The Story of Me: The Curly One Who Stayed Behind

Before we start to share with you our story, we would like to thank Minna Krebs for coming up with such a brilliant thingy for Thanksgiving. You can click on the picture above to head on over to her site to check it out.

Dom's first picture in Ipoh

Our Dommy's coming home story started in 2007. Piper's mommy was at a neighbourhood pet shop when she met this very long hair girl (that kinda look like Yoko Ono when she was younger). She is a very nice lady who really love dogs. She runs a small shop and a daycare cum boarding house for dogs. She has them dogs running all over her shop. None of them were in crates. All the dogs were happy and doing zoomies up and down the tiny shop when they are there for daycare.

Few days later, Missy Yoko Ono lookalike called Piper's mommy and asked her if she wanted to adopt a pair of poodles. Champagne colored ones. A pair of brothers. The owner just started a family and probably cannot cope with two very active doggies. They send them to the boarding place to stay and finally decided to give them away.

Piper's mommy got excited and talked about it with me this time in advance... but probably her mind's all set up to get them anyways. She went on and said... they are free... all they want is a forever home. And they have travelled very far. Dom and his brother Moet came all the way from Perth to Malaysia in 2004 to join their family who was relocated here. (we thought they came from Melbourne... seems that some Anny got to get her eyes checked again).

What do we know about taking care of poodles. All i know is that they are curly and probably need quite a lot of grooming. But i do know they are hypoallergenic and don't really shed as much fur.

We were still staying in a small apartment (that do not allow dogs) and in a very conservative area/environment where dogs are not even allowed at the park down below. Piper hardly made much noise back then and he's small, usually we had to hide him in a bag when we were going down the lift. *LOL* But a poodle will surely make more noise. How can we keep them quiet and happy in an apartment. And two of them too.

We asked our parents whether they would like a poodle or two perhaps. Dad will always says yes to dogs but mom like me will weigh the pros and cons. She knows that she'll end up doing all the work. And so during Chinese New Year, when my folks were down to Kuala Lumpur, i took them to the shop to see the poodles. When i went into the shop, there were a lot of doggies doing zoomies up and down.. all very happy. All different breeds and different sizes but playing quite in harmony.

And there he was... Mister Dommy... he stuck close to Missy Yoko Ono and gave her big licks on her face. He must have loved her a lot. We got introduced and Dommy came by to lick my nose. *LOL* I remember mum hesitating. She said he looked thin and sickly. There were hardly any fur on his legs.

He looked tiny and frail.. probably missing his brother

There were two of them. His brother was called Moey. They were Moet & Dom. Both named after famous champagnes. His brother was bigger and more playful. Dom was quiet...and shy.

Another family was there too to look at them. A young family with 2 kids. We both settled that we'll each take one of them. Moet went to them and Dom came to us. It was hard to separate them. Quite painful actually. But we couldn't afford to keep two of them with my parents. They would be quite a handful for the old folks.

Tough choices to make sometimes but we wanted the best for both boys. Being cared for separately will prove to be a better choice of a forever home.

A week later, we went to pick Dommy up. He was scared and stressed as his brother has already left with his new family few days earlier. We went to a vet to check him out. He had a jab and his blood drawn. Some irregularities detected in his blood... and we got to start him on heartworm treatment immediately. After quite a lot of poking and proding, we took him back to our apartment. Wrapped him up in a towel... and carried him up like a baby. *LOL* People are quite clueless there sometimes.

We packed up Piper and headed home to Ipoh and Dommy began his life with mom and dad in February 2007. It first started with... dog (poodle) with scrawny itchy legs are not allowed on all furniture. Dog (poodle) with no fur on legs... are not allowed in bedrooms. Then it was ok... dog (poodle) allowed on certain furniture. Now its dog (Dommy) allowed in all rooms.

He had three good months with mom. She finally got around and started to love him. He is a good companion for them. He even found his way into mom's room sometimes. Mom passed away suddenly in May 2007. Dommy's arrival to our family is a blessing. He helped dad got thru some days and he helped all of us cope somehow.

Do not underestimate the power of dogs when we are grieving. They understand sadness and they stay by your side without saying a word. They just stay with you and lick all your tears away. They do silly things to make you laugh too.

8 months later... the fur on his legs grew out beeeyoootifully

He is still wary of strangers. He doesn't quite like men.. or if you raised your hand on him. He gets defensive. He probably had a bad experience with someone. He loves all family members. Relatives not included. Even relatives get barked at when they come by. His first line of securing the house is bark first and check it out later.

We sometimes look for Moey at dog shows and at Dogathons. But we never did find him yet. It would be nice for the boys to meet up sometimes and have some zoomies. Does anyone know or seen a poodle named Moey?

Dommy today

That's all for our story for Minna Krebs. Thank you again for hosting the Thanksgiving Story of Us.

Happy Gotcha Day to you Minna

&

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!