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For the past 16 years or so I have been living my own life, control my own personal schedule, eat when I want, sleep when I want, live the life of bachelor so to speak. When the gardening season was over, I had more time around the house, but didn’t feel like staying in between the living to watch TV or slave in the kitchen to bake. Life was getting way too routine for me that when I come home from work, it’s just dinner and TV around me. I could use something lively around the house, so it’s time to consider to look for pet. Almost everyone that I know have some sort of pet, mostly dog.

I grew up with up to 12 dogs in my house, back then we treat dog like guard dog, not much affection or play time. Since I was the youngest in the family, I was the only one that play with the puppy and other dogs. Just out of curiosity, I checked out Craiglist almost on a daily basis to see what the community has to offer in term of give away dog since I refuse to pay hundred of dollars to a pet store. After all, I’m a practical person.

In early November, I spotted a listing about this guy who saw a stray dog in his neighborhood, and asking if there is anyone want to take the dog in as he already has 3 dogs. The moment I saw the photo of the listing, I knew that’s the dog for me, why? The dog is goofy looking and just about the right size!

I have a few preference when come to dog, of course cute is the biggest factor besides good temper. What make a dog cute to me is short leg and long body, kind of like a Dachshund or what most people refer to as the wiener dog. I had one when I was growing up, and I remember her name was “Monica”, and she was my favorite.

Being furry and fluffy is another cute criteria for me, but Dachshund don’t normally come fluffy, not to mention they tend to have back problem. So I looked and looked for weeks in Craiglist until that post. I committed to the list, and waited for the guy to catch the dog off the street. By Thanksgiving, the guy finally got my dog, and he put the dog to the doggy hotel where his sister works to get the dog up to condition, like neuter, vaccine and heart worm prevention.

About two weeks before Xmas, the dog was ready to go home.  They dropped the dog to my house just to make sure the dog doesn’t freak out. I bought a doggy mattress just to make sure the dog will have a dedicated area to rest. For a good half day, the dog didn’t stay at the mattress because he just feel out of place. As days go by, the dog started to feel more comfortable with the mattress and started to go there to sleep without me encouraging him.

By the way, I decided to name my dog Oreo because of his color, and I think he will be as sweet and enjoyable like Oreo cookies, besides, I think the name is cute! In a few days, Oreo started to show his personality as he got comfortable. I started to notice he likes to lay on his back, especially when he sleep! I don’t think I have seen many dogs that like to show their belly all the time because it’s not a defensive position for them.

Oreo probably was on the street for a few months, his hair was very very long almost to the point that he looks like he had fur jacket on top of his usual coat of fur. He’s fluffy like a walking fur ball!

I tried my best to make sure Oreo settle into my house as soon as possible since I need to leave for my New Orleans trip soon. I tried to start off with his name just so that he will get use to it and will be easy for me to get his attention, I didn’t get any progress in the first few days at all:

I didn’t do much with Oreo the first few days since he’s not open to me nor want to play. He basically just walk around the house look at stuff, laying around and sleep, occasionally he might chase the ball and lick his toy.

Before you knew it, Xmas was over, and I left for my New Orleans trip. I put Oreo back to the doggy hotel where he got fix up after he was off the street. I requested to have Oreo be groom the day before I pick him up. I have to say, it’s a total transformation! I thought I would miss his fluffy long hair, but turns out he’s just as cute when he has shorter hair, and it makes him look younger, and it should because he’s only about two years old.

When I pick Oreo up at the doggy hotel, he went crazy after seeing me and wouldn’t sit still in the car. When he got home, he felt more relief and just want to lay down at the hardwood floor area where he can see me whether I’m in the kitchen or in the living room.

Occasionally he will walk around the house a bit but that’s it. He still didn’t want to play much.

Oreo has a few unique thing about him. First of all, his eyes are brown, which is quite unusual as most dogs have black eyes. When staring into his eyes, it remind me of staring at a tiger’s eye, but his droopy ears and open jaw just make him look harmless.

When I have my camera close up, Oreo gets a bit alert.

Since we had extreme cold winter around the New Year days, Oreo like to lay in front of the door as the hardwood floor could get cold.

As I had chance to stay home for the holiday break, I can monitor Oreo’s every move. I have to say, he has unique sleep posture!

As days went by, Oreo started to show his true self such as playing with favorite toy.

I walked Oreo every morning and evening to make sure he does his business. He started to understand who I am. Before you knew it, he wouldn’t leave me alone and became my shadow. He follows me everywhere, and when I sit down, all he wants is my attention:

If you stop padding Oreo, he would use his nose to push your hand. And if you just ignore him, he will go to next tactic:

I don’t let Oreo onto my sofa, but it’s not comfortable to bend over to play with him all the time, so I some times use my leg to play with him. Who knows, Oreo started to like my foot so much, he wouldn’t leave them alone either.

Oreo became more and more relax every day. He would just lay in front of me, show his belly and lay on his back, hold his arms to his chest. I can’t help but to try to mess with him a bit some times:

Having Oreo around means having unexpected moment any time. I have to have my video camera by my side as I’m still learning his behavior everyday. I have to say, this is probably one of the funniest thing he every done:

Oreo some how change my schedule a lot, I have to make sure he’s not out of my sight for too long worry that he will do things that many puppy does, which is mostly bad thing like chewing stuff, or peeing around the house. Oreo is house trained that he don’t pee in the house, but one think I learn that when he get too excited from playing with me and my roommate, he needs to pee, and if we miss the sign, he could pee in front of the door. So far he had only two accident of doing that.

My morning routine is a bit hectic now that I have to walk Oreo, so my gym routine has not been consistent. My evening schedule is quite manageable as I don’t have to stay at office until very late so I can get home in time to walk him and prepare dinner.

Having a dog is a big commitment for a foreigner bachelor like me. When I leave for Malaysia, it will be quite challenging, but I have plans about it. For now, I’m just enjoying Oreo’s every silly moment as well as the strange thing of human being talking to a dog even though you know they won’t understand what you said……

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 9:24 am and is filed under What's going on?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.