I guess the novelty of a new dog dies off when they find out how much hard work is required to take care of them. Cleaning up after them is not a fun thing, especially not after a hard day out and when all you want is to return home to your cosy home to relax, only to find a huge mess all thanks to your dog. Also, imagine waking up to a pile of poop to clear every morning. Then there's the fur in your house. And the mess that he makes with his food and water. And the constant bugging you for attention. Your beloved possessions that he chews up. Your beloved fragile items that he breaks. Having to walk him after a long day. His ability to pee at the wrong place when you have company, or when u are at your busiest. His constant howls and barking. His scratch marks on the doors. His paw prints and scratch marks on the walls. His scratch and bite marks on your skin from an overly excited play session. You'll never have a clean and tidy home with a dog. The amount of money required to groom and feed him. His annoying behaviour of jumping on your visitors.

All these are some of the annoying behaviour that my Vodka engages in. But as much as I harbour thoughts of giving him up because of all these, I know deep in my heart that I wouldn't bare to do so. The amount of joy that we get when we spend time with him, playing with him, watching him do the funniest things - all these far outweigh the cons of having a dog.

Browsing through the Action for Dogs, SPCA and S'pore Pets pages, there's just so many dogs given up for adoption. And out of these, there's just so many Huskies - it's really heartbreaking. I know what the owners go through, but to give up a dog whose spent its entire life with you? Can you imagine the pain and suffering he goes through? To me, it's akin to taking a child away from his parents. Some of the dogs there are just so pitiful - to be given up at 12 years of age, and even those that are given up because of illness or disabilities. That's just sad. Would you give up your child if they suffered from similar unfortunate conditions? Obviously, these owners just didn't think of their dogs as a part of their lives, but rather, as a toy, a plaything. Something they can discard once they get sick of it. FYI, animals, not just dogs, have feelings. They too feel pain, happiness and sorrow. And all thanks to movies that portray dogs in unrealistic behaviour - people end up getting dogs with the impression that they'd end up with the perfect dog that they see in the movies. People getting Collies after watching Lassie, Huskies after 8 Below. It's just really sad how movies impact people and contort their thoughts, impressions, and influence their behaviour.

If you happen to be thinking of getting a dog, please think twice, thrice, plenty of times. Just make sure you can provide the best for your dog before jumping on the bandwagon. I'm not trying to put people off from getting a dog, but just advocating proactive and responsible pet care.

On another note, as I was looking through some adoption sites, I came across a rather perculiar mix that caught my attention - Husky Retriever mix. So I went and searched for pictures of a dog of such heritage; here's what I got:

mahjong3

Played mahjong again today and made 2 mistakes yet again. Aiks - what's with me committing 2 mistakes everytime?

Feeling rather lethargic and unmotivated to do anything recently. Haiz - what's my purpose? What do I want? I feel lost again.

11:28 PM ·

mahjong 2

Returned from another night 'training' session at Eric's. This time, I made 2 mistakes again, but I did manage to win about $22. First time I've ever won that much really, but we weren't playing money so I don't think that counts, esp since most of them were trying to game on bigger suits. The first mistake today is that I threw out a tile that would have made me money. I had 4 of a kind, but I threw the tile out instead. Ok, that's 1. The next was that I held on to the wrong tile that resulted in me missing out on winning a game. That was really dumb of me actually. I think I really must learn to focus and to do so faster as well. I guess that's why I need more 'training'.

On another note, walked Vodka to Dan's work place today. Surprisingly, though it was a walk to Bt Timah, it took me less than an hour. And I was walking at a rather leisurely pace. I realised that if I was still studying in NP, I could have actually walked to sch from my place - it'd prob take me about an hour, seeing how it's rather close from his work place. Too bad now I'm at NTU, the super off location which would take me more than an hour to reach by foot - prob 2 in fact. Tried walking to Boon Lay with Vodka once, but got tired within less than half of the journey. Yes, that's how far it is. Imagine if I had tried to walk to Jalan freaking Bahar - I think I'd give up and take a cab there instead. But I think it would be interesting to try that. Hiking trip by the expressway. The drain by the PIE actually had a lot of interestingly beautiful colourful fish in it, as well as some rather big ones as well. It was almost like a walk to explore nature. Love the mansionates beside the drain as well, cos it seemed so peaceful to walk past the area, and I've always loved the idea of staying in a house with 2 storeys. It was always a dream of mine cos I have this thing for spiral staircases in the house. Just makes a house seem more majestic.

Anyways, met this lovable 9-year-old Retriever cum Samoyd mix. Super beautiful - imagine a white retriever with a beatifully soft coat and ears of a samoyd. Plus, she acted nothing like how I imagine a 9-year-old dog would. She seemed more like a puppy to me, actually. She was playful, yet afraid of Vodka, that she would whine for him when he was in sight but away from reach, but growl and bare her teeth and bark at him when he got too close for comfort. Like the owner said, typical of a girl - just doesn't know what she wants. But she's really adorable and at ease around humans, and according to the owner, totally at ease with other dogs as well, esp those smaller than her. Maybe she has a thing against big dogs - or dogs bigger than her. Or maybe Vodka just isn't handsome enough, as Dan suggests.

On our way back, we saw this huge German in one of the houses. It was probably twice the size of Vodka. Then, as we moved on, we saw something even larger - a full grown rottweiler. Super huge! It was taller than the owner's waist level, and it's head was comparable, if not bigger than its owner's. Imagine that. I think if it managed to get a bite of Vodka, it'd prob be able to chomp off his head. Or prob an entire jack russel. Aiks. All of a sudden, I remember what Dan once suggested - if we ever manage to stay in a bungalow, we'll just get a rottweiler and a german - the perfect security system. These are 2 dogs that no one would dare approach and pet for fear of losing their hands. Yikes.

2:20 AM ·