A puppy is for life, not just Christmas

A puppy is not just for Christmas.

You hear stories about people buying puppies then abandoning them when they grow up. I cannot comprehend how anyone could do this. It’s been six and a half months since we lost our 'puppy'.

I still remember when we first bought her. She was the naughtiest pup of her litter. The hyperactive one that tried to escape through the back door into the kitchen; while we were trying to make our choice among the puppies. We saw her and fell in love with her instantly. She was a pretty little thing; with a large black patch near her bottom, a brown head that was parted with white streak in the middle.

On the way home, she whined a lot, perhaps out of fear; perhaps she just didn't fancy being stuck in a box! We opened the box for her and she peeked at her new surroundings. She seemed amazed by cars that we passed and leaned intently with her tiny paws on the windows, looking outside.

When we reached home, we let her out of the box and she explored her surroundings with unsuppressed excitement. In fact, she was so excited; she decided to 'baptize' our marble floor much to my annoyance. This would be a routine for the next few days and I practically had a mop and soap water ready twenty four hours a day; seven days a week. Toilet training her was quite the monumental task.

I remember when she discovered the stairs in our house. They were bigger than she was and she wasn't very happy about that fact. She tried several times, rather unsuccessfully to scale those dizzy heights, resulting in her falling firmly on her bum. I'd pick her up and check if she was okay. Nothing seemed to be bruised except for her little ego. She didn't give up and took it as a game. Within a week, she managed to climb those steps, and there was no peace in the house. She'd be running up and down the stairs without a care, and we'd be so worried she'd fall and hurt herself.

I remember this one time I had my girl friend over and we wanted some quiet time together. Our little pup would have none of that, sniffing and licking my girlfriend at every opportunity she found. I didn’t find it amusing that my girlfriend smelled and tasted like dog drool. In the end we put her in my brother’s room with a toy and left her to play. The ploy lasted a good five minutes before she started whining. We ignored her for a good ten minutes. Then the whining stopped. Around an hour later, we opened the door to let her out, and she ran out happily wagging her tail contentedly. She had dealt punishment to us for locking her in though! There were three mangled books on the floor!

She was a quick little puppy too. This one time I came home late and my mother had saved me one of my favorite dumplings. I was holding it with one hand, relishing the thought of sinking my teeth into a delicious, crispy, golden brown dumpling when I realized something was very wrong. The dumpling was missing from my hand! I could hear the scurry of little paws running for her life, making her escape with my dumpling. By the time I caught her, the dumpling was history. She managed to look smug somehow and it took me so long to catch her that it was too late to spank her. Yes I'm an overweight fatty and she's a lean mean dumpling stealing machine!

Speaking of spanking, our little puppy was having trouble adjusting to being allowed upstairs. She turned the bottom of our stairs into her personal toilet. My family and I often stepped into her little surprises. One yell of her name and she'd know we'd found her hidden gift. Quicker than you can say 'Bad girl' she would run and hide under my bed where no one could reach her. Every once in a while she would peek to see if anyone was waiting for her to spank her. If there was she'd zip right under the bed again. Eventually she would instinctively know we've forgiven her, and she'd come cuddle up to us as if to say sorry.

When she was slightly older, we used to take her for walks. There was this one time, we found out how feisty our little pup really was. I was walking her past this house when all of a sudden she tried to run towards the gate and started whining when it was out of her reach. Curious I let her head towards the gate. Then out of no where, came a humongous Doberman. My little pup was not afraid at all in fact she was jumping towards the Doberman fearlessly. Well good for her. I had enough fear for the both of us!

She always had a tough time telling friend from foe. To her, everyone and everything was a friend! She'd never make a good guard dog. Firstly she is too cute to frighten anyone. The only thing she'd probably do is lick the burglar into submission when she catches one.

Our little pup also had a thing for thunder. She'd begin by barking at it, as if to scare it away or tell it to shut up. Failing this, and the thunder continuing to get louder and louder, she'd run to the closest pair of arms or lap she could find to hide from the big bully. Same deal with fire crackers and fireworks, in her book, they were huge bullies that the comfort of her owners lap could chase away.

