Dookie - our miracle dog!

In all my life I never had a pet. My father was not keen in having one so I was already more than 50 years old when I got to have someone or something to play with.  It was a dog brought home by the wife in January of 2008 when she attended a wedding.  The whole family was excited having him as part of the household. His name was yogi.  He stayed with us for nine years until one day, my sons noticed that he was not himself doing nothing but lie on the floor.  This prompted my two boys to take him to the vet. Xray revealed that his penis was cut somewhere in the middle inside his body caused by a trauma. What caused that is still a mystery to us. One of the speculations was that someone beat him really hard.  I cannot be persuaded that this is the case because the hind legs would stand in the way of the penis.  There was nothing wrong with the legs.  Anyway the vet recommended that yogi be castrated and we agreed.  So, the following day, yogi was operated on.

When my sons came to the vet for a visit, they saw the vet force feeding yogi.  That afternoon, Kim, who rode with me to and from work decided to pay yogi a visit.  When we arrived at the hospital, I was looking for him expecting that he would be very happy to see us, jumping and wagging his tail.  Nothing.  I even ran past a cage until Kim told me yogi was inside sleeping.  I called him but to my surprise, there was no response from him. I tried to rouse him from sleep touching and petting him as I could but still no response until a staff talked to me to tell me that he was no longer with us.  Immediately, I saw Kim crying while I was trying to control my anger asking them what happened and if they have told my sons that death was possible in his condition.  All we knew was that he would be operated on, be well and go home.

Burying him was very painful. It was like a family member was being interred.  We were all determined not to have another pet as the pain was too much.

Several months later, my wife came home again from a far away island down south. Lo and behold, she carried with her another puppy!  Now this puppy was scot free and very independent in his former home in Marinduque where he could roam free., eat anytime and anything he wants. So, you can understand his frustration when we would crate him or tie him to restrain his movements.  What's worse is that at 5 months old, he seems to be teething and bites anything.  We would just discover the plants uprooted from the pots or our slippers being chewed to pieces.  Even worst was that we were all bitten by him.  First was Febie, Mamang's nurse, then Kraiganne, me and Nitz.  Except for Kraiganne, we all received complete shots for rabies.  I had to sacrifice several days just to get my shots at RITM.

When Dookie was with us for about a month when we started taking him to the vet.  It was my turn when he received his first vaccination. One day, Mickey noticed that he had a wound on his back.  I thought it was just an ordinary wound and let it be. Later on, it got bigger making us a little worried. We took him again to the vet and he was given medication for it. Just the same it kept on growing and probably very itchy as Dookie kept on scratching it until the flesh came out. Soon enough, there were two big wounds. All this time, Dookie became a picky eater. He wouldn't touch his food even the treats we bought from the vet. Then suddenly, he became very gloomy.  By this time, we no longer tie him or keep him in a cage as he wouldn't run around anymore.  This would have been fine except that he wouldn't eat, too.  He became really soft, fragile and skinny.  It was Coby who took him to the vet when he was suspected to have distemper.  I was really surprised. When I was in college, I had befriended a veterinarian and his staff in Marikina. I would stay in the clinic for a long time and I know what distemper is and what it can do to a dog. It is deadly! So we prayed hard that he wouldn't die and gave him all the nurturing we can give knowing that he would go anytime soon. We practically spoon fed him and gave him shots and  continuously talked to him urging him to hold on.

Days passed until his appetite was back! We were all so happy that even the vet was surprised that he was still alive.  There was one thing that we noticed, though.  His feet were becoming very weak. He would stumble down, pick up himself and walk again. By this time, his appetite is really back to normal and was consuming even more than he consumed before. We also stopped buying dog food and instead, Nitz would buy scrap meat and innards from the market, cook loads of it and store it in the fridge.   His knees kept weakening until one day, he couldn't use his hind legs anymore. He would crawl anywhere he wanted to go.  He would continue rushing to the door when a family member arrives, greet and wag his tail but he could not walk like a regular dog.

This morning, I got the surprise of my life when I woke up and he greeted me by the stairs. He was walking!!!! I guess a few more days and he will be back to normal.  We have our baby back to us! What a relief and joy that day would bring to me, my wife and my children.  I can't wait for that day to come.

Boy, but he grows fast!

It's just been a month since I mentioned that we got ourselves the first family pet. You might be thinking that it's a little late for us to acquire a pet but I was not very kin on having one while the kids are growing up since I know that having a pet dog can be serious business. I would like to make sure that my children know how to handle a dog responsibly as I did not want any problems on my hands. As a matter of fact, my youngest had a tragic experience with my SIL's dog. He was bitten on the head! The doctors made sure that he has got to have his shots as the nasty bites were near the brain. Anyway, seeing how excited the children are upon seeing this puppy, I knew we are prepared to have a pet.




His name is Yogi, probably a mongrel given to my wife as a gift from Tagaytay for having stood as sponsor for a friend's child's wedding. He is a very cute little puppy and a darling to all of us.



Well, he is beginning to learn the rules of the house now. He no longer bites hard and has lessened jumping on everyone when excited. I have gotten him accustomed to having his neck on a leash everytime I take him out for a walk. Even managed to make him stay put while on a leash while I cleaned the car. Last Saturday, I bought him some goodies like dog biscuits which he adored. Took him only three days to finish the whole pack. I also bought him a nail cutter and a fake bone, which I might say are both inutile right now as I could not work the nail cutter with him refusing to give his paw, and yes, you figured out correctly, probably a tasteless bone.

