"Dogs are miracles with paws."
Life is indeed about winning and losing. These defining moments help us understand life and its purpose. But there are losses that are indescribably heart-wrenching that we ought to just leave it to the past.
This is the story of our pet dog, Dwight.
Dwight is an askal (asong kalye), simply put, a dog with no breed. He is a dog from the streets. He was born by another askal (Pilong) who died a long time ago. Dwight grew to fear people. Some traumatic childhood experience might have led this but we couldn't really pin point what really happened. He formed the habit of staying away from us as far as he could. It was a hard habit to break. Dogs are supposed to be cuddled and loved with affection. But we couldn't do this to him. But we let it be; and his happy as it is, anyway.
Dwight grew up to be a warrior dog. And I mean "warrior" in every sense of it. We all grew up to believe he is the alpha-male of all dogs in our neighborhood. He freely roams the streets and mingles with other dogs at any given time. He would sometimes start a fight and go home wounded or bruised. But since we cannot touch him, he heals and takes the pain on his own.
Dwight loves to eat. He likes human food more than dog food. We even think that he believes he's human and should be treated just like that. It has become our habit to bring home a little doggie bag for him when we eat outside. And it never failed to excite him.
Dwight is our watch dog. He guards us day in and day out. He also is the only dog that escorts us from the house up to the guard house. And in the afternoon or night time, you'll see him just a few meters away from the house ready to escort us back home. He knows we're near every single time. The distinct sound of our many car horns are familiar sounds to him. If he is locked behind the gates, he would scream with excitement and would brush the side of his body against our legs as a welcoming affection. But we could only give back the affection from afar.
Dwight is an intelligent dog. We never trained him. But he knew where to poop. He also knew that peeing on our car wheels is not an option. But peeing on the neighbor's car wheels is always an option.
Dwight is an athlete. During my training days for the marathon, he would get so giddy seeing me in my running outfit. He knew that it's time to have his daily exercise. He was my running buddy. He would rush outside as soon as the gate swung open. He would run fast ahead of me and would run back to wait for my slower pace. I knew he was tired but he kept running until I switched the stop button on my watch. Panting and tired, he would sneak in to his comfortable nook under the car and slumber to rest.
We've grown to love him and watched him grow through the years but his last week was horrifying for us. We witnessed how hard it was for him to get by every single day. He had a difficult time breathing. He lost his eyesight and sense of hearing a few weeks back. He refuses to eat and sleeps all day. He moans as if he was in such an excruciating pain. But he stops and stares in oblivion when he senses that we are beside him. He wants to hide his pain and agony by lying still and wags his tail in a slow, tormented manner.
It was heart breaking.
And in the morning of June 10, Dwight left us in peace. His lifeless body was where we last saw him the night before, his favorite hiding place, under the car.
Dwight was a miracle to us. He has given us such joy even if we can't cuddle him like most pet owners do. He gave us unconditional love that my family is so thankful for and will forever remember.
Dwight was the sixth member of the family, and we are in deep sorrow knowing that he has left us. But with high spirits, we know you are in a happy place where you can frolic around with other good dogs and be loved back unconditionally.
We love you Dwight. We will surely miss you.
Here's a beautiful video about dogs and their unconditional love...
(WARNING: this is a tear-jerker!)
