I wonder why I never dreamed about him at all even though I think about him everyday.

Bobby's Tale-- The Adoption.

These were two of the first few pictures I took of Bobby, probably from the first day or two after I got him back from the animal shelter. You can see that he was super skinny, because there was basically no meat on the bones, he didn't even have a butt cheek!

I didn't know what came over me that day when I went to the animal shelter. I had a broken old Blackberry that had a internet service worse than a go phone, and after I decided to search for an animal shelter address for the first time, it led me to the middle of a residential area. I almost gave up but tried another address and ended up finding the shelter I wanted to find. Did I suddenly gained a interest in sheltered animals? Or was Bobby calling me that day to pick him up somehow? Who knows! It was, at least I heard, a very high kill place. Pets are kept there for only five days. It was Bobby's seventh day. When I went there, my eyes immediately spotted him because he was standing up with his paws holding the metal bar and cried the loudest in there and shaked his tail very very hard. He was locked in the middle of a row of cages, very dark inside and he kind of blended in, so I didn't get to see him very well other than that he had very shinny and large eyes, and a very very big black nose, it was dry and cracking. He had this thing that never quite changed, when he was very very scared, he screams, I mean, not like a bark, but a scream, like a mad little girl on top of her lungs. Our groomer later laughed and told me when I sent him for a hair cut the first time that she had never met a dog who screamed like that, I cracked up and said, "yep, that's just him." So then I bent down to see him on that day, he reached out both paws, squeezed my hand and pulled it into the cell to lick it. He also grabbed my heart into the cell. When I got up and ready to walk down the hall a bit more, he started crying, it kind of surprised me, so I went back. I looked at his perfectly round shiny eyes and cute black nose, couldn't believe a dog like that had to be locked up in a cell. It was such a sad place that I almost cried looking at all the dogs there. It took all in all ten minutes to take down his number and go up to the office to fill out an application. Then, he was mine.

I was told that he would be ready to be picked up the next day after he was spayed. After I paid a meager $80, I grabbed my wallet with both hands and walked away, but then immediately turned back to the counter. I have this annoying habit of repeating myself many times of the same questions when I know perfectly that I am being redundant. I walked up to the cashier and asked him again, "so this procedure that's going to be done, is it safe?" He rolled his eyes, and said, "woooooo noooooo it is very dangerous, is it very dangerous?" He asked the girl behind him, and she said, "yep." I still had my wallet in both of my hands held high up to my chest and said, " O.K., thank you." And then turned around and walked out. When the emotions started to chill, I thought to myself, "oh, no, what have I done?" That night when I got into bed, I thought, "the little black dog is having a tough time right now, but he doesn't know that after this day, tomorrow he will get sunshine and lots of running on the grass!" Then I fell alseep.

The next day I shopped for a new dog bed, new food bowl, a new blanket, and putted it in the passenger seat and came to the shelter again to pick him up. I could barely contain my excitment, imagine my first time rescuing a little dog from the shelter, it was a good deed! I was directed to wait outside a mobile building where Bobby would be released to me, then I saw the vet, he had a big belly and a greasy apron on, and he looked kind of like a butcher. He said to me, "ok, let's see the paper work, hmm, yeah, ok, this little guy right? haha, very energetic! Wait here!" He went in, shut the door behind him, a while later he came out and handed me a stack of papers and a dog. I looked at him not understanding what he meant by "very energetic," but I was soon to find out. I took a couple of hard stares at the little black dog making sure it was the same one I picked yesterday, and took a look at the paper work that he handed me, on the column of Pain medication applied at this time, it said, "None." So are you telling me that you cut off his balls without giving him any pain medication???

He certainly didn't look like it. Right off the bat he was jumping up and down, smelling everything around him, pulling hard on the leash dragging me left and right with him, then I finally got a good look at him under the sun. He was much skinnier than I thought, his hair looked really dry and messy, it was not the all black and shiny coat like I imagined at all.

The whole riding home I put this little guy near me on the passenger seat. He behaved really good in the car, but looked a little unsettling, not knowing where he was being taken to now. And I felt a little unsettling, not knowing what to expect, kind of felt like I just randomly picked up a homeless person and putted him in my car and took him into my private home. When I opened the door to my house, Kelly jumped up like a cat and viciously barked. I had to separate them for a little while, realizing that perhaps she didn't "really" understand that serious heart to heart conversation I had with her the night before about bring in a new dog. After realizing that the new dog was not going away, Kelly got mad.

