... home ...

Tadaima...



Yes. Nearly one and a half years. After a bus, waiting, a mini-coach, more waiting, 2 flights, 3 hours plus waiting in transit, a train ride, and only 2 meals in during all that,


I'm back.


And my family was mostly interested in seeing how the dog would react to me.


In fact, my sis only stayed up for that reason. Enough said about my family - just goes to show that even I was more interested in the animal's reaction than any family-reunion-hugs-and-tears-thingy. Was told to wait a bit in the car until my mom had the camera ready, so the dog wouldn't yet know.


Despite Yoyo arriving at our home within a day after I left, she was quite friendly and not a single bark or so when she saw me!


Which was a bit of a letdown for all of us. Did predicted that she wouldn't greet me like a stranger, since my 'presence'/smell and stuff are still around long enough for her to get used to it while I was away. Though I must say, one can't rule out the possibility that she would bark and bite at me. Especially since from what I hear, she's quite the hunter and a possessive dog - even more alpha than the previous male dogs we had.


As soon as it was cleared that we won't be getting more out of her other than sniffing and keep trying to lick me, everyone prepared to turn in for the night.



And that was it. My brief homecoming and start of my month long holiday :)





The next day was a Friday and everyone was either at work or had classes. Which I took the opportunity to just chill and enjoy the comforts of home ^_^ ah, the luxury of being able to do nothing.

First thing was to turn on the TV *haven't been watching TV since my holiday in Europe last year :(*. After channel-surfing on cable for about half an hour, I had to admit defeat and accept that there was nothing worth watching. Flipping through the guide didn't help much. *Animax is still showing whatever that was showing before I left o.O except for one new show on the listing* Ok, scratch the TV.

Next up, the piano. Ah, now that I could occupy myself for hours. But since I haven't played in ages, had to take a break after more than 2 hours of playing. Not to mention that my left pinky was starting to hurt.

Which left me with still half a day to do nothing with. Not wanting to sleep and risk getting jet lag, I started walking around the house randomly and looking for relaxing things to do. *of course, I'm not about to start clearing and cleaning my stuff the first day into my 'holiday' :p* Couldn't surf the new broadband connection at home since they only got it recently and I had no idea how to connect. Couldn't really play on the computer since it was recently reformated and besides, I never had any games or such to play on it anyway. Couldn't play much with Yoyo or try to train her, since I had no idea what where the rules set and what she can/can't eat. So was kinda glad that my sis came back and I could tag along when she took Yoyo for a walk.



Knowing me and my bad luck, already had a good headache by the time evening approach and a sore throat definitely on the way. And I had literally been relaxing and doing nothing the whole day, staying at home and eating safe food after all!


Just hope that it'll be over soon and then I can start on truly enjoying my 'holiday' =(



Oh, and Yoyo sat right behind my piano chair while I played the piano ^_^ though that was only for the early parts. She would get a bit restless *I was indeed quite long and usually nobody ever plays the piano but me, so must be a new experience for her* and walked around a bit before settling down again, but each time further away from the piano... Also, she followed me around the whole day as I walked around looking for entertainment - perhaps to check and guard against me :p or maybe she was just hoping for a walk. Either way, felt slightly guilty for occupying her time while I walked around doing nothing.





... okarinasai.

... doggy tales ...

The day I left home, a new family member arrived...


We've been wanting to get another dog since Tiny left. But for more than a year, we didn't.
*can't be too soon after Tiny, and must be able to fit through our grill (otherwise, he/she would be bored to death)*

Then the same day I arrived in London, I got a text saying they got a DOG.

...Yoyo...

*a JR terrier too! argh-sigh... didn't even get to meet it -_-;*

Technically, Yoyo wasn't ours. The neighbour had her first, but because their cat couldn't stand it, Yoyo had to go. And since they knew we were looking for one, they let us have it on the condition that their youngest son can still come over and play with Yoyo.

So, there came a dog.

...at the dining table...

It's barely bearable that they got a dog immediately after I left.
It's not even enough that it's one of the smartest kind of dogs around.
And now I'm getting long distance pictures and stories of our cutest family member.


