#Undecided’s Fave Thing #20: (Must Love) Dogs

4:51:00 PM

Hello, my name is Pauline and I’m an animal lover.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have strong feelings towards animals – dogs in particular.

I grew up with them. I cannot remember not having pets during my younger years. And they varied: from dogs to snakes, to grasshopper, to monkey, to turtles, to ladybugs, to chicks, to ducks and the list goes on. But no matter what other pets I owned, dogs never went out of the picture. There was even a time when we had around 15 dogs at once (but they were all loved – I’m no irresponsible hoarder, mind you!).

My first dog was a male minpin-mix named Jacky. I got him from my father’s friend and Jacky had me at hello. He was super cute and I loved him dearly. I remember crying for days when he passed away (come to think of it, I always cried my eyes out whenever a pet died). After Jacky, the rest was history. But there is only one dog which until today holds a special place in my heart. A female local mix breed named Unyil (I was young, I didn’t know better when I christened her LOL). Believe it or not, I get teary eyed typing this right now because I miss her so much, I still dream about her from time to time.

She was the first dog I picked and paid for on my own (I was in the 4^th grade, but I can’t be sure…). She was a puppy (teeny tiny little thing with brown coat, a waggy tail, and two huge brown eyes begging me to pick her from the rest of the litter) when I brought her home. I had to keep her hidden for some days because I was scared of my mom LOL. She was, literally, the best dog I ever had. She was loyal and protective (nobody would get away from teasing me when Unyil was around), and she would listen to nobody but me. The sad part is: she was one of the 15. I was heartbroken when I learnt that we had to give her up because we were moving to a new house without a yard for our pets. She wasn’t young anymore, and I was so worried that nobody would want to give her a new home and she would end up being killed for food (yes, people in Indonesia eat dogs – shame on you!!). I think she picked up on my mood and wasn’t herself for days, wouldn’t touch her food and got really weak. She finally died the day we were supposed to hand her over to the buyer *sob*.

You have no idea how sad I was. To say that I lost a pet that day was an understatement. I lost my best companion, my best buddy. I buried her myself and I don’t know for how long afterwards I kept telling myself, as a consolation, that she died because she didn’t want to be someone else’s pet but mine *sob*.

They say that dogs are men’s best friend. No matter what, when a dog loves you, you’re in for life. And the best thing is: they love you fiercely and unconditionally. Living in an apartment is the only reason why I am dog-less at the moment, but there’s this one dog, a female Rottweiler named Berta, that is dear to me.

This is Berta. Seriously, look at her cute face!!!

Her owner is my hubby’s friend. I always make time to visit her and whenever I do, she is always pleased to see me. Whenever I’m around Berta, most people would ask why a skinny-assed girl like me loves hanging around dogs twice her size. Au contraire, my friends, I am the one puzzled as to why people are terrified of her! Berta is NOT AT ALL scary. She’s lovable, super cuddly, one friendly dog. She just happens to be big and black. What is so wrong about that? I never judge a dog by how they look. I remember even as a kid I was never scared of dogs regardless their size.

Berta - when she was around 9 months old

Again, look at that adorable face!!

I’ll let you in on a little secret: dogs sense people. They can tell how you are with just one quick sniff. Cesar Milan (my hero, The Dog Whisperer) always says, keep it calm and assertive whenever you’re around dog – which is true, I’ve proven it myself over and over again. Try it sometimes! You’ll see…

The Dog Whisperer

I got lucky that my hubby is as much as a dog person as I am. And he’s so good with them; he’s the best animal handler I know.

Me. Hubby. Denzel (our male Golden Retriever)

One day when we have our own house, mark my words, we’ll have lots and lots of dogs – the big ones (I don’t fancy small breeds, with Welsh Corgi and Bull Terrier as exceptions). If I can just show people that big breeds are just misunderstood (for they are not some mean animal that need to be chained always) then my job is well done. Why? Because misunderstanding often leads to dogs being treated badly. Sometimes even cruelly. So many times I hear stories about a stray dog being chased by kids while aiming rocks its way, a dog being starved, a dog without vet care, puppy mills where dogs are mere commodity – constantly being forced to reproduce inside small, dirty cages without ever getting out their entire lives. And it needs to stop. I can’t stress this enough, have some compassion, people!!

My sister is also an animal lover (I guess it runs in the family LOL) and I will leave you with one photo of the love of her life: a female Golden Retriever named Gloria.