The first night was really hard, Kelly soon went from being mad to afraid, she hid in the little space between the bed and the night stand and stuck out her fluffy head to check if Bobby was there, and only when I took him out of my bedroom, did she came out to play. Not knowing this new environment, for a couple of times, Bobby tried to bite Kelly's neck, not for real, but to scare her. That night, afraid Bobby would attack Kelly, I decided to put him in the bathroom right next to my bedroom. I had a sizable bathroom that's a little bigger than my bedroom, don't ask me why, it just was! So I putted Bobby there and closed the door, he immediately started to scream, I right away felt bad, so I let him back into the room and let him slept next to my bed. I was amazed at how sturdy he seemed, he just got spayed, had a bit of a high temperature, and yet he was very happy and excited. He couldn't take a bath for the first week because of the surgery stitches even though his hair was quite dirty. I ran my fingers on his rib cage and butt and felt nothing but bones, and felt so much sympathy for this little guy. The shelter said he was a stray, but who abondoned him? Where was he from? What had happened to his last home? How did he look like when he was a baby? If only he could tell me... The whole night I was half asleep, half awake to keep a watch out for him and Kelly, and so did the next several night. It was a little stressful, a little funny, and a lot of excitment.

Later my boyfriend came to visit me, and he name the little black dog Bobby, after Bobby Kennedy. So that's how it all started, a really plain and humble beginning, nothing exceptional, but what turned out to be the most amazing and precious 13 months I had with the most amazing little dog in the world. My home was old and crumbly, my kitchen was crammed and small, but I felt lucky because I had everything that I needed.

After a couple of complete insomniac nights crying like a manic, I sudden slept for two hours this morning, I even ate food too. A dear friend of mine said she prayed to God for me and Bobby, and this morning I felt a great serenity. I could never understand why it ended all this suddenly, we were inconsolable but had to move on. Yesterday my husband and I ran all over the place for a casket and a garden statue to bury him. It was not easy to find a good statue and in this chaotic mess we ended up getting a water fountain with non functioning parts, Jeff took out a shovel and dug a hole by the lemon tree, while I got out towels and cleaned the blood off his face. It took a really long time because once I cleaned one side and turned him over, the other side started to bleed more blood. I looked at my baby whom I didn't event dare to spank when he misbehave to bleed so much now, I don't know how hurt he must had been. The first night after we got him home, I felt like I was buried under the ground with no air, I went out to the living room floor every hour to see and touch him, he was still warm, but with each hour he turned cold. The next morning I looked at him under the sun light he was completely cold, and I lifted the blanket under him and saw a pool of blood.

I know it is the living memory of him that we must cherish but we were drowning in regret. Why did we let him run? why didn't we run out to the street and stop the truck? Why didn't we go to the bookstore or get soap? Why didn't we do ANYTHING that could push that split of a second sooner or later? Why? He was so unlucky, he came from the shelter with nothing but a bag of bones, he gave so much love to everyone, He loved my mom, Kelly, me and Jeff, brought so much happiness and taught us so much about love. I was determined to be the person to show him the love that he didn't get in the lonely world before and give him a good life, but it all ended suddenly.We weren't given any chance!

Baby you are gone, my heart is torn out. I love you more than anyone and anything in the world. Rest in peace til we see each other again. Love,  mama.

I had a really good day during the day yesterday because it was the day that we had our wedding shower at my husband's work place. I got dressed up around noon while Bobby followed me in and around the house, when I was finished, I picked him up and held him in my arms like a baby and we looked in the mirror and I asked, "who's mommy?" He looked in the mirror because he knew. After the shower my husband decided  to come home with me, which was a couple of hours earlier than usual and work from home. I cooked chicken legs for Kelly and Bobby while he worked, and after they ate, I went to the bank, filled in on the gas, and went to Ross to pick up a small cooking pot. When I came home, my husband had already finished working and was playing fetch with Bobby in the backyard. I let Kelly out in the front yard for some fresh air, and then we decided to go for dinner. I had the most amazing felafel sandwich at our local restaurant. We went home hand in hand. As we drove by a intersection, Jeff said, "hmmm, I think we need soap, " I said, "ok, Ralphs on the right, and Fresh and Easy on the left.  I kind of want to go browse at bookstore too." He said, "hmmm, I feel like going home and walk the doggies and sleep." I said Ok.