Ok, she does fit through the grill *my requirement :p*... But no matter how much I think I know her, she's still gonna bite me like a stranger once I go back :'(

.

.

.

Been wanting to blog something about dogs here *I mean, what's my blog if there's no dogs? :p*. But somehow, it just doesn't feel right to talk about the new one, not without first mentioning those before (hence the series of long entries). I don't know. Maybe I just can't let go, haven't got over it, paying my respects...


But I do know, I do not want to forget.


*I now tag those reading this (if anyone still does ^_^) to blog about their pets - be it love or hate :p*


Oh well, at least I'll remember when Yoyo came.

...from afar...

... the dog I never had.

... a dog's tale ...

And finally...
*expect long, long boring entry >.<*


We first got Tiny about 12 years ago. My uncle felt a bit sorry for Doggy's death at his place and since we bought Doggy through him, he called us over when his next 'home-made' lot of puppies arrived by chance. They were 3 brothers - the best looking was one with Peke-ish long hair, the second was long-legged with a mixture of long and short fur, and the last was the smallest with short but soft fur. We chose the smallest as he was the only one sitting quietly *and rather distinguishedly, I must say :p*, looking on at all the 'excitement' of us visitors...

Named Tiny *by my mum - she couldn't call it Doggy since we were old enough to remember the other one -_-* but spelt Tyny *according to my sis -_-;*, he looks like a smaller version of a mousedeer with his light brown short fur. His unique appearance has earned him many names - 'little deer' in chinese (by my uncle's family), 'kancil' (by the neighbourhood kids), and even 'Lion King' (by this kid who pointed to Tiny excitedly when we were walking him). My uncle had Tiny's tail cut short when he was still a week old :( apparently, Tiny's type look nicer without one... And in his early years, Tiny still wags his cute tuft *aw* whenever he's happy or excited :)

...tiny...

He chewed off the first collar we got him and he never wore one after that. He chewed many slippers during his teething phase and had an apparent liking to my dad's brown leather-like type. There was once where my dad just bought a new pair from the market and it was found in pieces an hour later in the garden - my dad didn't even get to wear them *aw*

He observed and chased the 'wildlife' in our garden when he was very young - birds, butterflies, moths, tiny frogs that sometimes got lost in our house - and once brought indoors to show us a cockcroach he caught in the garden using his mouth (it didn't happened again, perhaps due to our surprised and unexpected reaction then :p). One thing though, he doesn't really chase cats *my theory is that he's too lazy or afraid since cats were bigger than him anyway*... when he got older and smarter ;) he would pretend to chase the cats off the garden if we happen to be looking, sometimes only barking and running a bit after we first shout at a cat.

Bath times were rather fun to watch. In his early years, Tiny would make a run for it whenever he had a chance and it was the highlight of the day to see my dad trying to catch a tiny and soapy dog *aw* around the garden. Encores include a second wet-dog-run around the garden, this time with a towel on him. As he got older, he would submit resignedly for this weekly ordeal when the time comes... though he never fails to hide quietly in his corner without a peep *hoping my dad forgets him* and wearing that puppy-dog-eyes look of his throughout the entire thing *as though saying 'spare me!' silently to my dad and any passer-bys*.

He was rather choosy when it comes to food, ignoring dog biscuits *the healthier option* as soon as he tasted meat mixed with rice. We had to ensure the meat was mixed in really thoroughly so that he doesn't leave all the rice in the bowl, whereupon the cats would start eyeing his bowl. If we offer him treats, he would take a sniff and refuse to eat if he's tasted it before and found it not to his liking. But if he knew something is nice on the table, he wouldn't hesitate to tap us with his 2 front paws even though he knew he wasn't supposed to do that... Oh, and he doesn't really bury food or anything either.

He was 3 years old when Jimmy and Lucky came. That was the only time he looked like a sometimes-aloof giant when his 2 younger half-brothers were playing around him. A random rabbit even dropped by for a very short stay *the only time our garden was so popular for cute animals*, which made Tiny even more protective of his basket. Can't blame him though... Lucky grew up with him, and it was perhaps lucky that he didn't learn many of Tiny's 'tricks' :p
We did however catch them sharing with a cat a piece of raw cod fish which was left to defrost in the kitchen, but that was indeed a rare occasion *not only my dogs eating fish with my enemies, but also we rarely have cod since it's expensive*.

