Musings by Grace Chng

Finally, Zach the white russell terrier, is now … somewhat …. become … more or less …. part of the family. Nearly 12 months ago when he joined the family, he was one angry dog. He didn’t like to be touched on his backside, any side where he can’t see you coming. He sat by the front door hoping to go out. If I wanted to go out he would become aggressive, showing his teeth and growling quite loudly. If I approach him, then he would attack, ie bite. And I’ve been bitten by him 4 times already.

He looks really cute but in reality he’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. He would be lovey-dovey one moment and the next, he would be growly, showing teeth. Trainer Alfred came and saw his behaviour. He said Zach is showing insecure dominance. He’s unsure so he’ll try to dominate first, be bigger than the bigger dog.

So to teach him to be submissive, his possessions - his bed in his basket, his toys - were taken away from him. He had to sleep on the floor and he wasn’t allowed to spend the night in the bedroom.

Zach and I were to go to Alfred to get training so that Zach would be more controllable. Turned out our busy schedules didn’t allow us to do that. So both of us learnt to live with each other. I learnt that he doesn’t like to be surprised, neither does he want to be threatened with the cane. So I’d to use voice ie tone of voice to tell him I’m angry or happy with him.

So I raise my voice if I’m angry that he’s barking too much. I let him know when I was going to touch him, and I would stroke him firmly and I wouldn’t pull his ears or his tail. So now he’s much better and I can actually play with him. He would give me his toy and we would play fetch and retrieve. He would turn turtle and let me scratch his belly.

On Sunday came a tipping point. He’s in the kitchen when I was preparing dinner. I told him to go out of the kitchen and he did. Backed up and sat outside the kitchen and acted as the door guard.  I’m quite happy that of the progress we’ve made but still the lessons with Alfred will start next Sunday.

Zach, my jack rusell terrier, has a new trick. He likes to burrow and he’s doing it with the throws on my sofas. See the picture here. 

I first noticed this two nights ago. He managed to get underneath the throw and curl himself up. I can play hide and seek by throwing the cover open but at night, he’s one grumpy JRT. So I leave him alone. 

In these 2 photos, you only see his butt or hind legs. But he’s actually a cutie but can be a monster too. Here’s what he looks like: 

Finally, the inevitable happened. His prostate had cysts and abscess caused by over production of testosterone. For male dogs getting on in age - Uno will be 8 this year - this is a common problem. Only one solution available: castration. 

Feb 6 was the day Uno left in the morning fully intact and came home in the afternoon, still my precious boy, but minus his testicles. My dream of being a “grandmother” to his puppies all went down the drain. I’m consoled that he now has a better chance of recovering from the cysts and abscess. An op to take out the cysts would be a major major task. Since the prostate is situated behind the hip, the bone has to be broken to reach the gland. 

I can’t put him through that, it’ll be too painful. Already he whined the day I took him home from the vet, he wasn’t able to jump up on the bed or up the chair. He just didn’t feel like moving and he couldn’t sit. Even as he lay down on the floor, he wasn’t amenable to moving his hind quarters at all. He looked so pitiful. 

After 2 days, he regained his usual bounce in his movements. And he’s a happy boy again. He’s the special hood - I call it a lamp shade - around his neck to prevent him licking his wound. No need for further complications. 

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the cyst and abscess will now go away with antibiotics. 

My colleague asked me today how many dogs have I had in my life. I had to count, from the time since I was a kid, I’ve had pets. So I guessed, it was 10 dogs in all. Of course the last 3 and the current 4 were and are the most special. 

My niece and a close friend met on Sunday to discuss what to do with the ashes of my 3 generation 1 dogs. They were with me since I lived and worked here over the last 20 years (eek… it’s been that long).

Cheeky, mix lab who shared my bed since she was 5 weeks old. She had heart problems, was given steroids which caused kidney failure (I was too greenhorn a pet owner to understand how serious this side effect was). She was 20 when she died at home because she understood I didn’t want to put her down. 

Teeny, my silky terrier. The little minx was an empress dowager who put terrorised my Cheeky and my rottweiler, Sonja. She lived a long life until 22 and would have been longer if cancer didn’t grow out of her eyes. In the end, my niece who had taken her under wing, decided to put her down. 

Sonja, the sweetest rottweiler, who was big, had a head like a battering ram (she ran into my bad knee and injured it further). Her owner wanted her put down because her hind legs were not strong. Her vet Dr Tan saved her, took her in and I adopted her at 4 months old. She was seven when cancer took her too. This time it attacked her nerves at the base of her head. It must have been painful because she couldn’t move very much. There’s nothing I could do, no operation to save her. I had to save her again by putting her out of misery. I had her put down, but I couldn’t do it myself. Chicken that I was, I had my close friends take her to the vet. I wanted to remember her as she was and not when she was dying. 

Cheeky, Teeny and Sonja broke my heart. They went about eight years ago, within months of each other. I’ve Cheeky’s ashes, my niece has Teeny’s and my good friend Cindy has Sonja (because Sonja saw her through an emotional period when her mother was ill). 

The discussion was wether we wanted to set them free by distributing their ashes in the sea. I think rationally that was what we wanted to do but emotionally some of us weren’t ready. Meanwhile, I think of them almost every day, they were with me, not complaining, always happy to see me. 

I loved everyone of them to death just as I do Latte (deputy pack leader), Uno, Sandy and Zack.

I’ve insured my 2 chocolate laboradors. Each cost about $200 or so. I’ve just received a note from NTUC Income to say that they’re discontinuing the pet insurance scheme due to its low adoption rate. 

What a pity! Today there’s so much discussion about dogs attacking people and other dogs, insurance would have been a good liability back-up. 

Anyone else know of other pet insurance products?