Jessica and Dogs

Jessica has always given people the impression of being strong and that she loves dogs. She had brought along her boyfriend and her dog, Lulu, to attend SAA 2010 walkathon. In the years of rearing dogs, Jessica went through the passing of her dogs but stayed on taking care of them.

Owning Dogs are for Life

Jessica commented on herself as a dong owner, “I am not a perfect. Actually, I feel that I could have done better. I should have spent much more time with my dogs.” Jessica did not have much time to stay at home and most of the job of taking care of the dogs was done by her maid. She would only bring them out when she was free.

Jessica often had to travel due to her job scope and the longest trip was 3 months. During then, the responsibilities were passed to the maid. Jessica would think of them and would talk to them if she were free by getting the maid to amplify the telephone conversation.

Jessica viewed the relationship between dogs and their owners as such, “If you rear him, you will need to be accountable for life. This is similar to marriage where you have to take care of it even if it is sick, old or dying.” Jessica felt that having a caring heart and the possessing ability to give your pets a high quality of life are the crux to being a responsible owner. She mentioned that the owner need not possess a large house nor be very wealthy but one should be able to let one’s pets live a happy life.

Jessica could not understand the reason to why some owners choose to abandon their pets. “It does not mean that you can abandon them, even if you are unable to take care of them.” Jessica recalled a case where a car slowed down at SAA, a dog was thrown out when the car window rolled down. The car sped off after that. Jessica mentioned, “I could not understand why they are so cruel. Pets do have life and feelings but they are just unable to talk.”

Her First Dog

Jessica had a relative who reared a dog when she was young. It was very obedient and could follow commands like sit and down. From then, Jessica loved dogs. She said, “The dog is very cute. It looks like a stuff toy.”

During schooling, Jessica’s parents refused to let her own dogs. It was until she grew independent, she then got a dog. She was placed on the waiting list for a dog. During the waiting period, Jessica noticed her first dog – Boom Boom near TVB City. “It’s a beige stray that’s around 9 months old. It looked very cute.”

The relationship between Jessica and Boom Boom was very strong. Jessica viewed Boom Boom as a human instead of a dog. “He is just unable to speak the human language. When I am feeling down, it will sit silently beside me. There’s no other dog that can replace it.” She laughed that Boom Boom knew that Jessica is its saviour and hence its very loyal and would protect her. “There was once when a dog pretended to intend to bite me, Boom Boom pushed it to the ground without hestitation, as if he was punishing it. I was stunned, as I never thought that Boom Boom would protect me like this.” The relationship between Jessica and Boom Boom blossomed through the experiences in life.

After being together for 14 years, Boom Boom contracted kidney problems. However, Jessica never thought of giving it up. “Kidney failure is a painful disease. I think I have tried all possible means that I can do for him.”

One of the treatments was putting the dog on a drip to remove toxins. Jessica learned the tactic of putting Boom Boom from the vet and attended to Boom Boom daily. Boom Boom would wince whenever the thick needle for the drip was poked into its body. That caused Jessica’s heart to ache. However, Boom Boom got used to it very quickly and will get ready for the drip by itself. “Whenever it spotted my maid and I placing cushion in the living room, it will know that it needs to be placed on a drip and will lie down obediently. Perhaps it knew that I did not give up and that influenced it too.”

Jessica was mentally prepared for Boom Boom’s passing but she still seek an expert in SAA for counselling. From there, she learnt that you cannot stop death from coming to your pet. In May 2007, Boom Boom passed away. “I would go for 2 hour massages occasionally. On that day, I requested for a 1 ½ hour massage. After the massage, I received a call from my maid, informing me that something is wrong with Boom Boom.”

Jessica rushed home, “Boom Boom seemed to be avoiding me and it tried to hide under the cabinets. My instinct told me that he was going to leave.” Jessica decided to let Boom Boom pass away peacefully. “The decision was quickly made. I was beside him, chatting with him for the last time.” Time had passed since Boom Boom left but Jessica would always feel sad whenever she thought of Boom Boom. Considering that he had lived happily for 14 years, she would feel contented.

The Manager for Strays

Since Boom Boom, Jessica had been adopting strays, for example, Lulu is also a stray that was found near TVB City. Jessica initially picked up Lulu and arranged it for infertility operation so that she could put it up for adoption after it recovered. While Lulu was recovering after the operation, Jessica realized that Lulu was interacting well with her other dogs and decided to adopt it. Jessica also mentioned that Lulu was the most normal dog, without any distinctive features or characteristics but she especially doted on Lulu.

If Jessica’s friends found strays on the streets, they would also inform Jessica. Jessica would then try to find a new home for the strays. Every time a stray dog was found, she would take photos of the dog and placed notices, indicating the size and colour of the dog, hoping that there would be someone to adopt the dog. Jessica mentioned that she would target placing notices near residential areas of foreigners as they are more willing to accept dogs. Before she passed the dog to its new owner, adopters would have to pass through Jessica and her friends’ interview. They would look for aspects like the housing environment and accountability of owners.

Currently, Jessica do not expect to add in more dogs to her current collection of 5. However, many of her friends mentioned to her, “Wait and See”.

Source: Mingpao
Translated by: siaozhabor @ http://bravenet.jessicahsuan.com