Sometimes when my dad feels like it, he'll bring Tiny upstairs to wake us up in the weekends. Rather than waking us, Tiny would excitedly choose a comfortable spot on our blankets *that smart dog :p* and snuggle in. The thought of all his fur falling on our beds and the fact that we wanted to see him were enough to make us get out of our beds quickly.

He ran out to explore outside our house gate whenever he could, and even learned how to escape through my neighbour's drain gutter after jumping across the fence. When our neighbour had other dogs visiting, he was sure to 'crash' the party at least once, forcing us to extend the netting from the gate to the side fences. When he couldn't get across, he would start whimpering *he rarely whimpers - a dog with dignity ;)* whenever he saw my sis and I over at the neighbour's.

He escaped and went missing for months once *my mum remembered it as a few weeks but it was about 3 months for me*. We suspect he was caught by someone since he had no collar, Tiny being a dog very unique and 'marketable' as a pet. We had given up hope on finding him until he showed up one day unexpectedly at our gate, dragging a long stainless steel leash behind him... he didn't ran out as energetically after that, but still wanders outside when possible.

He had many favourite spots indoors where he likes to spend his time relaxing *pondering the meaning of life, I imagine*, but none more punctual than when it was time to feed his dinner around 6pm each day. At 4pm, he would lie quietly in the sitting room, taking a position with a good view of the kitchen door. Sometimes around 4.30pm, he would lie quietly at a point exactly mid-way from the sitting room to the kitchen *yes, in the middle of the road - quietly*. At 5pm, he could be found lying quietly right next to the kitchen door, his eyes following the movements of his dinner-preparer and lifting his head at anyone else who enters or leaves the kitchen. At 6pm, he would sit up quietly and apply a stronger dose of his puppy-dogs-eyes at said person. If said person is not in the kitchen by this time, Tiny would find a strategic spot which would place him in that person's direct line of sight, no matter where *ensuring he is not forgotten*. Quietly. If by 7pm and still no sign of his food, that's when Tiny would start tailing said person closely and give an occasional whimper to remind you he's there... but he never bites or tries to rush you - his system is effective enough ;)

He knew when to obey orders and when to pretend to misunderstand. Seriously, he was the most clever dog we had. We had trained him to come indoors when we call and go out when we shout *outside!*, through our door grills. My dad had this tiring habit of calling him during advertisement breaks to sit by his side. After a while (and depending on Tiny's moods), Tiny would try to ignore half the time *especially when he has been nicely seated indoors quietly for the evening* or go in the opposite direction instead. In his later years, he would ignore the first few calls, giving us all pleading stares and pitiful looks throughout *we totally understand :( - we even scold my dad whenever he does it*, then finally getting up and going outdoors as though he mis-heard it as 'outside!'...

As he got older, we became more worried and concerned for him. He hurt his leg once when younger and walked very slightly differently since then. Perhaps because of that and the fact he was putting on weight, we started hearing the shake in the grills which anounced his entrance or exit in the later years. He also took to climbing upstairs when he couldn't bear to sit with us if the fireworks got too loud *dunno why those kids like to play those type which suddenly goes off with a loud bang and nothing after that - not even a bright display :((*, looking for a hiding place.

After more than 10 years, he was just qualifying as being called old for a small dog. He refused to go out and sleep when we close up at night, especially when there's fireworks during Hari Raya season. Usually he would dilly dally, wearing his puppy-dog-eyes look, taking at least 10 minutes of us urging him before he would go out. Often we had to see him to the door to ensure he didn't make any detours. When there's fireworks *how can these kids play past midnight on the roads? :((*, we literally had to drag him to the door in his position and close the door on him before he finally went out. It's not that we don't understand his fear of fireworks, it's just that we know he gets restless trying to escape them and was afraid that he could hurt himself trying to climb upstairs when we're not around *at that age, he could still climb the stairs (though taking longer) to escape the fireworks, but couldn't get down after that - he had to wait for us to carry him*.

