Snoggy
03-04-2006, 12:24 PM
I hope my story serves as an inspiration to those who have or even thought of getting a dog.
My story started about 15 months ago, when my wife and I decided to get a dog, for the wrong selfish reason. You see, our daughter is currently being taken care of by my mom in law in our home town and she is the 2nd baby that we asked her to help take care. After seeing her separated from our son when we took him back to KL after 4 years of care, we thought that to help keep her mind off things when we bring our daughter back, we would give a cuddly dog instead. So we decided on the Shih Tzu breed and we would care for him for the time being untill our daughter is ready to come back. My intuition tells me that this would be a bad idea, as I know my wife is OK with dogs, but she's not really a dog lover. She had a pet dog before when she was a teenager, but it is mostly cared for by her mother. Plus, we do not have a maid at home to help out with the chores and I know that this would surely be an extra burden to our home. I sure I would be OK with helping out the housework and caring for the puppy as I know that I am a dog lover.
OK, so I was also guilty of pestering her to get the dog, as I had always wanted a dog, but didn't want to get into confrontation when it comes to ideas that she dissaproves of. But the final turn came when we saw the cutest and liveliest puppy and she said somewhere in our afterthoughts "...alright I would love him if all of you love him ( son & I ) as much..." and that's it, I have to get that puppy somehow. Shaggy was tri-colour ST and so it says on his Birth Certificate but he would later bleach and became mostly off-white, he was so cuddly and cute and had a great temperament and he was the only one in that litter that came to us while we were choosing. So after getting him back, the reality of the chores & responsibility of caring for a dog crept in. But I stuck on to my agreement that I would care for him, from all the patience testing times of toilet training him, to pre-softening his dog food, to feeding him his vitamin paste and sending him to the groomers to look clean & tidy. My wife also helped to care for him every day, as she's the first to get home after work and to clean his poopee which he for some strange reason, will do in abundance only when there's people home after work. Shaggy was neutered when he was about 8 months old, about the time he begins to drive all of us crazy with his scent-marking, effectively stopping him, but it made him even more loveable as he had remained a puppy after the operation till this day.
That brings to the low point of this story. Last week a family friend of my wife's paid us a visit and she had fell in love with the dog. Who wouldn't? Shaggy has grown up so well, maybe from all the extra love he gets from me, he's solid for a Shih Tzu, about 6kg, so fluffy and his hair so soft and silky with those adorable eyes and expression that says it all. My wife jokingly offered Shaggy to her, which later proved to be serious after all. We talked about it for a week, and the reason my wife gave me are all valid and empathise my wife's condition and mental well being. So it finally came to an objective point of choosing Shaggy or my wife's well being, and as much as she hates it, but that is the point. Of course family will always prevail over heart, and Shaggy and I will be parting ways in 2 days time of writing this. My wife has reassured me that Shaggy will be well taken care and loved for, as the family friend is a dog lover and she has 3 beautiful daughters whom are so eagerly waiting for his arrival. They would be able to offer Shaggy with all the attention and time compared to us when Shaggy would be alone at home from morning till evening on weekdays. They had offered to pay us a token sum for him, but Shaggy is NEVER for sale, he is only offered up with love to a deserving family in hopes of better care and love because I failed him with previous bad choices.....
There's no "moral of the story" as I'm sure those whom are able to read and comprehend this story are well capable of reaching their own conclusions. Selling, Buying and Adopting a dog deserves profound thoughts as they are not merely an animal, but living being that gives boundless love to it's owner and deserves rightly to be loved too.
To the family adopting Shaggy, if you happen to read this, may you be patient with him and offer him TLC and he will reward with you with non judgemental and endless love to you and your family.
Good Bye Shaggy...you will be sadly missed but fondly remembered.
My story started about 15 months ago, when my wife and I decided to get a dog, for the wrong selfish reason. You see, our daughter is currently being taken care of by my mom in law in our home town and she is the 2nd baby that we asked her to help take care. After seeing her separated from our son when we took him back to KL after 4 years of care, we thought that to help keep her mind off things when we bring our daughter back, we would give a cuddly dog instead. So we decided on the Shih Tzu breed and we would care for him for the time being untill our daughter is ready to come back. My intuition tells me that this would be a bad idea, as I know my wife is OK with dogs, but she's not really a dog lover. She had a pet dog before when she was a teenager, but it is mostly cared for by her mother. Plus, we do not have a maid at home to help out with the chores and I know that this would surely be an extra burden to our home. I sure I would be OK with helping out the housework and caring for the puppy as I know that I am a dog lover.
OK, so I was also guilty of pestering her to get the dog, as I had always wanted a dog, but didn't want to get into confrontation when it comes to ideas that she dissaproves of. But the final turn came when we saw the cutest and liveliest puppy and she said somewhere in our afterthoughts "...alright I would love him if all of you love him ( son & I ) as much..." and that's it, I have to get that puppy somehow. Shaggy was tri-colour ST and so it says on his Birth Certificate but he would later bleach and became mostly off-white, he was so cuddly and cute and had a great temperament and he was the only one in that litter that came to us while we were choosing. So after getting him back, the reality of the chores & responsibility of caring for a dog crept in. But I stuck on to my agreement that I would care for him, from all the patience testing times of toilet training him, to pre-softening his dog food, to feeding him his vitamin paste and sending him to the groomers to look clean & tidy. My wife also helped to care for him every day, as she's the first to get home after work and to clean his poopee which he for some strange reason, will do in abundance only when there's people home after work. Shaggy was neutered when he was about 8 months old, about the time he begins to drive all of us crazy with his scent-marking, effectively stopping him, but it made him even more loveable as he had remained a puppy after the operation till this day.
That brings to the low point of this story. Last week a family friend of my wife's paid us a visit and she had fell in love with the dog. Who wouldn't? Shaggy has grown up so well, maybe from all the extra love he gets from me, he's solid for a Shih Tzu, about 6kg, so fluffy and his hair so soft and silky with those adorable eyes and expression that says it all. My wife jokingly offered Shaggy to her, which later proved to be serious after all. We talked about it for a week, and the reason my wife gave me are all valid and empathise my wife's condition and mental well being. So it finally came to an objective point of choosing Shaggy or my wife's well being, and as much as she hates it, but that is the point. Of course family will always prevail over heart, and Shaggy and I will be parting ways in 2 days time of writing this. My wife has reassured me that Shaggy will be well taken care and loved for, as the family friend is a dog lover and she has 3 beautiful daughters whom are so eagerly waiting for his arrival. They would be able to offer Shaggy with all the attention and time compared to us when Shaggy would be alone at home from morning till evening on weekdays. They had offered to pay us a token sum for him, but Shaggy is NEVER for sale, he is only offered up with love to a deserving family in hopes of better care and love because I failed him with previous bad choices.....
There's no "moral of the story" as I'm sure those whom are able to read and comprehend this story are well capable of reaching their own conclusions. Selling, Buying and Adopting a dog deserves profound thoughts as they are not merely an animal, but living being that gives boundless love to it's owner and deserves rightly to be loved too.
To the family adopting Shaggy, if you happen to read this, may you be patient with him and offer him TLC and he will reward with you with non judgemental and endless love to you and your family.
Good Bye Shaggy...you will be sadly missed but fondly remembered.