Eight Below

If you were impressed with those loyal dogs in Eight Below, you would be even more impressed with my family dog Pickles. From day 1 when I come to know him, he has never failed to make me laugh whenever I saw him. When Papa scolded him, Pickles would bend his fore legs covering half of his face to ask for Papa's forgiveness. When strays dogs lined outside our house, Pickles would chase them away thinking he was bigger than them. In actual fact, he's the size of a toy dog, and those stray dogs are at least twice his size!

Pickles was a very wise dog that sometimes I doubt whether he’s a dog afterall. Mama cried this morning when I came downstairs and I knew immediately that something must have happened to Pickles. We heard Pickles cried of pain last night because he was bitten by stray dogs yesterday afternoon. Mama and I went to check on him and made sure he was in his house (worrying that rats might attack his eyes since he was rather weak last night). We made sure he had water and wouldn’t suffer from dehydration. When I was resting in bed last night, I heard him cry and it broke my heart. It was midnight and there was no vet clinic opened at that hour. I thought he could survive, I still could remember how he walked slowly to his house wagging his tail at me when I called his name last night.

I was more hurt when I heard from our domestic helper that Pickles was pacing up and down the kitchen floor waiting for us to wake up this morning. Papa opened Pickles's gate at 3am to let him out because Pickles liked to sleep on tiled floor when he was unwell. Pickles must have waited all night, endured the pain, waited for us to wake up and formally said Goodbye.

Pickles the Lion, he always believed that he was a lion and he fought with those big dogs. We must always remember he is a brave dog. I’ve informed the municipal office to remove those stray dogs near our house – to make Pickles’ sacrifice a worthwhile cause.

Don’t be too upset. Let's the fond memories of Pickles stay with us forever. Remember:
How cute he was when he rolled on grass when he had constipation
How naughty he was, he loved to nibble everyone's feet when he first came to our house
How ‘manja’ he could be when he wanted Papa & my brother-in-law to massage and comb his hair
How tamed he was when he “minta ampun, minta tolong” when we shouted at him when he misbehaved
How brave he was to protect our family when he didn’t allow intruders into our gate (don’t mention house, he didn’t allow accessibility to even the gate).




Rest well Pickles, you will always be in our heart.