That Hari Raya season seemed to last forever - the kids never let up with the fireworks. After we close up, Tiny tried to escape by somehow getting outside our gate and wandering the neighbourhood in search of a hiding place, before turning up at our front gate the morning after - barking shortly for us to let him in. It went on for a few days and we couldn't discover how he managed to get out. One night when I was closing up and having put him outside, I heard some noises from our back gate and guessed that must be how he was doing it. At that time, I remember thinking that I could tell my dad about it and we can finally stopped him from running out by sealing the holes the next day. I even thought I heard him barking his short barks to be let in at dawn the next morning... But it was already too late :'(


It was exactly 2 years ago.
*til this day, I still regret...
and a hatred burns forever in me
- towards kids that play dangerous fireworks unsupervised late at night and their parents who let them do it*

And I still miss him.


... most of all, he had character.

... doggone it ...

With Lucky, he was one happy-go-lucky dog and often pestered his older half-brother Tiny to play with him. He was much more active and had more dog-like habits such as burying food that we gave him - even pieces of bread with kaya spread -_-; *me thinks half the treats we pass him have been buried in our garden somewhere* Perhaps that's why although he looks slightly larger (and taller) than Tiny, he is actually thinner *it's such a huge difference between when they're dry and when they're wet from a bath :p* and it was his mini-wolf-like appearance with long all-dark-brown *we've been told by many that it's a unique colour for dogs* fluffy-light-and-super-soft fur which made him look fearsome. During his teething stage, he even tried chewing the corners of furniture *we still have a square coffee table with 4 chewed corners which were cellophane-taped and disguised with black markers* and was not allowed in the house for sometime after that.

He would also take over from Tiny *who was perhaps too smart to bother* to do all the barking at strangers, often taking to climbing atop my mum's white Honda City *the first version, which is taller than the newer model* and standing there majestically so as to have a better view of things outside our gate. Despite our repeated scoldings and attempted training, he kept on doing so and we had to resort to finding thick covers to keep more scratches off the car. My mum would complain about him wanting to be Lion King, though I thought it was more like a lone wolf atop a cliff looking down at the plains :p

Lucky was one super athletic dog and could leap from the ground easily *sometimes using my mum's car again as a stepping stone* onto the near-shoulder-height wall dividing our house and our neighbour's despite his small stature *Tiny could jump over too, but only above the fence level*. That was partly the reason why our neighbours had to call us to 'catch' them back several times during that 'phase', though they stopped trespassing after a while. And he was apparently a natural swimmer - was told of a time when he somehow fell into the pond and paddled quite a bit before someone fished him out. Too bad I missed that...

Maybe because they were small, but they were both afraid of loud fireworks and the frequent thunder in a storm. They would press close to us then, forcing my sis and I to take one each in hand to keep them company. If we're out, they would find someplace to hide or sought to escape by finding higher ground, and we would come back to find them suddenly racing out to us from behind the house or under a bed in a dark room.

*aw*

When Lucky was about 3-4 years old *human terms*, he contracted a cold and passed away a few days later. From the time he came into our lives *when Tiny was approximately 3 years old* to the time he left us, he was a bundle of youth and joy :'(

And Tiny was alone once more.

... woof ...

After Doggy,

then came Tiny

... but that's another story.

Introducing Jimmy 'n' Lucky!

...the greedy piglets...

Both Tiny's younger half-brothers, they were one half of a batch (my uncle's last batch) of 4 puppies consisting of 2 all-browns and 2 brown-n-whites. My sis chose a brown-n-white and named it Jimmy *think he was the second eldest and the best looking of the lot*. I chose an all-brown and named it Lucky *I know, I have no originality when coming up with names -_-; *.

They were newborns then, and were so tiny that we could bring them back home in a paper bag. And they were quite chubby, looking like minute cows-cum-piglets at times :p Jimmy appeared to be the smarter (and also noisier) of the two, and was the first to learn to 'sit' on a stool.

