Puppy Love

Our Sunday strolls in the park inevitably ended in heartache. The Humane Society has a program set up where they basically give away strays on Sunday's in the park. It's a great program, especially in a country where Animal Rights are unheard of. For a country of people who claim to 'love pets' I have never been so appalled at the treatment of animals. I am not even going to talk about the lack of population control and strays everywhere. The animals that are actually pets, supposedly in loving homes, are treated with, at best, such neglect that it has brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion. Short leashes, small cages, with bars on the bottom and no love or attention.

So the weekly opportunity to save one of these gorgeous creatures from a fate worse than death was tempting. And I must be totally honest, for purely selfish reasons, I have wanted a dog since I arrived in Taiwan. Being a world away from any world that I know or understand has left me with the want for some pure, unconditional, feed me and I will love you forever, love.

Last week for some reason was different though...I am not sure what it was, but it was different from the beginning. James and I walked through the park, he allowed us to slow just a bit and of course I was mush! As we walked away, there was a truck full of cages filled with animals waiting to be unloaded, and the whines and cries brought tears to both of our eyes. When we arrived home, we stopped off at Dave and Leah's and Leah announced she was going to get a cat today and wanted to go back to the park. I jumped on it...if you are going to get a cat, why don't we get a dog. There are the four of us love and look after it, blah blah blah. I had a counter to every arguement against...not that there were many, except from James, my voice of reason...but even he had lost his enthusiasm. When we got back to the park I recieved the official word, he wasnt 'for', but he definitely wasn't 'against'.

It didn't take long to pick out our Pao Pao. (The name was picked out before we even left the house...Bubble Toes, as the four of us refer to ourselves as 'the Bubble'. Pao Pa is Chinese for Bubble) I noticed her by looks very early on, but she was sleeping and I wanted to get a feel for her personality. I hovered around unit she started to stir, then asked if I could pick her up. Immediately she started nuzzling in, and licking my face. Dave came up behind me and sealed it with the words, "Hello Bubble Toes".

That was a lifetime of five days ago. It has been five days of no sleep, piss and shit everywhere, and even James is loving EVERY minute of it. Ironic that my last posting was on sleep deprivation and I now see how little I can function on. She is the sweetest, calmest and of course smartest puppy I have ever met. Although I now realize that I was fully expecting someone to stop me, and had I thought it was compeletely up to me I might not have been so hasty, I have no regrets. All of James's concerns are valid, and she is going to make a huge difference in our lifestyle, it is all worth it already. All the future stuff will iron itself out. Pao Pao has known more love in her one week with us than most dog's here know in a lifetime, and we are more than happy to give it.