News of The Abacos

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Potcakes
By Jim Kerr - Abaco Life Editor

Chelsea knows the sound of the ferry when it pulls into Man-O-War Harbour at 4:30 p.m., and she knows exactly what that low rumbling diesel means. Her owner, Tuppy Weatherford, is home from work in Marsh Harbour. Chelsea's exuberance over this daily event is predictable, rain or shine.

At eight years old, Chelsea is unflaggingly loyal, recklessly fearless and endlessly amusing. She enjoys romps on the beach, goes fishing, loves children and will chase any island cat except the four that live with her. She has both a happy and friendly greeting bark and a gruff, angry warning bark. She is the offspring of Maggie, another dog in Man-O-War who originated in Spring City just south of Marsh Harbour. She has floppy ears, skinny legs and a bunch of colours in her short hair including black, white and brown.

Her father is unknown.

Some people - snobs, mainly - derisively refer to dogs like Chelsea as mutts or mongrels. But in Abaco, Chelsea is a Potcake, a special blend, if not a breed, of canine. The name has its origins in earlier island days, when austere living folks mixed together what was left over in pots from various meals of macaroni, cheese, conch, fish, peppers, onions and the like, and fed it to the dogs. The moniker also reflects a mingled and untraceable heritage.

Potcakes are virtually everywhere in Abaco, from the mainland to the cays. You can always tell whether they are being treated with adoring love or vile contempt by the humans around them. Potcakes do not hide their feelings and emotions. They wear their hearts in their eyes, right where you can see them. There are no hidden agendas or deceptive tactics. What you see is what you get.

Many have lowly beginnings. Calvin, who lives with Joe and Donna Kern on Sugar Loaf Cay, was acquired in Nassau from Animals Require Kindness ( ARK), the Bahamian equivalent of the SPCA in the U.S. Calvin's Potcake mother had dropped him from her mouth at the feet of a passing stranger in the woods one day. Hobbs, a second, unrelated Potcake, was adopted at the same time after being rescued from a litter of puppies who had been cruelly covered with tar and abandoned to die. Hobbs was later given to Marsh Harbour friends, but Calvin, with possible pitbull relations, went on to become both a vigilant watchdog and frolicking lover of the sea.

A special fondness for water, combined with reckless frivality and fun-loving aggression, has put many a Potcake in grave peril. They will go after anything that moves, including stingrays gliding along a sandy bottom. Nicki, one of two Potcakes adopted by Will and Cande Key of Hope Town, has had at least two close encounters with death when the defensive whip-like thrust of a stingray's poisonous barbed tail has punctured deep into her cheek and chest. Both times she was saved by a heart surgeon who, fortunately for Nicki, makes Hope Town a second home. The incidents happened before Cande and Will adopted Nicki and another potcake named Miracle, now both restrained by leashes during daily walks on the beach, where they confine their aggressive hunting instincts to digging up ghost crabs.

Incorrigible courage has its price, but it's also a much admired and almost universal trademark of the Potcake. They display it in many different ways, but Duchess, a black Potcake born and bred in Hope Town, is the island's only pooch decorated for valor. Owned by Russ Ervin, she is the official dog of the Hope Town Volunteer Fire & Rescue Brigade, and on special occasions she proudly wears a gold medallion around her neck. It's a tribute for persistent barking that drew rescuers to save an elderly, arthritis-ridden labrador named Toomey who had jumped over a sea wall and was unable to get back up as an incoming tide threatened to drown him.

Duchess' dedication to her job, along with the escapades of several other local Potcakes, is chronicled in a little booklet written by Hope Town resident and Potcake owner Dick Martz.

"They don't fraternize with each other in the usual way dogs do," says Dick, whose wife, Letty, is the Hope Town Clinic nurse. "Socializing for them is important, and they seem to form and reform different affiliations and friendships."

Like most dogs, they bond closely with their human providers and caretakers. But unlike their better-bred and more standoffish breathren, Potcakes are also fond of visitors who have just arrived off the ferry, or happen to be snorkeling off the beach. They like to act as host and guide, running ahead, then falling back. On sunny days, they sometimes loll in the narrow streets, in front of the church or near the docks, waiting for some action.

But while they may take time from their busy schedule of lolling about to befriend a stranger, those with allegiances and duties stick close to the number one human in their lives. Rambo, the Martz' own Potcake, stays steadfastly on the clinic porch until Letty emerges. So does Mable, an elderly companion to Jane Patterson who works at Elbow Cay Properties. Black over brown, Mable is a classic-looking Potcake with a long nose, big paws, long wiry tail and brown eyes. She has many possible kin in Abaco.

Many are looking for homes. Lady, for example, has never lived with anyone longer than six months since she came over to Hope Town from Marsh Harbour as a pup about five years ago. Julia Laughin, a winter resident, is Lady's current foster owner, but is encouraging a permanent owner candidate to call the clinic at 366-0108. Other homeless Potcakes are sometimes available through Marsh Harbour's Community Animal Hospital in Marsh Harbour which can be reached by calling 367-DOGS, or through ARK representatives Chris or Molly Roberts at 367-4171.

"ARK doesn't foster dogs," explains Chris, "but whenever puppies are available, the animal hospital will put up a sign." It may not be easy to pick friends these days, but in this case, what you see is what you get.

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