Allie as we call our pet is a pure breed Chihuahua. She is a gift from a dear friend for our son James. After turning 15 years old on the 25th of August last year, James wished for a pet dog.
I was not sure how to react to that wish. First, who would take care of the dog given that during daytime we all are out of the house with my husband, son, niece and first cousin are all in school while I am also going to be at work. Secondly, would we be able to finance the needs of a dog given the food and the vaccines she needs from time to time. Thirdly, I am sending two students to college, my son in a private high school and another first cousin in senior high school, hence, finances is pretty tight.
Nevertheless, I communicated this to a very good friend of mine whose dog used to give birth to the number of pets my office mates now have. I was then promised that should her dog gets pregnant she will allocate one for me.
Fast forward February 2019. Early February I got a call from Ma’am Joy, the friend I mentioned earlier. She informed me that I could finally fetch Allie.
Wow! I suddenly felt excited. My excitement has me buying pet paraphernalia without giving much thought which turned out to be a mistake of mine. Right then I failed to calculate how small a Chihuahua is - a lesson learned indeed.
The day we scheduled to fetch the dog arrives. I told James to get ready and prepare. I thought he’d get even more excited than I am but instead I got a face opposite to what I expected. I’ve grown concerned and started asking the whys.
Then my son regretfully and sadly narrated to me that having a pet dog entails a big responsibility. James told me how he researched the net about Chihuahua and the many things which needs to be done. He did feel sorry that he appears not ready for a pet dog. Oh la la, he gets cold feet with responsibility.
Nevertheless the mother in me never waiver. I told my son to not worry because me and his daddy would be around to guide him and assist him. And so we embark on an hour drive early Saturday morning to fetch Allie.
As we saw our soon to be member of the family, we felt love at first sight. Allie was very small then, somehow skinny and silent. My sister warned me of a noisy Chihuahua but instead what we have is a silent one. We felt worried in the first few weeks because Allie never bark.
Eventually Allie has grown to love us as we love our pet dog. She would wag her tail upon seeing us at the end of each day. James learned responsibility as well as he feeds Allie and remove her poop and cleaned her urine in our floor. But more importantly Allie has taught me many things. She healed me. We used to have a dog at home growing up but that dog was beaten by some people and when whitey came home to us, he has so much injuries that we literally watched him die and since then we never had a dog. My parents started to have a dog late last year, thus, encouraging my resolve to have Allie.
Allie has been a blessing to us. She is another thread that binds me, my husband and our son. She has brought more fun at home that I literally want to be home early as well. Truly, Allie is a pet of a kind!