It was almost 9pm when we came home to Kelly and Bobby, and put them on the leash and walked a really long way. We always liked to check out the neighborhood houses and see how they decorate their front yard. As we turned towards our street, I was in such a good mood, I was dreaming about all the holidays coming up, and all the holiday dinner and decorations, and how much fun we'd be having this year with Kelly and Bobby all excited for cheese and treats. Jeff said, " do I have your permission to take Bobby off the leash when we get on our street?" I said ok, but at least let's get to our side of the street. It was a little past nine, there was no cars in the neighborhood, and we were two minutes from home, Bobby liked to run, so we let him. Suddenly, he ran across the street and ran back across the street again directly towards me and I saw two beaming lights of a truck and a baning sound and Bobby didn't show up in front of me. It was dark and I run to the street, he was laying on the street. Eyes wide open and he was gone. I started screaming, there was no sound but my scream that pierced the night, and I started yelling at Jeff to find a vet. He ran down the street to get his car and we drove to the vet. It was perhaps the longest 10 minutes of my life, I thought I could feel his breathing but then I couldn't anymore. When we got to the vet he didn't have a pulse or breathing, and then I went into the operating room and saw blood coming everywhere from his ears and nose. I told the vet he was still warm, but she said he had no response.  We took Bobby home and laid him on the living room floor. It was the worst moment of my life.

The first day Bobby got to my new house, everyone was taking a house tour and I turned around and saw him outside exploring the backyard. I asked Jeff, "so did you let him out?" Apparently nobody did, he just jumped out from the window and right away fell into the backyard. Kelly thinks he's crazy in general. Sometimes she tries to teach him how to behave, but the fact that she's smaller than him doesn't really help things! Bobby and Kelly are staying with my mom this week. So he's most recent mischief? Catching a real bird while being walked by my mom. She said the little bird panicked and screamed but luckily she was able to pull it out from Bobby's paw to let it flew away! Imagine Bobby's disappointment! I laughed so hard when I heard it, my little silly dog!

A little sneak preview of the house. It's impossible to take nice pictures now with all the boxes stuffed up to the ceiling, and the mess just seems to be growing every day. We are nervously getting some estimates on repainting some places in the house and do a few minor repairs. Fingers crossed that it won't get too expensive! I can't wait til I have my piano here with me so I can start practicing again and get back to normal, will I ever get my "normal" back again?

Kelly and Bobby each got a hair cut today, I love the way they look right after a clean cut! Don't they look adorable? Bobby look like a real sturdy little boy, pets are the best!

I don't know what world Bobby was from but where ever he had been he was not trained to walk on a leash. Kelly never had this problem, she naturally was just the best dog in the world, but, Bobby always pulled like a manic when I try to walk him, that was two dogs at once pulling their leashes at different directions, with several times a day he'd yank the leash out of my hand and chase after a cat or a squirl, directly across the street,with cars coming right at him, and so I decided to ask the internet for help. After reading a few articles on how to train puppy on a leash, we set out for practice.
It amazed me so much that all it took was a 20 minute session with me and him stop walking together when he pulled and constantly praising him when he did good, and now he is like a totally different dog. I can't believe how much he is willing to please me and try to do what I want him to do, and how smart he really is if I take the time to teach him.  Once again, the internet has saved our lives, I feel so good that my little doggy is finally learning to behave!

Remember that I have a second dog, and his name is Bobby? I believe I wrote very little about him, but he has plenty of stories to tell! Before I got him from the shelter, somehow I thought all types of dogs are well behaved like Kelly, who politely waits by the doorstep while her chicken is being prepared twice a day, is house trained, grooms herself like a cat, despise physical activity and only eat kibble to please my boyfriend and jumps over any kind of dirty things we come across during a walk, Bobby is almost the exact opposite. He is energetic, adventurous, jump like a black bunny (especially with his ears flapping in the air) has a good appetite for any kind of food, likes to play fetch, and tear up the house behind my back. He also LOVE to explore the neighborhood and steal treats whenever he can and leave a trail of crime scenes behind, which HE THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER FIND OUT IF I WASN'T WATCHING. One time I heard rambling noise coming from my bedroom from my piano studio, when I rushed in, Bobby was standing on top of my desk, rummaging through a pile of delicate perfume bottles.

