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Mr. T you speak with such authority!  Let me remind you that you were working crazy hours…..waking in the afternoon when all the fun and games were 1/2 over.  Your start to the day was the search for your massage shoes that invariably ended up in the backyard behind the bird cage (Versace had no interest in our housemates’ cockatiels thank goodness), at around 3pm.

It was I, who after broken sleep from taking little Versace out to the toilet at ...

Okay, so as Ms. S explained in her post, Versace did turn out to be pretty social and confidence after Day 1 at puppy school, eradicating our worries that we may have picked up a shy dog.

Apparently, shyness is regarded as a negative trait among Dobermann breeders as it may lead to anxiety and potential fear-biting/aggressiveness.   It is better to have a confident, friendly and social dog, and needless to say, early socialization and interaction with other humans and dogs ...

Oh Mr. T, you’ve muddled up some things….again!!

We took Versace to puppy school before all of his injections were finalized.  They encourage that, for early socialization.

Mrs. Alpha explicitly made a point of no interaction with anyone – human or animal- before the injections had  been completed at 16 weeks (and you’re supposed to wait a week so that the vaccinations have taken effect, so I was told on our first visit to the park, the day of the 16 week ...

Once Versace got the prescribed shots from the vet as advised by the breeder Mrs. Alpha, he was allowed to go outside, socialize with other dogs and put an end to “home schooling”.

That meant taking him to puppy school first, which, of course, was mandatory for us, given that Dobermanns require early socialization with other dogs and humans in order to prevent them from becoming anxious and turning aggressive potentially in adulthood.  As he was super-dominant over his masters (Ms. ...

Another challenge during Versace’s puppyhood was his behavior during the teething phase.

When puppy teeth start growing, they are razor sharp: I mean, they really hurt!   As Versace had been pulled away from his brothers and sisters at very young age, he never got the idea of “bite inhibition”, so he grew up without knowing what it feels like to be bitten.   And he liked biting anything he could get his teeth on, including our legs.

Ms.S, the principal trainer of Versace, ...

After spending two nights at the vet, moggy male Trent finally came home today.

Although the biopsy results are not yet available, he was discharged on the condition that we go back to the vet tomorrow evening.
According to the vet, the most likely scenario is that he had suffered from severely inflamed stomach lining and thus puked up all that blood. Hopefully,we will get the test results back soon and get the all-clear.

Cellini is happier now that she is no ...

Our feline boy Trent is still at the vet, and will be spending another night there.

It turns out that the vet cannot pin-point the cause of his vomiting and illness: at the moment, either stomach ulcer or cancer appears to be a possibility.

A biopsy was taken from four locations of his digestive system, and sent to the lab; results will not be available for a while, so we don’t know when he will be discharged.  Sigh.

We have no intention of ...

Exactly two weeks after Versace’s passing, our 10-year-old male cat Trent had to be rushed to the vet after projectile-vomiting blood this morning.  Sigh.

Ms. S heard him puking up, so we took him to our regular vet, together with his female sidekick Cellini just to make sure that he didn’t get infected with something contagious.

Although Cellini got a clear bill of health, ultrasound and X-ray examination results indicated that Trent’s illness may be due to a stomach ulcer, although not ...

Since we were Dobe novices, everything that we went through during Versace’s puppyhood turned out to be a new challenge for us, and a steep learning curve.

As mentioned briefly in my previous post, feeding him was not easy.

Having a non-food-oriented pet was alien to me: you see, most of my previous pets ate absolutely EVERYTHING I had given them.
Give goldfish and koi a bucketload of pellet food and they would literally eat to death!  (I was devastated when that ...

Just back up a bit Mr. T!

We had thought hard about the perfect name for our little boy……many came to mind, but we settled on Hugo, or Versace (black and gold) as the two front runners.  Mrs. Alpha had asked me on the phone what names were we thinking of, and she didn’t think Versace was practical enough to shorten.  On the other hand I am sure she was reassured that we hadn’t set our hearts on Rambo ...

