When animals teach US how it is to be HUMANS...

     Before I feature another friend, I'd like to write a post about my two dogs: Yesha and Yassu -- and tell you guys how the two of them taught me to become a better version of myself.

     Don't worry, Show Me Your Look Today is still about looks...  After-all, I think I look real nicey when I parade my dogs around. ☺

A little Background

     I've had several dogs in my childhood, and one even bit me while we were playing.   I got bitten by another dog while I was in Nabua when I accompanied my college friends for their summer classes... and I definitely remember being chased by two Dobermans at Imperial Ridgeview while my classmate Nukie and I were in search for a sari-sari* store in the subdivision.  But that never discouraged me from owning a dog again.

Call Name:  Yesha
Breed:  Labrador Retriever

Birthday:  December 24, 2005

Milk:  Bear Brand

Dog food:  Beef Pro/Optima Hi-Pro

Yesha when she was about three years old...

     Yesha is a female black Labrador Retriever and I got her 5 years ago from one of my mentors (Dr. Ninfa R. Pelea - then our dean) when I was still a professor at Bicol University.  Yesha's dad (a chocolate Labrador) is from a champion line though I'm not sure if her mom (a black Labrador) is too.  I was not so familiar with PCCI (Philippine Canine Club Inc) back then so Yesha had no papers.

     Yesha responds to these commands: SIT, STAY and NO.  When you say 'NO', she just stops whatever she's into and will look at you.  Yesha's got the kindest eyes I've even seen.  She will approach you slowly with wagging tail to let you know she adores you. She loves to take a walk at night.  She also loves to scare the kids in the neighborhood with her loud huge barks.  She jumps at kids terrifying them.  Yeah, she loves to play bully though you'll know that she only wants to play with them.  Yesha is smart even without training.

     I was a little business minded at that time and the reason why we (Jeb and I) acquired Yesha was to breed and sell puppies as a way to generate income.  There was a time when owning pricey dogs were a fad in our area.

Call Name:  Yassu
Breed:  Golden Retriever

Registered Name:  Binxs of Darknight

Birthday:  January 09, 2009

Milk:  Anmun/Bonamil/Nestogen

Dog food:  Beef Pro/Orijen/Optima Hi-Pro

We visited Yassu a week before we got him...

     Yassu is a male Golden Retriever and we found him from the Internet (through Pinoy Pet Finder).  His father, aside from coming from champion parents, is also a champion himself while his mom is from a family with  champions too.  By GR standards, Yassu's got 18 Red Marks and 3 Green Marks.  He's a little spoiled, needs to play a lot and if the aircon is not turned on, he needs to be in front of the electric fan. He responds to these commands: SIT, GET UP, STAY, FETCH, COME HERE, HANDSHAKE, LIE DOWN, and GO BACK.

     Yesha was left in the province with my parents when I moved here in Manila.  I kinda missed her, so when my brother Jeb proposed to buy a dog, I immediately agreed.  Unlike Yesha, Yassu was a little harder to raise.  Grace, my bestfriend, just graduated from UP as a vet and she pampered me with ideas on how to raise Yassu to be the best dog he can be.  Unlike Yesha, raising yassu is a bit more indulgent:  regular visits to the vet for shots and boosters at wee hours in the morning (thankfully there's a 24/7 clinic in Pineda) and he's got Anmum for his milk when he was still a pup.  Yes, according to Gracey we should give him Anmum so he'll have big strong bones. ☻  We shifted to Bonamil after 4 months and then to Nestogen after awhile for practical reasons.

Yassu's first day at home...

     His meal is basically his dog food and a glass of milk.  Yassu eats every 6 hours till he was 6 months old, then it became every 8 hours till he got a year old when he's fed just twice a day.  His dog food was initially Beef Pro, then we shifted to Orijen a week after we got him.  At 6 months, when his appetite is getting huge, we shifted to Optima Hi-Pro, again, for practical reasons.  Orijen is tad expensive and it's an effort to buy it in Tiendesitas.  To provide variety, at times we add chicken liver to his food or soup from pork bones (without the bones).  For special times like when he just had a vaccination, we'll give him yogurt as a treat.

Yassu at 3 months old...