Today after running around the world trying to get things done, I came home around noon to a very warm and sunny winter day, I thought this was perfect weather for a dog walk, and so the three of us went for a walk in the neighborhood. Right after we got back home, I had to pick up a phone call and at the same second Bobby ran out of the house. He would from time to times run out and make a tour of the next house or two, say hi to the bull dog across the street, sometimes taking Kelly with him, but always come back to my call. This time was different, by the time I got on my shoes and ran out of the door to look for him, he was nowhere to be found! I had a bad feeling and jumped in my car and started driving up and down the street, I asked a gardener who was working near by if he had seen a little black dog and he pointed to a big street near by and said, "yeah, he went that way!" About two block away from my house is a big street with some pretty serious traffic, I started driving up and down on that street, no Bobby, live or dead, then I started combing through the smaller roads along the bigger street, still nothing, after about 30 minutes of search I began to feel the blood rushing upward to my head, I knew I shouldn't have spanked him after he chewed up my Rayban glasses yesterday, he must have felt that I was an evil witch and left home! I also had students coming very soon for their piano lessons, had to finish a school assignment, read text book and driving out in the evening... just as I thought he was gone for good and started driving back home, I suddenly saw a fast running little dog far ahead of me racing full speed towards my house, it was a pretty sight, the sky was very blue, the sun was very warm, and all the trees had turned red and OMG I FOUND MY DOG!

This time there was no spanking, I was just way too happy to see him! I sped up to catch up with him and called him to jump in the car and then we went home. It was a happy ending at last!

Bobby has a terrible chewing problem, he chews on everything from my clothes, shoes, sun screen lotion bottle, razor blades, to cell phone, my notebook, or a wooden spatula, I bought all sorts of chewing bones for him but sometimes they just aren't nearly as good as the stuff that he's not supposed to chew on, what should I do?

School is going to start soon, but as of now my schedule is still not settled yet and I feel like everything is hanging in mid air. This has got to be one of the busiest summer vacation ever, after my summer classes I had a few weeks of break, between practicing that got hung up during a regular semester and teaching students, running some seriously time consuming errands, and getting a bad cold,  I also got ANOTHER dog, yes, here you go,

yep, a real dog. It all started last week when I decided to pay a visit to the animal shelter and learn a thing or two about it. And may I use the expression of "opening a can of worms" because that's exactly what happened to me? It's like a horror movie except it's real. Most pets don't make it out of the shelter alive, and the particular one that I visited keeps pets for about five days and if no one come to claim them by then they are euthanized.

I was so excited when I arrived at the shelter, only that my excitement was followed immediately by sadness. I saw a dog looked almost just like Kelly but three times bigger, and he was wearing a red bandana around his neck, and he looked very scared and was rocking left and right  inside his little doggy cell not knowing why or how he ended up there, this reminded me very much of Kelly when I first found her. I also saw the black little poodle mix in the picture and he was the loudest cry baby so I naturally bend down to see him, and he quickly reached out both paws and squeezed my hand in between them. I typed in both dogs' numbers in my phone and went back into the office to ask about information on them. The officer behind the computer told me that the black little guy was about three years old and he was a stray, this was his last day for a chance to be picked up, and the white fluffy dog was turned in by his owner, he was 9 years old and possibly had arthritis and that was the reason why the owner had turned him in. It really broke my heart when I heard this, and I wanted to keep this dog but I was not sure if I could really afford the medical expense if I really needed it. To my relieve, the second time when he checked on the file, he said the dog had already been adopted and was going to be picked up the next day.

So that settled it, the little black poodle mix was going home with me. The adoption procedure was simple, all I had to do was pay, and so I did. The dog needed to be neutered and given all kinds of shots and that only took one day. Next day he was ready to be picked up, I made a run to the pet store to buy a new leash, a dog bed, some more kibble and food bowls and got everything ready for the new dog. When I came back to the the animal shelter again I was given all kinds of forms and papers and then finally the dog, all fixed and on a leash and jumping up and down. That's when I was first able to see him well under the sun light, he was really dirty and he was nothing but a bag of bones, but he's got a ton of energy. That's it, it's a happy ending at last, one puppy saved out of many. I had a chill feeling as we walked out of there leaving all the other dogs behind. So I tried to not think about it anymore, farewell, little puppies, I'm sorry I can't save you all.