Do All Dogs Go To Heaven?

Our Japanese spitz, Law Pan, died due to heart failure yesterday morning. He was 15 years old. Law Pan is a Chinese term meaning "the boss." But Law Pan did not exactly live the life of a boss. Since he was the only male dog, he would hump all our female dogs whenever he could. And once, when we were trying to house train him, he ran around our living room and peed on most of our furniture. My mom didn't want new puppies that time. And she certainly didn't appreciate smelling pee after an exhausting day at work. So she sent Law Pan to live in our mini balcony. But the energetic dog that he was, Law Pan would wake us up early in the morning with his loud and continuous barks. So my mom sent him up to the roofdeck, where he spent almost 10 years living there with little human contact. Someone would put him in his cage when it rained, and would bring him food during meal time. But that's about it. Until our laundry woman, Aling Nita, came to live in our house. She took pity on Law Pan, and brought him to live with her in the maid's quarters. She would call him "Gwapo," play with him, and talk to him, and bathe him, and feed him. She would soothe him when he howled and limped in the middle of the night. The vets said the limp was due to painful arthritis. They soon became inseparable. Law Pan would always follow her wherever she went. And Aling Nita didn't feel comfortable without Law Pan around.

Aling Nita was inconsolable upon learning the news. She was crying when I left in the morning, and was still miserable when I came home at night. She laments that she now has no one to talk to. Come to think of it, Law Pan really was her only friend.

I wish I had pictures of Law Pan to post here. He was really a "gwapo" dog, with snow white fur that needed minimum attention. Sadly (and oddly), we do not have pictures of him. We have pictures of all our dogs, except Law Pan's. Haaaaay.....

*****

This is a picture of the mongrel who loiters around in our office compound. Her name is Chi-chi, but Richmond calls her "The Resident Evil." I'm not a fan of the game or the movie, so I don't get the humor. But I laugh anyway. =) Anyways, as you can see, Chi-chi is in a terrible state. Her fur is almost non existent, and she has scabs and galis all around her body. Her ribs are sticking out. I do not know what happened to her, but she started limping during the first week of January. A truck must have run over her while she was sleeping.

It's ironic that Chi-chi is in this state, considering that I work for a company where most of the members of the sales team are veterinarians or animal nutritionists. And I feel that I should do something about it.

So I plan to put Chi-chi, and another still healthy puppy in a cage. So that they won't drink the water coming from our chemical production area.

Will post pics of Chi-chi monthly.

*****

Woke up around 2:30am a while ago because Chan-chan kept licking my face. Okay.. gross for non dog lovers out there. Sensing something was wrong, I sat up and searched my bed for any sign of canine excrement. None. Hmmm... what could be wrong? She (Chan-chan) isn't usually that malambing. So I turned on my night lamp, and saw that Chan-chan threw up.. a little damp spot right at the foot of my bed. Aaaaargh. If she had peed on my bed, I would probably have spanked her. But she threw up, and that must mean she felt sick. I checked if she was feverish but she wasn't. Must have been a stomach upset. My sheets have just been changed, so I was hesitant about having it changed again. I entertained the thought of just letting the damp spot dry by itself, but it was just too gross for me. So there I was, at 2:30 in the morning, washing my blanket in my sink. Chan-chan followed me to the bathroom, and waited in one corner, while I washed and scrubbed the offending spot. Licking my face must have been her way of waking me up to apologize for the throw up.