The Caterpillar Who Loved Chocolate Cake: The faulty dog

My family had a "No Pet Dogs" policy for a very long time. It is mostly because unlike cats, they are overly dependent on owners for food and attention and that makes it hard to leave them home alone. Cats, on the other hand, are more independent and are able to hunt for their own food when other sources of food are not available.

Despite objections from the family, my foster brother was very determined to have a dachshund. We were concerned that it was another phase, much like his past interests in rearing fish and growing a ponytail. My mother has a weakness for dachshunds since she had several of them growing up and he was able to exploit this loophole to his advantage. We also suspect that he had entrepreneurial motives on being a dog breeder after he met his friend from whom he bought a puppy for a price of USD 40. This idea, however, didn't catch on since our family strongly opposed the idea of breeding animals for cash.

Personally, I dislike commercial dog breeders. I'm not sure if there are professionals who do the job humanely out of concern for the mother dog and puppies, but most small-scale breeders are after a quick buck. Driven by profit, they put the welfare of the animal on lower priority. For example, Nicky's mother is made to mate regularly and produce litter after litter of puppies which are then sold to people who like pedigree dogs. It is sad that a puppy bred for sale only gets to spend a few weeks with the mother, when she may also miss nursing and caring for her litter. Also, it is hard to guarantee to what kind of homes the puppies go to. Perhaps, they stand a good chance of getting good care owing to their "pedigree" status since people tend to take better care of valuable things for which they paid a price. Or they might end up in a home where the owners realised that the dream of owning a pedigree dog was a passing fancy and that it is a big and expensive responsibility. Or the puppies might once again be used to continue the cycle of commercial breeding. If the puppies are fortunate, they will end up in a loving home where they will spend a good dog life till eventual death.

In December 2015, Nicky joined our family as a six week old puppy. Soon, he became the center of everyone's attention and brought much joy and endless entertainment to my parents and brother. While living in Singapore, I received regular updates of Nicky and pictures of how my father cuddled and showered Nicky with attention - that even my sister and I didn't get as children!

Baby Nicky

Bath time - dunked in a bucket of water and dried with a hair dryer!

A literary critic and humorous journalist H. L. Mencken described dachshunds as "half a dog high and a dog and a half long." Nicky, true to his breed's personality, grew up to be comical, sociable, playful, hyperactive and too stubborn to be disciplined.

He has soulful eyes and regular mood swings, specially when he gets wind of us planning to leave the house. He hunts animals like spiders, cockroaches, frogs and mosquitoes for the thrill. He is a terrible guard dog. Even though he barks very loudly for his size (we learned later that it was because this breed has a large chest cavity), he would welcome any burglar to the house or would gladly get into a stranger's vehicle. And due to his friendly nature, he was popular with all the animal-loving guests who stayed at our bed & breakfast inn.

Grown up Nicky at 10.5 months

As he continued to grow, we realised that my brother may have accidentally purchased a faulty dog. He does insane things that no dog we knew ever did. He was hyperactive all the time (except when sleeping), he greets favourite people with so much joy and sprinkles of pee, he loves to eat catnip, he would bark at all the clocks in the house, his sex drive was at 100 percent a 100 percent of the time, he mistook our old cat for a mate and tried to hump her too, he started humping legs of unsuspecting guests, he started roaming around our neighbourhood chasing away male dogs and looking for females, he started eating the carpets at home and swallowed chunks of carpet fabric, he would jump into tyres of incoming vehicles, he would litter the house with soil and partially decomposed material (like rotten remains of frogs) brought from outdoors, and the list goes on.

This is how Nicky sleeps

With all that energy, it occurred to us that perhaps he would do well with a companion. Although he is a playful dog, he never had dog friends before. All the stray dogs in our lane treat him like an outcast, probably because they were not sure what this tiny, horny and loud dog-like creature was. The cats were the only animal company he had, but they didn't have enough energy to keep up with him. One moment he was loving and still, but the next moment he would play rough, slobber them with saliva and bark at them. The only issue was that we did not want to adopt more than two dogs at a time (considering food and medical costs) and that meant Nicky could not be allowed to breed.

