Man's Best Friend

I have a dog, a red bloodhound dog, named Chuckie... but that was before. It was given to me Christmas season of 2006, I was still in the Philippines. He's still a puppy when Mark promised to give me a dog in exchange of my dog who died. I lost a mongrel dog back in Zamboanga City, we are about to cross the street going to the night market at La Vista Beach Resort. She got hit by a car running so fast and didn't even stop when they killed my dog. So what, if she's just a mongrel dog? She's still a part of this cruel world. I was there when they hit my poor dog, I felt the big impact that killed my dog and when the time I came to see and checked on her, she's lying in the ground, with her tongue stuck out, still breathing, cannot move but her eyes are still open and after a few minutes, she died. I shed a tear for my poor dog. My mom and my sister said "its ok" that maybe she's intended to die to save us from being jinxed at that night.

At first, I have only seen my new puppy which I named Chuckie in pictures that Mark sent to us when I was still in the Philippines, and oh, by the way, Winn was with me in the Philippines at that time (his 2nd visit). He's just so adorable in pictures with his ears are so big and long. That whenever he started to eat his food, his ears was in his plate and his paws are nearly big as the lion's paws. When I came to the US on July 4, 2007... that was the first time I saw my new puppy, Chuckie. But, he's no longer a little puppy, he's a huge puppy as the size of a normal dog and he got a tail like a baseball bat. My face was full of happiness the first time I laid my eyes on him, seeing him wiggling its tail and barking on me.

I felt so good, that I didn't feel any harm from him because we just met and I am no longer a stranger to him. I was amazed that he was a good dog all along and became bigger and stronger because Winn was feeding him almost anything... chocolates, steaks, baked potato and even dog food. I also found out, that Winn was showing my picture to Chuckie at the time of my absence. It sounds funny for me but I am still glad that its not hard for us to know each other. I took care of him, feed him with dog food and steaks, bath him 2-3 times a week and play with him.

In a short span of time that we are together, many things happened between me and Chuckie. There's a time that he made me smile because of the things he do as a normal dog, like digging a hole where he will keep his bones for the time being, chase me whenever he sees me running and barked at me whenever he sees me outside the house letting me know that he wants to play with me. He will run and chase my car whenever me and Winn will go to town or to church. There's also a time that he made me upset because he stole and chew the other pair of my shoe, together with my two pairs of flip-flops. Dogs can be really bad sometimes and doesn't know what they're doing but they are just so adorable and still a man's best friend.

When we moved in to our new place, Chuckie was not with us. He stayed in his new buddy from our old place. I know you're going to give your comments and reactions but please, let me just explain... When we are out of town for a week or so, Chuckie was not with us. He's just so big that he will not fit in in my car and he moves a lot, we used my car for long road trips to save some gas. While we are away from home, leaving Chuckie behind, we let our good neighbor that has a little brother feed him. He's been good to Chuckie while we are away from home. So my husband decided to give Chuckie away because we are always out of town and always on a road trip that he cant be with us even in a short trip.

I was so sad to finally decide what we gonna do with him since we are also moving out from our old house. Few weeks before we will move out, we finally gave Chuckie to his new buddy and he tried to change his name to Jed. But he will always be my good Chuckie. I know that we have good memories together that even we gave him away, he still come and see me in our old house and rest in the porch, and that we still buy him dog food and feed him whenever he visits us and play with me. To top it all, he sneaked out my newest flip-flops and chewed it just in time we are about to moved out from the old house the following day but that was actually fine because I can buy a new pair of flip-flops on summer time.

And now that we finally moved in to our new house, there's a time that I miss Chuckie, my red bloodhound dog, so adorable, so playful and so big. There's a time that when I read statements from some of my friends dog like Justine, Andy, Paris, Tito, Champ, Roxy, Buddy and Maximus, I felt like I was a fool to give Chuckie away to his new buddy. There's even a time that whenever I watched dog movies, I cant help it but to mention Chuckie's name and my husband unconsciously joked on me asking "Do you want me to steal Chuckie back from them?" and I know Chuckie is in good hands that they can take care of him everyday. That his new buddy will not leave him and can play with him all the time after school.

I love dogs, like everyone else in this world, who wanted a man's best friend, I have always wanted to have a good dog. This time, I have been wanting a yellow lab puppy that I can take care of, train, play with and watch it grow. When the time comes for that, I promised to never let go of my dog because he/she will be my pet, my baby and my best friend.