It’s Almost A Year…

It’s almost a year since Google joined our family. It all started when woofy bugged me for a dog as present. Buying a new puppy is not an option for me since it will only contribute to the greed of breeders. Human are all greedy. But if you know how to manage your greed and not exploit at the expense of others, you are still morally safe. Anyway, one is not suppose to be giving an animal to someone as a present… You wouldn’t know when the person will abandon the animal.

I remembered asking for a dog when I was young and was rejected outright. Now that I am all grown up, I guess there is no harm saving a dog. The search started for a dog from all the local dog forums to see which dog we can adopt. We also started reading up on dogs information. We went to our first viewing in Sept/Oct 2007. There was a pair of mini schnauzer up for adoption. Believe they were abandoned by a breeder and fostered by a kind family who was helping them to look for a good family.

The pair of mini schnauzer were known as Mickey and Mini. Mickey is an Australian breed and looks bigger and more sturdy than the mini schnauzers we often see in Singapore. He was about 2-4years old (no one knows the exact age). Very active when we visited him. Mini on the other hand is a very quiet dog that would sit/lie on one’s lap. She is around 5yrs old and she seems like she had entered Senior citizen age. We were keen but we were urged to adopt them together. Woofy keep saying we can manage 2 dogs and we should adopt both of them! I, being the logical person knew that we couldn’t afford it physical, financially and mentally for 2 dogs. Probably my mum will freak out even if there is a dog…

I continued to look for a suitable dog and I am quite hooked on mini schnauzers. There are a few more available for adoption but by the time I contact the person, they are already adopted. On 24 Oct 2007, I chanced upon an ad that the owner is trying to sell away her 10months old mini schnauzer for $350. Somehow I felt sorry for the dog because he is so young and the owners want to sell him away. I contacted the seller and we will meet up at that very night… All was agreed to meet up but the owner started telling me there was other buys interested and they are breeders. Woofy told me to assure the owner that we are not breeders and we are willing to give him a HOME.

It was a blessing that the owner still has some conscience because she rather sell the dog to us than to breeders, so she promised us that she will meet us before deciding. That night we saw what was to be known as Google…. This is the photo sent to me by the owner.

We didn’t want to bring google home immediately that night because we have not prepared for it. However the seller was all bent on selling Google away that very moment and insisted we bring him home immediately. She started packing all of Google’s stuff (brushes, food, combs, shampoo etc) and told us to take it along. Leaving us with no choice, we paid her and carried Google to the car. We could see how sad he was when he parted with his then-owner. No doubt it is the start of a better life for him, I still feel sad for him because an owner is everything to the dog. Through the short meeting with Google and his then-owner, we realized how he was disciplined… by fear and force… To make him sit down and submit, the then-owner will raise her leg to kick Google. We also saw that he was put in a place similar to a baby-cot and understand that he was only allowed out of it for a short while everyday. He pee and shit in that place…

Fast forward to today, Google gets to roam the entire house, is paper trained and gets lots of exercise. I am working towards to remove his excitement over every little thing and trains him to be calm-submissive so he can be around other dogs and children. Many more good years for Google!