Christmas Day, 2009

It is very quiet again in our house...Just me, Miggie and Sparky..

Last night, we had some turkey, champagne, egg rolls, pancit( for long life ) and good conversation before the dining table.

One of the stories I heard was about our dog Sparky.

When we left for Maui, Sparky, our 6 month old puppy was picked up by Michelle. He would be under her care for 1 week. One of our instructions was to bring him to the Vet. Which was followed. Except for the fact that it was not Michelle who brought him but her husband, Jonathan.

Michelle knows Sparky's day to day history in our house. That we give him human food instead of dog food. Right after during an intial battle of wills, we were the first ones to blink. So we started giving him human food ( bits of adobo, beef jerky and rice with chicken liver ).

Jonathan told us that at the Vet's office, he was interrogated by the Vet about his food. At first he said "Dog food; pellets. " But then, before the actual visit, my daughter give Sparky some sphagetti..The Vet saw a strand of sphagetti in Sparky's whiskers. "I do not consider pasta as dog food," he said.

"OK, OK, " admitted Jonathan."Actually I am not the real owner. The real ones are my wife's parents. "

"Aha!" said the vet. And he listed a number of THINGS TO DO AND THINGS NOT TO DO with regards to Sparky. Number one of course was to refrain from giving human food..The Vet also said Sparky is very aggressive. He growls at the Vet. He barks at the other dogs. Anyway, the Vet gave him a shot and Sparky whimpered like a baby. The more he barked at the Vet afterwards.

The Vet also said we should take Sparky regularly for a walk around the block. I usually take him in our backyard where he marks his territory, makes a dump, then he makes about 5 or 6 laps around a yard. Then after 5 minutes we would be back inside our house.


When we saw him upon our arrival, Sparky was so thin. But we promised not to give him any more human food. He really got problems when he ate almost nothing but OUR food. His excrement was either too soft or too hard. And he whimpers when his pooh seemed to be hard as pebbles. Holy Crap, I felt so sorry for him when it happened.

Right now, he is already eating his pellets. Michelle said, "If you love your dog, stick to pellets. Otherwise he will get obese, or his system will get shot and he will have a very short life.."

Indeed. So in the beginning I hand fed him with the pellets. Then I stopped and when he gets really hungry, then he empties his bowl of pellets.

Of course last night, he a few pieces of turkey and ham. Of course this would happen only once a year.

Hopefully.

Vic