HIS NAME IS BUSTER JOHNSON! / JUNE 25,2008 =D

With our second anniversary coming up in about three weeks, Hubby Sweet and I had to decide on what we were going to do for Anniversary Year 2.

Should we take another trip somewhere?

With us having bought a bigger, more family-sized unit recently (which will only be available in October next year), and with the Baby Project hanging over our heads, however, we knew that all plans for an out-of-the-country trip would have to be deferred. (Goodbye, Beijing Olympics! Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!).

It would be pretty tough, however, to top the recent butanding experience with another local trip so I thought we'd give travel a rest (FOR NOW =)).

"We should get a dog," I texted the hubby, off the top of my head, "A small one so he won't feel cramped inside the unit."

"Let's name him Johnson," he replied. Haha! 'D (Family joke. Long story. =))

We did not even have a discussion about whether we should get one or not. The Hubby has been bugging me for a dog since last year when they started allowing pets in House Pioneer. (Prior to this, his first ever Christmas gift to me would have been a beagle. At that time, we weren't even BF/GF yet and he did not know that pets were not allowed at my place. Before he could deliver it to me, his best friend Riki, who lived in the other tower, told him that I will not be allowed to keep it. And so it came to past that on that year, Then-Suitor-Pa-Lang-Sweet went home to his provincial ancestral home with beagle in tow--now repositioned as a Christmas gift to his parents. Haha! 'D)


Discussion #1: I wanted a small dog. Hubby Sweet kept telling me to look at pictures of Golden Retrievers, Great Danes, Labradors and, goodness, French Mastiffs! "They're friendly," he said. "Yes," I countered, "They're also bigger than our house."

Discussion #2: I wanted a small dog. Maybe a shih tzu or a pekingese. I grew up with 2 pekingeses who believed they had the same birth right as I did in House Better. Haha! Being royal dogs, pekingeses can be spoiled brats, but they can also be adorable-to-the-max. When Benji and Sugar died (not at the same time of course), we all found ourselves in extreme mourning. Having a pet die in House Better is like having a real member of the family pass away. (There is actually a corner in the garden that we used to call the "Sacred Ground". Every November 1, as kids, we also lit candles for all our dogs who passed away. Haha! 'D) In High School, my friends and classmates would actually laugh because in the middle of class, tears would start streaming down my cheeks. "What's wrong?" they would ask. "Namatay aso ko," I would reply, at which point, they would all guffaw. They just didn't get it.


After Benji and Sugar died, Mother decided she wanted a shih tzu. Her name was Princess and she gave birth to Pattie, Scud, Patriot and Pancho. (They were born during the Gulf war, =)). Pattie got traded off for Trendy (who also answers to Friendly or any other name that ends in "y", haha!). Pattie was a Princess black-&-white carbon-copy; Trendy was brown and white like her mom--who belonged to the same breeder as Pattie's dad. Mother intended to sell off the pups, but only managed to sell one. In the end, she decided she couldn't sell the rest. She loved them too much. Scud was "given as a gift" to my cousin J (who was Mother's inaanak). Pancho was "sold" to our next door neighbors in House Loyola (where I stayed during my college years). They begged (!) to have him, even mounting a "party" on the day we gave Pancho to them. A few months later saw me asking Ate Inday to bring P10,000 back to our neighbors in exchange for getting Pancho back. The novelty of a new pup has gone, and they were not treating him right, and if they will not hold their end of the bargain to treat him like family, they can shove their money up their stupid, mean @*#. Lech. >:\ They accepted the money; we got our dog back. By that time, Pancho had turned from a sweet, adorable pup into a broken, angry, bitter dog. It took some time before we could "heal" the anger out of him. Weeks and months of nurturing eventually made him believe he can "trust" people again. He actually reverted back to his sweet nature, but you just know he was never really the same. To the very end, he was sweet only to us, but no longer to those he considered as non-family or strangers. Hay.... =(

In between the pekingeses and the shih tzus were the mongrels (among them JInky! =)), a japanese spitz (Snowball, of course! haha) and Buttons (who was part shih tzu, part maltese, "purong aso" hahaha). We loved them all like family. (Sorry, couldn't post pics of the rest. The pics are in House Better and I haven't scanned them yet!)

Did I digress? =D Anyway!

I wanted small dog, but the Hubby did not want a pekingese nor a shih tzu. He suspected (quite correctly) that he would end up walking the dog more often than I would, and he did not want to walk around with a "frou-frou" kind of dog at the end of his leash. Hahaha! 'D O, sya, sya. =D After researching online, we finally chanced upon the one dog that seemed perfect for our situation. A mini schnauzer. Yes, we decided, we will get a mini-schnauzer. =) (Click on the link if you want to know why we decided on it. =))

Everyone, meet BUSTER JOHNSON!!! =D

We found Buster online through a link in Pet Finder. =) We did not want to get a dog from a pet shop, believing that dogs raised by breeders are not only of better quality, they would also tend to be more loved. We found Chico-Poms, and among all the rest, I was most impressed by the fact that before they answer your queries about the dog you want to purchase, they actually ask you a series of questions about the conditions under which you will be raising the dog you intend to buy. They wanted to make sure that their puppies will only go to good homes, they said. "Soul mates!", I thought. Haha!

We got a quick reply from K soon after I submitted our forms. We went to see our pup on the same day we got the reply. We brought him home that same night.

After a quick trip to Tiendesitas for a few essentials (and quite a few non-essentials, haha), we finally arrived in House Pioneer for Buster's first night in his new home. YEY! =)

By the time we got him, however, he was already 4 months old and already knew his name to be Buster. Johnson would therefore have to be relegated to his second name. BUSTER JOHNSON. Parang goon. Haha! 'D

He was shy at first, but eventually warmed up, walking around the unit, probably wondering about what strange place he has found himself in. His nails clicked on the wood laminate all night as he alternately walked around, stopped, and run around playing with the Hubby's old tennis balls. Not used to having another living thing in House Pioneer other than each other, the all-night clicking on the floors kept Hubby Sweet and I up all night. Hay....It was like having a little baby, except that this one did not cry. =) I was practically a zombie at work the following day. It did not help that everyone kept on asking me, "Puyat ka?" HAHAHA! Ack. =)

During our visit to the OB last week, our OB told us NOT to get a dog before we have a child. She said there was no scientific evidence for it, but she suspects couples get distracted too much by the dog, they forget about getting down to the business of having a child. Haha! After the first night, I would have to consider this as practice. Man! How could I not?! =D

Early the following day, I heard from Hubby Sweet the one thing I have also once heard from Sister Pusjing and Cousin Tiririt about their respective husbands, G-Genius and cousin-in-law V.

"Tweet," he said, looking confused, apologetic and hopeful all at the same time, "uh.....nag-poop sya."

I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth at the time. "So? Pick it up," I said, not really understanding what the big deal was.

"I don't know how to pick up poop."

Yeah, right! HAHAHA!

Hay!

Men....! =D