Castrating a healthy pet in our culture is not a black/white matter. People are more forgiving if it is a female dog because these same people think it is a burden for a female to be impregnated against her will by a male dog and that they are doing her a favour. Those who believe in karma thinks it is a sin to castrate an animal and in future births, those who back it may be born infertile (or something to that effect). One person told my mother that he knew of a dog that died a mysterious death after being castrated. Others took a more ethical point of view and suggested it is equivalent to taking away a basic right of an animal and goes against natural behaviour (which I also agreed with). Who knows how its psychology, behaviour and general health will be affected when a dominant hormone is no longer present in his body.

Nicky's regular veterinarian asked us to allow him to mate at least once before castrating him and joked that he can help find him a mate. He didn't explain the reasoning behind it so I can't tell if it is because he thought it was best for the animal's welfare, or that it was a waste to operate on a pedigree dog with money-making potential, or because he felt that letting it sire puppies once will reduce karmic effects of castration.

Another friend/veterinarian in Singapore advised that it was best to castrate him as early as possible (preferably before 12 months of age) after he starts showing signs of sexual behaviour because otherwise, with constant practice, humping quickly becomes a learned behaviour. She also said castration has other health benefits to the dog like reducing the risk of testicular tumours, transmissible venereal tumours, hernias and prostatic diseases. She also suggested contraceptive implants as an alternative to castration, but these are very costly and requires replacement every 6 - 12 months. She also added that even if we manage to rehome all of Nicky's future offspring, that is potentially a lost opportunity for a stray or a shelter dog that could have a home. Two other dog-lovers with many years of dog rearing (and rescue) experience voted for castration.

The family was divided on opinions. However, after much debating, asking around for advice and receiving conflicting views, we made the difficult decision to castrate Nicky and get him a companion afterwards.

About three weeks ago, we visited two dog shelters (Tikiri Trust and SOFA) to find a suitable companion for Nicky. The first shelter didn't have any young female dogs for adoption because we were told that it will be easier for Nicky (who's never had dog company before) to bond with a younger one. At the second shelter, we were quizzed thoroughly to assess pet ownership potential and asked several times if we were ready to commit to looking after another pet for another 13 - 15 years. We explained that we were there that day only to look at a companion for our dog, but we would finalise the adoption only two weeks after that. And that would also give us more time to rule out any impulsive decisions. After she was convinced, she said there was one female puppy about four and a half months of age and brought it out for us to see.

It was a done deal the moment we saw Lea! It was hard to think clearly when there was a puppy in front of us and we (irrationally) thought it would be good if Nicky had a sister who looked like him. On second thoughts, I don't think Nicky has any idea of what he looks like. True to our word, two weeks later, we picked up (a taller) Lea from the shelter on the way back from having Nicky castrated. It was a bitter-sweet day for all of us.

Meet Lea - now 5 months old and way taller than Nicky!

Lea, thankfully, was not a faulty dog. She is shy and gentle in nature. She's only fierce when eating and protecting her plate of food. She likes to be carried and is very curious to explore her surroundings.

Nicky was a bit unwelcome on the first day, but Lea being a shelter dog with experience sharing space with a hundred other dogs, was patient with him. Since then he has grown very fond of her. He experienced the joy of playing and wrestling with another dog for the first time and loved it. He takes her around our garden and the neighbour's garden to show her his favourite hangouts. His appetite has improved since he imitates her (good) eating behaviour. Previously a fussy eater, Nicky now eats his food faster and indiscriminately knowing that his adopted sister will take it from him otherwise. Nicky is also learning slowly to share toys and his love and attention from us. He's stopped roaming in the neighbourhood and marking territory with pee a hundred times a day, which might be the effect of castration. He still tries to mount her sometimes though that might be a sign of affection or just conditioned behaviour. On the downside, he's become a bit swollen headed after getting a sister and now barks at our two cats and chases them away (even animals have an "us versus them" mentality!). Lea also follows suit.