Wednesday, August 29, 2007

My Dogs



Jack, Milo and Lily are my kids and i love them so much. Lily and Milo are basset hounds (hush puppies for those who don't know) and Jack is a sharpei. I got lily 4 years ago from a well-respected breeder. It was a few months after my 2 Basset Hounds, Harry and Sally, died from the dog food poisoning caused by factory mishap of pedigree. Lily was such a sweet dog from the first day i saw her at the breeder's shop. She was only 4 months old that time. When my family arrived at the breeder's place, she was one of those puppies who came up to me and turned over to have their tummies petted. However, it was her unique spot on her head that made me get her. Harry had a unique spot on his head too so i thought it was because of that that i felt a connection with lily. A year later, I wanted lily to give birth however I didn't have a male dog so i looked for a stud. That's when I met Milo.He was 1 1/2 years when i got him. The picture the person sent me showed that milo was good looking and well. However when i finally saw him, he was so frail and had a cherry eye. I asked the breeder why he's so frail and thin and what his eye was. The owner said that he couldn't afford to feed him and that he has no time to take care of him. Then I went to the owner's house. I was surprised at the state of environment milo had to stay in. He was staying in a very small cage, no water and no space to move at all. Also, I didn't like the way the owner treated Milo. Seeing him shove and "throw" Milo to the cage was enough so I decided to wager. I told him I will get him for a small fee. After convincing him, he agreed to sell him to me for just 5,000 pesos. ORiginally it was 10,000 pesos but i wanted to make sure he was healthy enough to be with lily so i deducted the rest from the amount. ACcording to the vet, he suffered from kidney infection, cherry eye which would be surgically fixed, ear infection and slight anemia because of ticks and fleas. He had everything fixed except for his eye. His first few days at the house, he was so quiet and so nervous. I had to make sure that I'm going to be there for him and care for him. Few days later, he got used to the surrounding and all then have finally introduced him to my dog, lily. They both got on well. It was great seeing Lily have someone to play with. When I looked at milo's certificate, i saw that he was related to my other basset hound, Harry. I felt a bit sentimental coz Harry was one of the best dogs i have ever had. Jack on the other hand, was the dog my dad fell in love with when we went to tiendesitas. He was a beautiful chocolate brown wrinkled puppy. He has the same loud snore like my dad.


The two basset hounds get along fine but Jack, he thinks he's the top dog and always taunt and pick on a fight with the two basset hounds. Because of the fights they have had with each other, we had to separate the basset hounds from jack. Their fights were so scary that they would have open wounds and lots of blood. The vet said not to worry because with their breed, they heal really quick especially for the sharpei. However, the bassets takes a while to heal.

I love walking the dogs however, my problem with milo is that he pulls. Milo was the toughest to train. Milo doesn't have the ability to respond well to commands. Lily and Jack knows how to obey. Jack on the other hand has separation anxiety. He whines and wrecks the door whenever someone in the family comes on. Sometimes, when i step outside to smoke, he would whine and wreck the door. One time, i let him out with me. He just sat there right beside me and would go around from time to time. He's kinda like my bodyguard lol. However, when milo and lily comes to greet me, jack protects me from them by distracting them with his barking and biting. Until to this day, I have no idea how to solve that. So for now, separation is the answer. Lily on the other hand, is such a sweet dog. Whenever one of us rides the car, she would try to hop in to come with us. But she's also very intelligent. She knows not when to stay in the way of cars and when to go out of the gate by herself. For two consecutive dog walks, I would put milo on a leash while lily is offleash and lily is sooo good off the leash. She would just follow us whereever we would go. I just call her attention when i need to then she would come running to me. Of course with numerous praises for her good behaviour. When there are dogs, she would bark but just calling her name, also milo, and then say no would stop them from doing that. It amazed me seeing them so behaved and responsive. I am just so lucky i have dogs like them. Despite them jumping like crazy and their nails scratching our legs lol.

My partner has a dog which she shares custody with her ex. I call them my step-dogs lol. Charlie is a westie and Maggie is a designer dog (collie and jack russell). Both are lovely dogs and very obedient. I like the fact that if imogen catches them doing something bad, they know that it is bad and they feel guilty about it by hiding under the chair. Wonder how she did it lol.

Anyway, that's all for now. I must walk the dogs and see if lily will still be on her good behaviour. I hope it'll be consistent. Having two strong male dogs who constantly pulls is breaking my arm.

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