Domin’s ears

I have a love-hate relationship with Domin’s ears.

I hated the way one of them (I will call it the troublesome ear) was always clogged up with dirt and grime, despite my weekly cleaning with hydrogen peroxide, despite the putting of ear-drops. I hated the fact that the troublesome ear was always prone to infections. I hated it when it got all red and swollen and she has to take anti-inflammtory medication thereafter.

Yet I so loved her ears! I love the way her ears fly up when she’s running. I love the way her ears twitched. I love the cooling feeling when I hold her ears between my fingers. I love the way I can flip her ears upwards, when she’s awake or sleeping. I love the way I could twist her ears (gently of course). I love the pretty pink colour of the other healthy ear. I so love the ears which have listened to my grumblings and secrets all these years.

In my younger days, I even used to imagine her as Dumbo and her ears as Dumbo’s ears which she can use to fly around (just like Dumbo). I am such a big fan of Domin’s flappy ears!

Domin’s jie-jie

D&D (Medicine time)

No, I am not referring to Dinner & Dance. I am talking about Dodo & Durians (and medicine).

It used to be very easy to feed Dodo medicine in her younger days. I learnt what I could from the books and executed it - press the sides of the jaw with my fingers in order to force the jaw open, push the tablet as far back towards the throat as I could, close the jaw, hold the jaw firmly closed in my hands, tilt her head upwards and blow down the nose.

Then came a stage when medicine-feeding became extremely tough. She would clench her jaws tight and simply refuse to open it. For fear of hurting her, I did not want to press the sides of her jaw too hard (she was after all so small). Sometimes, she would turn away. Other times, she would run and hide.

It was such a challenge to feed her any medicine during this stage. So much coaxing and patience was needed, which I had to admit was lacking in me. Her mummy had to spend a long time persuading her before she succeeded in popping the pill down her throat. Dodo was like a child who resisted her medicine – a sulking little child who tested your patience, your tolerance and your love at medicine time.

Fortunately, there was durian! Dodo is truly a durian dog. She absolutely LOVES durians. We realized the best way to feed her medicine was to put the tablet inside durians. Viola – it will be gone in 2 seconds! She would gobble the lump of durian (with the hidden medicine) from your hands. Medicine time was such a breeze with the help of durians!

Things changed in the last 2 weeks before her departure. Even without the help of any durians, somehow, it became very easy to open her jaws and pop the medicine in her mouth. I was surprised and relieved by the sudden change in her, as I thought it meant that we were back to the early days when feeding medicine was a breeze.

Looking back now, I know she was simply too weak to resist anything then. Poor Dodo.

Dodo’s jie-jie

Domin’s shrine

On one of the shelves in one of the rooms sit Domin’s urn. To the right of the urn is a big wooden photo frame encasing 9 smaller pictures of her. Her harness, leash, water bottle, bowl, shampoo, tidbits also lie on the shelf. I wish there is a way I can shrink her pram and place it on the shelf too, so she’ll always be surrounded by all her belongings.

Oh, there is also an ang-pow I got from my Dad for her during the Chinese New Year that just passed. On the ang-pow there are 5 Chinese characters – their loose translation is “go home and celebrate reunion”. Life and its little ironies!

I call this corner of the house “Domin’s shrine”. I come to this corner when I miss her, when I just feel like seeing or holding her, when there’s something I want to share with her, when I am feeling vexed and I just want to grumble about my unhappiness to her.

I sometimes fiddle with her belongings at the shrine. I shake the packet of unopened doggy French fries, I smell the shampoo (how I miss the smell of a freshly-bathed Domin!), I move her water bottle about, I pet the top of the urn, I hold the urn, I place the harness in my palms and smell it, I pull the retractable lease to make sure its still working…

It has been close to 3 months but I am still fighting a losing battle against the tears. I thought time was supposed to heal all wounds but strangely, the pain is not any lesser now than it was 3 months back.

I am not sure how long the pain will last and when the heart will stop crying. But one thing is for sure – no matter where I may call home subsequently, there will always be a place reserved for Domin’s shrine and all her belongings.

Domin's jie-jie

To dear Dodo 5: missing you

Hi Dodo,

How are you? Jie-jie really miss having you around.

I met up with Yan and Xiang on Saturday (28 March). I am sure you know who they are. They do recall you being hyper-active back then at Flame Tree Park and chasing them and nipping their ankles! Haha…. Those days were so fun and memorable! When all of us were young and carefree and happy…

I have been blogging a lot less in recent weeks. But that does not mean I care less or I love you less. On the contrary, I missed you more than ever. I took such a long time to write this because the tears were just so disruptive =(

Hope Dodo won’t be angry but I sent a sms to Action of Singapore Dog last Sunday night (22 March), asking if they wanted your pram. To-date, there is no reply from them. Maybe the dogs they help are usually bigger and they have no use for the small pink pram which used to be the favourite of one little toy poodle.

While I used to be able to cuddle your warm, furry body, now I can only hold your cold, hard urn. But never mind, I know there will come a day when things will be just as they used to be.

Loving you always,
Jie-jie