The "Puppies of the Turks & Caicos Islands" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Going through my emails and find one from Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville.  One of the featured stories in the email is titled "Caribbean Critters - The Potcake Puppies of Turks & Caicos".  The story tells about the Potcake puppies that are found thoughout the islands of Turks & Caicos Island chain and goes on to talk about the rescue that is based in Providenciales.  "Potcake Place" is located in Saltmills Plaza in the Grace Bay area and their mission is to rescue the cute dogs that are homeless and roam the islands and to hopefully find homes for them.  

Carol holds an adorable puppy.

Back in 2012 Carol and I, along with our friends Jerry and Just Sue, made our second journey to Providenciales for vacation.  The island is one of the many in the T&C chain and is where world famous Grace Bay Beach is located.  We stayed at Ocean Club Resort which is at the far east side of Grace Bay Beach.  The beach is remarkable with sand as soft as baby powder and water the color of the sky.  Perhaps our all-time favorite beach!  One day we parked ourselves on the beach for the day to enjoy the sun, sand and water.  Shortly after lunch a group of three or four young women appeared on the beach with a slew of puppies.  

A few of the pups play along the water's edge.

It was at this time that we were introduced to the Potcake Puppies of Turks & Caicos.  The dogs are indigenous to Turks & Caicos Islands as well as the Bahamas.  Their name is derived from the congealed rice and peas mixture from the bottom of cooking pots that locals feed to the island dogs.  The pups date back to the Arawaks who were a group of indigenous people of the Caribbean who alledgely invented the hammock.

This little guy wanted to play with my
camera.  He was so full of energy!

 The pups generally have a smooth coat, cocked ears and long faces which make them so adorable.  Well, adorable is certainly the word as we watched them play on the beach, jumping and cavorting around as their chaperones watched.  Carol and I just had to walk across the beach to see them and try to get a chance to hold them.  We talked with the young women who told us they were out to excersize the pups before taking them back to the shelter.  They asked if we could adopt one and take it back to Lancaster, Pennsylvania with us.  They would supply the carrier free of charge and help us get them through security at the airport.  Was very tempting, but ......  

A photo from the shelter website.

The story on the Margarita- ville email asked if anyone was traveling to the T&C Islands soon and could find space in their luggage to bring a donation for the puppies.  They listed puppy formula, laundry detergent, towels, nutritional gel, newspapers and cuddly toys for the pups to play and snuggle with.  We are discussing another trip to Providenciales with Jerry and Just Sue and will attempt to find space in our luggage to take a few items to the shelter at the Saltmills Plaza.  Any reason we can find to make a visit and get a chance to hold one of the puppies.  And who knows what might happen after that!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.