I was part of the third batch of five litters of my late Mumsy Pica and Popsy Sumo. I was also the biggest of the pack but I allowed the smaller puppies to suck milk from my Mumsy Pica first so I could later crawl all over them and have good, soft, cushions underneath me when I sucked my milk! I was that smart even on day one!
I came from a noisy, spoiled, grumpy pack . . . and I chose to remain that way. Life is too short to be all nice and quiet when one can be obnoxious and get all the pampering. . . at all times!
Keeper told me that on our first week alone, even with our eyes still closed, my batch howled so loud which bothered the whole neighborhood down Rainbow Avenue! Keeper did not report for work and frantically called the vet who advised Keeper to simply wrap a chilled bottle of water from the refrigerator in a towel and allow us to cuddle in it! And it worked because the summer heat was getting on our puppy nerves! But only for less than an hour because as soon as the bottle turns warm, we were howling louder than ever!
So Keeper kept several bottles chilling in the fridge, transferred our pack to a cooler place with a fan cooling us all day! Keeper could have installed air-conditioning in our house and kept us cooled all summer but she was such a cheapskate!
I am second from left.
Keeper was so worried that she bought little baby bottles, nipples and infant milk as an alternative in case my Mumsy Pica refused to feed us. Of course, it didn’t happen because Mumsy Pica would return to feed us every hour and leave after feeding. Keeper had no choice but to delegate things at work so she could stay home longer to care for us 24/7 and assign Popsy Sumo to help puppysit us at all hours, something which my Popsy Sumo enjoyed doing anyway. We live a good pampered life until my pack were distributed to Keeper friends later, except for me.
So what made Keeper decide to keep me in spite of her decision to give away all the litters of my Mumsy Pica and Popsy Sumo? The same reason she decided to keep my big brother Bogart from the first batch: my big, adorable puppy eyes looked at her and said droolingly, "Take me, I’m yours . . . for life!" And that’s how the Houndsinheaven became four lovable hounds living, loving and playing wild in our house called Heaven!
Bogart
I was born on January 15, 2001, the day my father, Sumo, turned one year old and my mother, Pica, turned ten.
In that freaky mismatch of brown and black, May-December romance of two mixed-blood hounds, I caught Keeper’s eye. While my litter pack were given to friends, I eyed Keeper and our eyes locked in agreement:
“Take me. I’m yours.”
And on that freaky note, the love affair of a dog and a human was etched in the spirit of a house called Heaven. Yes, I am Keeper’s first love! Isn’t that banal? Long before that whiny SuperDog, Sweepy, arrived in Heaven (a year after!), I was Keeper’s First Love. Keeper is My GirlFriend. Now you know why I do not need another GF. I already have one. The Only One.
So defying all the house rules in Heaven that allowed only two dogs, Keeper mustered all her courage to keep me. And so while all the rest of the first litter of my quirky parents were distributed to friends, I, Bogart, the love of my Keeper, remained in Heaven.
I am the black puppy here.
When I was puppy, I played with the only remaining brother I had, Fudge. Keeper was hoping to keep both of us so she kept delaying the time when Fudge would be given away. We were like two rowdy pups playing with our father Sumo. We would run around tirelessly until one day, we woke up and found Fudge lying down weakly.
The vet could not find anything wrong with him. Keeper held Fudge in her arms and cried helplessly. In the stillness of the afternoon, Keeper gathered us in her arms and mustered all her powerful healing energies and discovered her wild voice and spirit. While Fudge lie dying in Keeper’s arms, Keeper transformed herself and howled with us as we bade goodbye to a painless death for Fudge.
After Fudge died, I got sick and was nursed by one of our cats named Gold. After I had not eaten for a week, Keeper held me in her arms, gathered all the hounds and tearfully sang her goodbyes for a painless death for me. But this time, the gods were smiling down at Keeper for I got well and to this day, I am still with my greatest human love.
We need not shout it to the world.
And I need not fight over her love.
While she'd hug and kiss all the hounds in Heaven,
deep in the recesses of my silent heart,
I knew that I will forever be my Keeper’s Great Love.
Me at left with Pica
Before that, I was part of a cross-breed litter in Las Pinas. When it was time to distribute us, nobody wanted a black dog until my original keeper, Tito Sario, thought of calling Heaven where his favorite nieces lived, and asked if they wanted to adopt a black puppy. All of Heaven shouted in joy since they adore black animals!
They eagerly awaited my arrival which was pretty traumatic. I was transported in the back of a car driven by Tito Sario’s son, Junjun, and it made me jittery and hysterical. To this day, I bark at Junjun, even if he was one of my favorite keepers as a puppy.
I arrived in Heaven, welcomed with hugs and kisses from people I lovingly call my Keepers. I was also licked in welcome by an old but feisty female dog Pica who adopted me like I was her own puppy! After my initial fear, I surveyed Heaven with Pica guiding me and met all other beings at the back of Heaven all watching me with guarded eyes. The cats became my playmates and the birds flying freely around Heaven serenaded me all day. Living in Heaven was indeed like heaven on earth!
I grew up fast and in my sixth month, I was bigger than Pica and scared the cats and birds when I ran wildly around Heaven in my clumsy play. It was also around that time, under the spell of the full moon when Pica was in heat, that I saw her transformed into a sexy, seductive dog and she transformed puppy me into an adult male hound in less than a year!
When I turned one year old in January of 2001, I also became a proud father of six adorable puppies! Pica and I mated and had several more litters. Most of our puppies were later given as gifts to Keeper’s friends, except Bogart and Sweepy.
I became the Alpha hound in Heaven and suddenly, the small playful puppy that I was became the big watchdog of my growing family. I stopped mating Pica after our sixth batch of puppies, when Keeper decided to bring Pica on vacation everytime Pica was into heat.
In 2005, Bogart fought with me over Pica. So as not to repeat the fighting incident, Keeper ordered houses built overnight for all of us, to keep me away from the other hounds. Since then, I never get to play with Bogart or Sweepy. I play with Keeper instead.
In March 2008, Pica was put to sleep before she felt pain from a small tumor in her mouth. She was 17 years old. I was so heartbroken I got seriously sick. I got well after a month and I am now eight years old and have no need to find another mate.
I love watching over my family, my Keepers and our house called Heaven, down the once sleepy Rainbow Avenue. . .
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