Simba was 3-months old when he came into our lives. My boys have been begging Orly and I to get a dog for ages, until we ran out of excuses. I knew how eager they were to have a pet, especially after we moved to a house of our own, but I also knew that teenage boys are prone to passing on the burden of taking care of their pet to their parents. Orly, being the patient and loving dad that he is, entertained the idea as he didn’t want our boys to miss out on the experience. Well, I’ve heard the horror stories from other parents, but because I love my boys too much, I gave in! Ridiculous I know, but I did!! It might also be because of the fact that our boys are growing up so fast and needing me less and less in their lives. Having a dog, I said to myself, might allow us to play our parenting role a little longer. Well, whatever the reason is, I just found myself one afternoon, calling all the breeders that I found online, enquiring for a litter that will be available before Christmas. I was lucky to find a Samoyed breeder, a breed that Seth wanted, and she had one pup left from a litter of 5. I booked an appointment straight away for just me and Orly as we wanted it to be a surprise Christmas present for the boys.
The weekend came and we got to see the pup. We fell in love with the cute white furball and we requested to see the parents. The breeder came out with the dad and the mum Samoyed and they were huge- really huge!! I just don’t think I was ready for a very high maintenance dog and neither was Orly. At that point, we were ready to leave the place when the breeder asked if we were open to considering a different breed, and we said yes. She asked us to wait while she got them and she then came out with 4 very cute pups from a Chow Chow mum and a Japanese Spitz dad – 2 white ones and 2 brown ones. We both preferred the brown ones, which were both boys. Well, I thought to myself ‘I already have 2 boys, so a third one wouldn’t hurt, and besides, I get to keep my status as the only queen of the house, so all good’. One was bigger than the other; he seemed to be more active too. Orly and I preferred the smaller, more behaved one. ‘Phew, that was an easy choice!’ Upon paying the deposit, the breeder agreed to keep him for 3 more weeks as we were heading to Manila that week to spend Chistmas with family and to attend my brother’s wedding. Everyone was happy, and we said goodbye to our brown still unnamed pup.
Three weeks after, we came back exhausted but still in high spirits from a wonderful and memorable holiday. From the airport, Orly and I briefly rested before we went to pick up our boy. When we were in Manila, the breeder had been sending us photos of our baby, building our anticipation to see him again. He had definitely grown, but the first thing we noticed was that something was off about his right eye. It was partially shut and tearing profusely. She said that it might have been due to shampoo irritation from the bath he had took earlier that day. We took her word for it, and came home with our new baby. We parked the car on the side street, put the pup underneath a half Chrismas-wrapper-wrapped cardboard box, rang the doorbell and hid by the side of the garage door. Seth opened the door and saw the box. He didn’t know what to do, went back in and called Keith. They already had an idea of what was in the box, but waited for us to show ourselves. The big smiles on their faces when they saw the contents of the haphazardly decorated box was PRICELESS!! They named him SIMBA, inspired by my brother’s chow chow named Nala. So just like that, we had a new king in the house, and our lives had never been the same again…
Simba’s eye didn’t get any better after a week or so. The breeder didn’t want to help out with the expenses for the vet and instead wanted us to trade Simba with his brother. A week however was enough time for us to have created a strong bond with Simba, so trading him in for another one was not an option. We took him to the vet and his eye problem turned out to be a condition called Entropion, a deformity of the eyelid, such that they are turned inwards resulting in the eyelashes constantly rubbing on the surface of the eye causing irritation, discomfort and pain. Our baby was in pain, and so he ended up having a minor surgery to tuck the eyelids with the hope that his head would not grow as big, otherwise he might have needed to undergo a major surgery. Luckily, the minor procedure was successful, so when the stitches were removed, we saw his beautiful eyes gleaming with joy!
After his surgery, we got to see the real Simba! He was a pain free, super-active, happy little king. For the past 7 months, he no longer wears an irritating cone to prevent him from ripping his stiches out. Nowadays, he has plenty of gas in the tank. He’s our playful attention-seeker who loves stealing the kitchen towels, shoes and slippers which he’ll carry around the house in his mouth as his way of initiating a play of chase – testing our patience, waiting for us to give in and let him out into the backyard or give him a treat. He can easily get bored and likes to take his restlessness out on our wallpaper! Yes, the wallpaper!! I already lost count of how many times he ripped off the wallpaper at our hallway, which justifies the wire fence now guarding our feature wall! He’s got heaps of energy for playing catch and soccer with his dad and kuyas – he is a very good defensive player, and is really competitive (as evident in the butt biting XD). He has pulled out countless of Orly’s plants, so I can’t blame him for banning Simba from entering the backyard – Ka Celso’s sacred zen garden 😛
He is a little rascal, but he is our little ray of sunshine. It has been a while now since our boys stopped greeting us when we walk through the door. It feels great to have someone patiently waiting and wagging his tail, so happy to greet us at the door again. It is good to be loved and to be needed by someone. He never stops licking, showing just how much he appreciates you (and the peanut butter treat). Licks are also aplenty when he receives a good belly rub or a quick evening massage. We catch ourselves talking to him as if he is a our child. I even find myself telling him my worries and my fears. He just stares at me, and sometimes he gets tired of hearing boring stuff and just ignores me and goes back to sleep. He loves his classical music in the morning, and he sits beside Keith when he plays his guitar. He is asleep most times of the day as he still needs 16 hours of sleep, and when I am working from home he prefers to sleep in my home office. You would be amazed at show he perfectly times his bark! It is only as soon as I turn the mute button ‘off‘ on my conference call that he’ll allow himself to start barking at something outside. Such perfect timing (…not), always!
Before we got Simba, we thought our days were so full, but what I realised is that we can always make time and room for love. Our hearts have so much love to give, and I came to a realisation that by loving Simba, we are able to love ourselves more and we get to take better care of ourselves. Simba has put a new routine in our lives. We take turns in walking him twice a day which is great exercise for us. We have become more patient and forgiving and loving because of this little creature.
Today, our baby turns 1, and we celebrated his special day yesterday. I never baked a cake for my boys’ birthdays, but I baked one for Simba, perhaps because he is easier to please. I baked him a peanut flavoured vegetarian carrot cake and was glad that he liked it so much. We spent the afternoon at a dog park and he got to run around with the other dogs. He loved the attention that he got from everyone that day just as much as we loved spending time with him.
Thank you for bringing so much joy to our lives, our dear Simba. We look forward to celebrating more family traditions with you.
“A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can’t get it by breeding for it, and you can’t buy it with money. It just happens along.”
— E.B. White
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