Coming home was always a joy for my mother, brother and me. When I came home alone, she would be waiting there, all excited and wagging her tail frantically. I'd open the door and she'd jump, knowing I'd catch her and smothered her with kisses. When my mother came back from work, which was normally late, our pup would bark and lick me senseless if I was asleep, as if to tell me to open the door for her. She'd sit by the door patiently as I unlocked it. Then she would raise her front two paws to be carried to see my mother. Her tail would be like a little helicopter rotor. Rotating mercilessly.

She was also an avid DVD watcher. She would sit down on top of the sofa, keeping my mother company as my mother watched her DVDs. And when my mother was done, my mother would switch of the light and our pup would know it was time for bed and follow my mother to bed.

When our pup was a year old, it was time for her to be spayed. Our hearts almost broke from hurt when we saw the condition she was in. Almost a quarter of her fur had been shaved off. She had five massive stitches on her tiny frame and she was shivering. She recognized us when she woke up from the anesthesia and wagged her tail weakly at us.

We regretted having her spayed almost immediately. She would whine in pain and discomfort and my mother would stroke her head to soothe her and let her know we were here. She was too weak to eat, so we syringe fed her glucose water for two weeks. Our normally hyper little pup was cage-bound and didn't protest because she was so tired and in too much pain. It took her around three weeks before she fully recovered. Then she was back to her old hyper dumpling stealing self. The relief we felt was immense.

Our pup normally slept with me; cozying herself at my feet and the bottom of my blanket. However, whenever she heard the air conditioning turned on in my mother's room, she would migrate. Not to greener pastures, but to cooler pastures!

Our pup had one bad habit that turned out to be a nightmare for me and my family. Being tiny, she could squeeze under the house gate. She also had this habit of running after cats. A few times, she escaped while we were going out of the house to chase a cat. Normally this would mean me chasing her down the street half naked and barefooted. I’d catch her, and then I’d spank her for running away.

This one time, a day after my birthday, March 13^th, she ran out to chase a cat. As usual I ran after her and thought nothing of it. Just as I was about to catch her, she got chased by two stray dogs and she ran so fast that I couldn’t catch up with her. That would be the last time I saw her; running frantically for her life.

We drove for nearly five hours looking for her. Then we thought she’d know the way home, so we gave up the search as it was 2am by then. She never came home! We walked around the whole of SS19, posting missing posters and handing out 2000 flyers for our missing pup.

The three of us spent days driving around SS19 looking for her. We even got a group of close friends to help us comb the area looking for her. No luck. We got several phone calls and tip offs, but we never came close to finding her.

There was this one time she was spotted by a resident of SS19 running up and down the street for two days. The resident said she heard our pup crying in the middle of the night, whining out of loneliness or perhaps because she wanted to go home.

I can’t begin to explain the turmoil of feelings that we went through. Every time we got a phone call, our hopes would rocket. When we found out that we were too late to find our pup, or that the dog found wasn’t our pup, the reality would sink in and we’d weep for her loss.

It was like our family was ripped apart all over again. The house was awfully quiet. When it rained, we would worry that our pup would be afraid of the lightning. When there were festivals, we’d shudder when we heard firecrackers.

My mother would hear barking in the middle of the night, and sent us out, looking for our pup. Rain or shine my mother would walk around asking strangers if they had seen her. After being depressed, she still refused to give up hope.

Six and a half months later. The story is still the same. We drove around random areas looking for our pup. When we see four white legs on the road, we’d stop to check if it was our pup. We continued to post her pictures in forums and websites in hope of someone spotting her.

We have kept all her favorite toys and snacks outside the house, hoping that she will recognize her scent or the toys or our house if she passed by. We all have a ‘Missing Dog’ poster on our cars. We even posted an advertisement offering a reward in the Star but to no avail.

We’ve done all this, and yet there is a sneaky feeling that we have not done enough. That we missed out something. Maybe this article is what is what was missing. She was with us for two very special years and we treasure the time we had with her immensely. However if you’ve seen her or are keeping her, please give us a call (0122809296). She’s not just for Christmas, she’s for life.