     Both of them are toilet trained.  We've put them on a leash, and after each meal, brought them out to do their thing.  It's important to establish a routine, a schedule.  Make them understand that certain things needed to be done at a certain place after a particular activity.  Dogs don't like to pee and poop where they stay or lie down, so when they're on a leash, they will hold it in as much as possible.  In trying to discipline them,  we reward the nice deeds and ignore the bad ones.  Yassu learned how to sit the day I taught him how to sit.  I just needed to be at the right timing... Like say SIT when he is about to sit and when he does, give him a treat.  It was actually fun teaching him how to perform some tricks.

Our first visit to the vet...

     Raising dogs is a bit tricky.  You gotta have the right attitude and the right motivation in order to bring out the best in them.  They will put your patience to a test, and only those who are responsible enough will be able to enjoy the rewards of having a dog or having pets in general.

Making funny faces with Yassu! ☻

     And while I teach them to perform some tricks or behave a certain way, my dogs also educated me in a lot of ways.  Yesha and Yassu has taught me values and attitudes that maybe I could've learned on my own terms -- but they made the learning so much easier by showing them to me.

Yesha at around 2 years old...

     I learned how to be patient.  Dogs are sometimes territorial.  They usually poop and pee on the same area and if something bad is associated in some place, they will never do their business there.  My patience was stressed to the limits when either of them (on separate occasions) wouldn't poop or pee, and it took like two hours with Yesha to find a place where she could unload her stuff.

Yesha at present: all she does is eat, sleep and run around...

     I regularly travel between my province and Manila since 2005, and when I come home, Yesha will always welcome me back with her  excited barks and wagging tail.  As soon as I open the gate at 5AM (the time I usually arrive), she'll bark incessantly and passionately until I approach her and pat her in the head.  With Yesha, I learned that letting go of someone important is something that's inevitable, but with that letting go is the hope of coming back.  And with her, coming home doesn't matter if it's one year or one day... it will always be the same intense appreciation you'll get from her.  She taught me the value of loyalty and being hopeful. 

Who can ignore those sweet pleading eyes?

     Yassu taught me that I can't have everything I want in life, but if I try hard enough, fate might favor me in my patience.  Yassu used to live with us in Manila.  The receiving area is his place.  He only goes out to play, to walk or for his toilet schedule.  Sometimes when we are inside, he'll lie his head on the door landing and will look at us with such pleading eyes but will never ever put one toe inside the apartment.  He'll just wait until you let him in. 

     Yassu taught me that it's ok to be scared.  I remember him not moving an inch when we brought him the first time to the clinic.  He was afraid of the stairs.  So what we did was encourage him to take one step at a time until he reached the top of the floor.  The next encounter with stairs became a lot easier.  Yassu taught me how to acknowledge my weakness -- and to end them, I must face my fears.  Maybe not right away for us humans, not instantly, but if dogs can take it one step at a time... so CAN we.

Playtime with Yassu when he was around 4 months old...

     Both of them taught me that good deeds, though not necessarily requires a reward, is a reward in itself.  It's not easy to be righteous all the time, we are governed with emotions that sometimes can be misleading.  There will be times when our emotions will provoke us to make the wrong choices... but what's encouraging is, although we take the wrong turns, we know that that there will be second chances, and then -- we can set the wrong decisions right.  We might not be given 'treats' for our good deeds in life, but we certainly made somebody happy.  Apart from ourselves, we probably made our loved ones or important people in our lives proud by choosing to do the right thing.  Just like what Yassu and Yesha made me feel by executing a command right or doing what they're told.

     Yesha taught me to believe and have faith.  I remember when I was practicing with her the stay command --  I asked her to sit in the middle of the lawn and told her to stay there.  My father manages a small sari-sari store and he's not there to man it when somebody called.  While I attended to the customer, it rained all of a sudden.  It was maybe after five minutes that I remembered  Yesha who, when I checked, is still on the grass and drenched in rain.  I was so touched by what she did just to please me.  She believed that I will come back for her.

