also a candidate for AA). He rarely barks, but if he does, it's usually only at coyotes or other dogs.

We wouldn't trade him for anything, but we were a little sad that he would never do the one duty a dog is good for on a boat - intruder detection. We joked that the only way we would know if someone came on board would be the shift in weight as Rudy ran over to lick them.

So late one night in Barra (at 3:15 am) Rudy went ballistic. It sounded like Kujo was on deck right above our heads. His growl was low and menacing (we had never heard it before!) and his bark was ferocious. Patrick ran out on deck to find a panga with two men paddling away from our boat, just 100 feet off. They started up their engine when they saw Patrick come on deck.

Now it is interesting to note that Barra has been the scene of nine dinghy thefts just this season. Though we have rarely heard of other cruisers losing items to theft, it is obvious that Barra has a group of thieves who have perfected their modus operendi. Now we will never know if the gentlemen in the panga were simply out fishing, or if they had more sinister plans, but we know what Rudy thought of them. We were so proud!