The Age of Dogs.

i remember the first time my father introduced me to dogs. i was around 5-6 years old, and dad somehow called me downstairs to the living room. i went downstairs and to the left, just in front of our ancient television set that was still not that ancient that time.

i squatted and he motioned for me to look at the back door, and there they were. two dogs came in rushing inside as if saying, "hello!!!!! it's me! love me!"

and i did.

dad named them Prince and Princess. Prince was a generally white dog mix with a brown "mask" covering the left (or was it the right?) upper side of his face. Princess, was black and white but i can't remember too much.

it makes me sad knowing things were much of a blur after. yes, it was definitely a core memory. later, i was outside, and tried pulling out something that was stuck in one of my dogs' mouth. it was a blue (or pink?) plastic that in hindsight may have contained food carelessly left somewhere. the dog gagged but it was a deed i would remember.

sadly, the next few memories i have of them were seeing them dead. i'm sure one was already rotting at the time as the smell was something that led me to the discovery. i never was able to ask dad how or why they died. that's something that i can still ask mom though.

still, the next thing i know, i was asking dad where he buried my first two dogs. and that's the end of it.

no crying. nothing iconic. nothing too dramatic. but still core memories for me.

and i still visit them now and then.

fast forward to today. i learned recently that some of the puppies we gave away did not even last 2 years. is this a breaking point in dog ownership? yes, accidents happen. 

but two things that do not count as accidents to me are: an aunt knowingly taking a puppy out to "show off" despite repeatedly being told by the owner-niece that the puppy was not fully vaccinated yet. the poor baby girl got parvo and died. end of story. the aunt pa ang galit.

meet Apollo, or Poypoy. this chap was two months short of his 17th birthday.

another story involved two puppies. one owner who, long story short said, "kung maligsan, maligsan." quite difficult to accept and i still have some trouble dealing with now. and it did. another, a sibling, died some 6 months later because of what i saw to be parvo. but no visits to the vet. just typical "tough don't care" attitude.

never again.

so what is the point of this post then?

i remember asking my dad how old dogs get to be and he told me about how his dogs died of old age, generally, except for those accidents. i thank dad for his stories and his introducing me to the love of dogs.

i hope to do the same.

so if someone asks me, "how old do dogs get to live?"

i'd say, "as old as you love and protect them to be."