This is the second weekend since Versace has crossed over.

We recently discovered how quiet the house is without him, and how bare the entire place seems to be.  Not that we are not used to having much noise around us, as we live in a very quiet neighborhood, facing the bush and away from traffic.  The problem is the nature of the silence surrounding us at the moment: that of pure void, and lack of presence.

Since he literally occupied the ...

I forgot what our new pup had tentatively been called before we adopted him, but anyway, we named him HUGO, as Ms.S and I had agreed in advance that was a strong/cool/masculine name for a male Dobermann.

I think Hugo was a bit tired when he first arrived at our home after the long drive, but was curious nonetheless.   He didn’t smell around much, but we assumed that his senses were still underdeveloped, being only 11 months old.

Day 1 at our ...

So, as Ms.S has already explained in detail, we got to meet Mrs. Alpha, her husband and her puppy.

We both fell in love with the pup at first sight!  He was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cute!

No way were we leaving without him, having formed an instant bond, not to mention that he was a bargain (at least at this point in his life!)

It was a no-brainer for us to happily adopt him as our new family member.

After being bombarded with tons of instructions ...

We arrived filled with mixed emotions.

We met Mrs. Alpha and her husband, and they were lovely.  As Caeser Millan would say ‘calm and assertive’.  They were leaders, and the depth of passion Mrs. Alpha had for the breed was evident.  Her features were Dobermann – like!

We met the maternal grandmother of our soon to be puppy, an 8 year old playful girl in mint condition.  She ran out and bowed down on her front legs as an invitation to play!

The ...

Firstly I had some conditions for Mr. T.  He had to commit wholeheartedly to parenting, training, exercising, and loving our new puppy.  This was going to be a 50/50 deal.  He agreed.

I painted a very unglamourous image of parenthood to test his commitment.  He was unwaivering.

I called a local pound and they put me straight onto Mrs. Alpha.  I called Mrs. Alpha and told her our story, we had a long conversation and she ...

As you may have noticed, my partner Ms.S has joined me in contributing posts to this site.

Her incredible memory should help fill the gaps in my posts, which may be large at times due to limited space in my memory bank.

After all, Versace was a product of both of us, so her side of the story should provide a more balanced view of his life.

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Today marked a full week since Versace’s passing.

I have felt his presence in the house since ...

Firstly adopting a puppy had come in the form of an ultimatum from Mr. T.  I was reluctant at first, because I didn’t feel we were settled enough, we enjoyed travelling, and I knew myself better than anyone – if we were to have a pet, my life would be devoted to that pet as if it were my own flesh and blood, and like a cassowary with chicks, you come between me and my baby and whammooo.  Yes, I ...

Our beloved Versace departed last Tuesday and it has been a painful week adapting to the deafening silence.

Since moving to his new house (yes, there is no doubt this was his house – 4 heated beds, 3 doonas, several fluffies, and two blankets within a stones throw of each other, meant that wherever he decided he wasn’t to be he was comfortable!) and the  pancreatitis that followed soon after in October the year before last (2010) he had been quite ...

We got a call from the vet this afternoon.  We were told that Versace’s ashes were ready for pickup.

I already knew it would be no other day but today.  It has been a very long wait.

We ritually cleaned the house, washed all his bed covers, futons and fluffs, mowed the lawn, blow-vacuumed and washed the outdoor tiles, which is what we had always done to prepare for his return after staying overnight at the vet.  We then created a space ...

So, the Dobermann was unanimously elected as our would-be new family member.

By this time, we knew it was a choice between getting a Dobe or no dog: we were convinced that this was the breed for us, and we could make it work despite being complete Dobermann novices.

My partner (“Ms. S”), having grown up with a German Shepherd and a chow-chow cross, was definitely more prepared.

I, on the other hand, had never owned a dog in my life, ...