When they got bigger after a few weeks, we couldn't keep both as we already had Tiny and the general rule was that you can't have more than 2 dogs in a double-storey house. Though our dogs were small in size, we played it safe and Jimmy was given to our neighbour since they were looking for a dog too. Well, this way we can still see him...

But due to Jimmy's incessant yapping at night, our neighbour gave him to someone else in less than a week *if my memory serves me* and that person dropped Jimmy off at the SPCA soon thereafter :'( poor Jimmy!


p/s: Currently on my first long break (one week leave :p) since have to finish annual leave by end of the year and can't carry forward...

pp/s: They look bigger in the pic, but I could wrap my small hand around their bellies at that time...

... puppy love ...

...Doggy...

The first truly family pet we had was Doggy *back then, we didn't know better and just accepted my mum's suggestion to name it Doggy as being 'original'*, an adorable black miniature pinscher puppy with really cute 'dog ears'. We bought it from my uncle who knew someone who breeds dogs. Though he was no pedigree, he was no mongrel either. Quite the active puppy indeed, and we used to play around with him a lot. We had just moved in to our house then and there were quite a few construction materials lying around. My sis and I would build a 4-walls cage-like structure for Doggy using leftover bricks, and Doggy would often insist on scattering the large pile of sand at the back of the garden. He was so small that we could carry him up and down easily, but we didn't do that often since we were unsure if it would hurt him. That was back when I was in primary 2.

Doggy had a few toys that used to be ours, which he liked to play with by running around the garden with the toys in his mouth. As his teeth grew, he would 'upgrade' by carrying a clog instead *one of those big heavy bright red wooden clogs* and running with it all around. It was quite a sight to see such a small dog happily running around with something twice his size and (probably) triple his weight in his tiny mouth.

But before long (when Doggy was 3 - 6 months old *the wide gap due to me remembering it was 3 months, my mum saying it was 6 months, my dad and sis can't remember -_-;*), we had to take him back to my uncle's for his jabs and he passed away within 3 days from something he contracted there.
:'(


Despite his brief time with us, Doggy was the most adorable dog we ever had as a family pet thus far.

*sigh*

... doggys ...

If I'm ever asked whether I'm a dog-person or a cat-person, guess what my answer would be? ^_^


Probably anyone who knows me is wondering how long will it be before I start blogging about dogs :p Back when I started this, I myself thought my only entries would be along the lines of:

long illogical rambling thoughts -> food -> random dog sightings -> long illogical rambling thoughts -> food -> random dog sightings -> ...

Quite surprised that it took me this long before any mention of even a tail :) Well, this is a start then...


It started with my dad - before I was born, he already had dogs for pets. Apparently, all were named 'doggy's *my dad doesn't talk much - my source's me mum, and she calls any dog 'doggy' -_-;*

Well, the first dog I possibly knew as a pet was Doggy, an all-white mid-sized fluffy-haired mongrel which was supposedly very smart. Too bad I was a newborn then and couldn't really get to know it. Think my dad had it since before I was born. According to sources, the dog was one really smart one. That time my parents were still living with my dad's-relatives and the house was situated near the dead-end of a narrow lane which starts from the middle of a market square. Even with the bustling people at the market, that dog would always know when my dad was coming back. It would start jumping and whining at the gate even before my dad turn the far corner, whether he was walking or driving the car. It was a good 10 minutes-before alert which let my mum know that my dad's on the way. And though my dad's family was large and all living under one roof, the dog was his.

*aw*

Probably the second pet dog I ever met was Doggy, yet another all-white slightly larger than the average mid-sized fluffy-haired mongrel. This one was a female. I remembered it used to always put both paws up on the grill which separates the indoors from out, wanting to play with the 2-3 years old toddler that was me back then. It left the impression of a tall white wolf, towering above me as I look at him through the grill. Looking back, I often wonder how it never gave me nightmares. My mum says I was scared into tears sometimes, but was quite happy otherwise. It was later given away to my dad's friend as there were too many male dogs of the neighbourhood hanging around the front gate.

*aw*