     Yassu taught me to be interested.  You know what they say, there are no un-interesting people, there are only disinterested ones.  Between the two, at a glance, you can say that it's Yassu who would seem to welcome everyone.  Yesha can be welcoming with strangers too, but with her color and her loud barks, you will be more scared than enticed!  It's easy with Yassu because he's got a friendlier face and color.  Though with his size, you will have second thoughts, specially if you're not familiar that Labradors and Goldens are naturally friendly by nature.  (They are great  with kids too!)  No matter who you are, they will greet you with the same respect as they greet anybody.  They do not discriminate.  They are interested.  And if they can read, they will read my blog too, not just look at the pictures or leave robot messages on the chatbox.  Ahem! ☻

I'm not sure what he's up to... ☻

     Dogs can't talk, but when you talk to them, they'll look at you with such endearing eyes to let you know that they're listening.  When I'm mad, they'll just sit with me and make me feel that my feelings are important.  They might not talk back or understand a word that I'm saying, but they made me feel i'm important by just being there...  So in turn I can be there for others too, they taught me that.

Jeb with Yassu last Christmas 2009...

     It was September last year when typhoon Ondoy caused havoc in the country specially in Pasig where we were staying.  The disaster made me realize a lot about life and about other people.  When I woke up 8AM of September 26 to feed Yassu and let him do his usual unloading , the rain was just starting.  Never had I imagined that it will get worse beyond proportions.  At 4PM, the flood water got inside the apartment and all was just a mess.  At 8PM, the water got knee high and we became desperate.  Yassu, now distracted from his routine, still managed to cooperate.  Around 4AM, Yassu was whining... he missed two of his toilet schedules and it's understandable.  We coaxed him to let it go, but he just wouldn't.  He stayed quiet for maybe 30 minutes then we just heard the sound of water dripping from where he was uncomfortably sitting for the night.  He was peeing on his seat but you can see how guilty he looked on his face.  Yassu managed to hold in his poop for more than 20 hours.  Around 8AM, we went up so can he unload on the roof.  We just secured everything in tight plastic bags and placed it somewhere where the flood water can't reach them.

During the Ondoy typhoon and Pasig flood last September, 2009...

     We were stranded for 3days.  On the first night, we had to sleep with our feet dangling on  the flooded floor, had to waddle on the muddy water so we could cook our food, and do other nasty stuff so we could survive. The experience taught me a lot of things and made me look at life differently.  And Yassu was there, he helped us determine who among the people around us will remain our friends amidst the tragic times.

Jeb and Yassu on the roof.  In the background, people with their improvised boats...

     We got help from unexpected people.  The neighbors across the street whom we had not even talked with in the 2 years we were renting the apartment took us in and Yassu.  The owner of our own apartment refused to let us in because they were scared of the 'big' dog.  I still remember how they ask numerous favors from us when things were still normal, and yet they turned their backs when it was our time to ask for favor.  Life is funny isn't it?

At home, when Yassu visited Yesha last December 2009...

     My journey in life is far from over, heck it may only be just beginning!  I will still have so much to learn and I'm just thankful that I find meaning and connection from doing ordinary things... like taking care of my dogs.  Yesha and Yassu have taught me lots of things, to love unconditionally among others -- and I'm thankful and I feel blessed for the gift of friendship that I share with them.  To those who are planning to have dogs or pets, I tell you, it doesn't look as easy.  You gotta have your heart in the right place, because having a pet is not about you... it's about them.

      
     I'd like to end this long post with a clip* from one of my favorite dog movies of all time, "Hachiko:  A Dog's Tale."  This movie is based on the real story of Japan's most faithful dog, Hachi.  It tells the tale of loyalty and life-long friendship between a man and a dog.  I've seen this movie like five times but it never fails to touch me every single time...

     Yassu is now in the province.  Yesha lives with my parents and Yassu is with Jeb's folks.  I kinda miss them both.  Earlier I wrote that in owning dogs or pets, we need to have the right attitude and the right motivation in order to bring out the best in them.  I realized that in trying to bring out the best in them, they brought out the best in me.

     I dedicate this blog post to my two most loyal bestfriends, Yassu and Yesha.  With you guys in tow, I look twice as cute. ☻

 

   I will see you soon! 

*Sari-sari store is the local term for a variety store.

*Video courtesy of YouTube.

tags: lessons we can learn from animals, lessons on life from dogs, what we can learn from animals and dogs