To all Furparents and those who wish to be one. All my life, I lived with dogs. Up to now, my Mother and Father’s voices still echo separately in my ears, sharing their own fond memories from different years about the dogs we had. My mother is 93 years old and, amazingly, can still perform her favorite speech, Tribute to a Dog by George Graham Vest. My family, from parents to kids, are dog lovers, but I never realized that I would love dogs deeply, more than how I simply cared about them when I was a kid, as companions, or simply as barkers just in case an intruder, a burglar, or some kind of small-time robber entered the vicinity of our property. Stories that sounded so typical back then, like how loyal our dog Brownie was, or how Spot would find refuge in our coconut plantation, 18 kilometers from my old folks’ house, when he turned emotionally sulky if he felt he was being reprimanded or so, feel so strangely amazing to me now. These days, I’ve found that some of these behaviors are common to some dogs, while others are not. And there are a lot of behaviors I am discovering which actually come from “dog schooling.” How wonderful to see when dogs could be trained as a result of some dynamics you’ve developed with them according to your unconscious intentions, which can then be consciously developed to get the results you really desire. Like when and where your dogs should pee or poop, to make your life and home still tidy and sanitized, while enjoying the pleasant, de-stressing, and joyful effects of their presence in your daily living. And if you don’t really have the time to do it, you will just have to adjust your life to whatever fun or beautiful mess they can offer, compared to what they can reciprocate if you bring them to a trainer when you don’t really have the time to do it yourself. But when I decided to bring Punch to Its Pawssible, I learned that you yourself need the same training that your dogs took, to keep the lessons they learned, and for you to communicate in their language. Thank you very much @Coach Mike. Suddenly, the whole world, as old as mine, reintroduced itself to me once again. I found how necessary it is for you, as a furparent trainer, or to send them to school with a competent, registered trainer, to keep the dynamics going for at least 2 to 3 semesters, like 3 weeks to one month. And there I realized that having a dog or a pet is not simply about getting one and looking after them. A RELATIONSHIP MATTERS, and it is a lifetime commitment and fulfillment, in amicable terms. Or in their terms only for a couple of their early years, until it’s second nature to them, which you will thank yourself for if you do. They will only live 1/6th or 1/9th of yours anyway. And if you cannot accept that for any reason, stop the idea of getting one. Just feed the stray dogs and cats on the street and be a good Samaritan. I realized it is a responsibility that is not supposed to be treated as a burden, but as an advantage to both of you, like a real parent-child relationship. Which, if you don’t have the time or the stamina, should make you reconsider before getting one. Which made me reflect on why some couples deciding to have dogs instead of kids were taboo to me back then when I was a kid. But I now fully understand why, and it isn’t about being right or wrong; it’s a choice that deserves respect. Learning that nurturing dogs is ultimately comparable to a wife or a husband who decided to stay home to be a hands-on parent while the other spouse is working for the family, or will hire a nanny or assign their adult children so he or she can still pursue a career while being a Furparent, until the dog matures and graduates from his training stage or school, made me understand people’s choices more. Desiring to have a handsome, beautiful, or cute dog is acceptable, but giving birth to a decision of having one or a dozen is as vital as family planning. #thankyou2mfollowers @ABS-CBN PR @SAM WALASTIK @starmagicphils
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