He's grown very big now. I could not imagine how he'd growb this big in just a little over a month. He's gotten so big that we had to find a new haven for him. Have a look for yourself:







GOTCHA!!!

I gotta do it right!

As I have mentioned in my previous post, I am a new father again. Well,it seems like it only that the new comer is a puppy. The only thing is that this is the first time we are owning a pet dog, hence, we are just being introduced to a new world of raising a puppy just as the world is being introduced to it. ONe of the problems we now encounter is that Yogi has not yet acquired biting inhibition. He bites when he is excited as puppies do, as I learned from my research. This puppy has been separated early from its mom that it has not been socialized with its own litter and other dogs. You see, puppies do not have hands like us humans (duh) so what it does is to use its mouth. Biting inhibition is taught by the mother and siblings. When the puppy's bite gets strong,probably while sucking on the mother's teat, the mother gets angry, growls or leaves. The same thing with other dogs during playing time. This is how the puppy learns to control its bite. After a series of reading various materials on dog training, I think I've got it right. He no longer does that to me. But still does it with my daughters.

I think I have established with him that I am the alpha dog. He can now follow my commands - that is nobody is there with me. I guess he's still too young for training. But I can already make him sit when I tell him to. Patience is what I need and he'll get it in due time. Who wouldn've thought I will be a father again! :-)

The latest addition to the family

We have another addition to the family, the youngest. He, yes, he's a boy, did not come after having stayed 9 months in my wife's belly but only in a day! Last Thursday, my wife sponsored a wedding at Tagaytay. It would have been just another one of those weddings my wife attend but this one was different. When I got back home, I saw my daughter tenderly patting him on the head while he remained steadily lain on the garden table. He was very quiet, not a sound came from him, not even a whimper. IT turned out that my wife has returned with a puppy which she intends to give to either her brother or a friend, as she knew I didn't want any pet in the house. She just couldn't resist taking his one home!

I had always been adverse to having pets in the house for several reasons. First and foremost is that having a pet is a huge responsibility. Uncared for pets turn out with mighty, disgusting fleas, can be ferocious and bite the neighbor's child and put us into trouble. You have to clean up after them and cleaning poop is not one of my favorite chores.

And yet,there is something unique with this puppy. He's just so lovable. I did not want my emotions get over me so I ignored my daughter's plea to keep the dog. HOwever, that night, when my eldest, and later on, my other son came, I saw how bright their smiles were upon seeing the dog. They excitedly went to where it was, petted it and my heart melted. Nothing in this world could ever give that kind of happiness to my children. And so, the following morning, I gave out the simple rule that they should all have their share in caring for the dog, otherwise, he will have to go. And so my friends, I would like to present to you the latest addition to our family, Yogi!

A cat story

I never had a pet in my life. Not a dog, or a cat or even a little hamster. So, you see, I don't know how to react to animals. At best, I can view them from afar but hold them close? Never.

I never thought any of my kids would have a liking to pets. Sure, they have asked me for some but I told them about the responsibilities of keeping one. Feeding it is the easiest part. Maintaining it, as in cleaning after it, managing its poop, washing it to prevent fleas, etc... That is big work. Besides, putting a dog on a leash or just plain keeping it inside a tiny enclosure is not my idea of having a pet. To me, what's the use of having one if you can't play with it? And how can we afford having a playful dog inside a tiny house with so many breakable things? It;s just impossible. So, we never kept pets!

However, when our present neighbor moved in, more than ten years ago, they introduced cats in the area. They would let their cats loiter around knowing that these cats would survive on their own. One of these cats sneaked into the house one day and I told my mother-in-law and my wife not to feed it so that it would go away. Unbeknownst to me, they did. At least my mother-in-law did. "You;ll never know when this cat can become handy. It is good for catching mice." And so, that cat stayed. And it gave birth, and soon enough, we got to have cats around our little fence. I remained adamant not to let any of these cats inside the house as it might defecate anywhere. And so the story goes. Cats became old and went probably to oblivion.

Until this new liter of white ones. The white cat produced three kittens which were just as white as their mom. Now from among these three, two caught my attention. The first one has blue-eyes while the other has green on one side and blue at the other. Neither their white color or the specialness of their eyes was remarkable to me, though. Remember, I don't like having pets. They're just plain responsibility!
Well, it turns out that these two cats are different after all. I began to notice that these cats would approach me everytime I went outside for a cig. They would go around my legs, purr silently keep on rubbing themselves. Now, I've seen how lions behave when they socialize. This is some form of bonding or so I thought. None of the former cats did that.

Then one day, while I was sitting on a chair outside the house, the two colored eyes cat jumped and stayed on my lap and purred as if pleading for me to pet it. I did. And that started it all. Every night, these two cats would take turns sitting on my lap asking to be petted. It's beginning to recognize my gestures and learning to come and go away on cue. Something happened which I thought would never do. I now call them my own. I even eagerly await my smoking time to spend some time with these cats. Sometimes, I feel like they were the ones who trained me, rather than I training them. Nevertheless, I never thought two innocent cats would soften my heart. At any rate, I plan to have them neutered.