Somebody posted this photo on Facebook and it's relevance is just to difficult to ignore. I want to share this to my friends who share my interest, my joys and my pains in jointly raising seven dogs and a very old cat.
Let me introduce you to the lot.
Bjork - Yeah, what's a cat doing in a kennel? Well, he came to us when we weren't ready for dogs yet. Dad saved his dad from imminent death in the garden just outside the kitchen of our old house. We lost Munich for causes unknown. Thankfully, it happened after he sired a liter with the dam living upstairs so we were able to get a kitten. He was barely a week old when he was weaned, I nursed him until he was able to eat by himself. He slept on my belly until he felt he was too grown up and took that warm place on top of the fridge. He has a penchant for chips and dog food.
Shifu - also called pooh turned five last month and the family celebrated for days. He came from the kennel of the Palancas in Victorias.
The day we decided to bring him home, he was the only one left of his litter when we came in to see and appreciate.
It's cute looking back at how hard worked on being cute, sitting with one paw on the side of his carrier looking at us wideeyed with his tongue out as id to say, "I'm cute. Take me home with you". It was irresistible, we didn't even haggle.
Shifu has separation anxiety. Whenever sis or myself come back from being out of town for at least night, his standard greeting would be to evade the hugging and kissing. He would walk around us with his mouth opening and closing, sans sound, as if nagging (where the hell have you been). When he's had enough, then he would allow himself to get close and personal again
Cuchi - This beauty was named after a very sad place that sis happened to have visited before we got her. And like the place this girl have had some tragic experience of her own. At one point, she had to go through an operation to sew a main vein that got cut by a sharp object (we suspected a broken glass) during one of our afternoon frisbee game. She slept at the hospital.
She caused me my first tragic experience too of being subjected to anti-tetanus and anti-rabies shots. We were playing and somehow her teeth or paw grazed my palm and it bled. I wasn't sure which but to be safe, I went to the hospital for treatment.
It's a wonder that despite domestication, she has not lost touch with her hunting origin. She has asphyxiated quite a number of uncle's chicken that happened to stray in our playground
A model of humility, just like me (hahaha), she endures the dominance of Coco an Glad (my bff's belgian malinois).
Bella - You guessed right. The name was right out of the Twilight saga which was the trend at the time of her birth. She was with us for a year before she succumed to the complications brought about by her hip dysplasia. She chose her way and time to go, and that was quietly just after the day we moved her to our current home. What a sad day that was, with three girls crying like crazy while shoveling off dirt that was to be her resting place.
(That's Bella with the majestic Shifu) She's sick but not too surly to socialize.
Tara - We had her shortly after losing Bella. They have the same mom (fawn) and a black pug for a sire. She is quite a character besides her queer bad habit of eating poop when feeling neglected. She knows exactly when dad would rise for the day and would wait outside the door for some morning treat. When we used to sleep under one roof, telly time meant napping on my bosom. She is such a sweet girl.
For two consecutive years, she brought honor to the family for bagging the Best of Breed awards in the local annual Dog Show.
Coco - was named so after her color and after much debate whether to keep Mocha (her kennel name) or Duchess (to keep the tradition of naming after royal titles). We got her from our veterinarians (nice couple) in Hingaran.
She had her first litter of six (of which only two survived ~sniff~ and grew into feisty overloved giant puppies to be shown later).
Having used to living indoors during pregnancy and whelping, she still crave for a lot of attention, you have to rub her body first until she's had enough to be cooperative during her morning walk.
Limbo - One of the two survivors, which I beheld when he came out of his dam's womb. I caught with my bare hands the slimy amniotic sac that protected him and Lucky in Coco's belly. He grew so fast and is still growing at a seemingly speed of light, I miss the time when he still fit on the dashboard. He's as hardheaded as his mom but sometime's I doubt his parentage whenever he starts to pull me around or grab and swallow everything on his way. This morning, he regurgitated a face towel and a hankie he managed to find in the trike we took the other night.
Prince - Was it February? I cannot remember now. We were looking for doghouses online to copy (for Limbo) when Mom wondered loudly how it would feel like to have a small dog with a long hair to comb and put ribbons on for a change? Sis need not be told twice so on the same week, we got Prince. He has become officially mother's. Nobody gets to feed and bathe him but her.
Well, he's noisy especially if there's someone at the gate and that usually starts a ruckus as all the other members of the kennel join in the gibberish chorus. And within the same week we had our last addition
Momo - Oh, the wonder of Sulit.com. Yeah, sis saw the ad on the site and went to meet the owners in the big city. He came home smelling like a Victoria Secret model. His quirk which was very noticeable was that he eats too damn fast. When sis met with the owner's again to get his PCCI papers, she relayed our observation. And, what do you know? He actually won some in an Eating Contest. Poor thing this is. I'm busy with the three giants that needs to be walked daily, sis with Pooh, Mom with Prince and Mary with Tara, hope one of us would make the time.
