I finally got to meet Sushi again after more than a year. He is now living with my mom’s cousin because he can’t stay in my condo, and my parents are not at home most of the time.

As I stepped in the door, I could see he wasn’t as active as before. Sushi will be seven years old in a few months time so I guess this is a sign of his maturity and aging.

Previously he would be jumping up to greet me, and will be running around in excitement. Now, he just wags his tail going round in circles smelling everything.

The first thing I did was to kneel down and pet him, and he kept smelling me.

Rachel was so excited she keep shouting his name through the evening, “Sushi! Sushi! Sushi!”

She was so curious but afraid at the same time.

My father carried Daryl and he was much braver. He just looked at Sushi and kept smiling, wanting to touch Sushi.

The funny thing is, Sushi is much more obedient than my kids.

Physically he looks the same but I could see he has grown older, more stable.

He no longer followed me around, maybe I am not his master any more but just someone in his past.

One habit he still has, is to sit at the feet of anyone who sat down at the dining table. I was eating some desserts when he came over and gave me this familiar look.

“Give me a biscuit please”

After I ignored him a while, he resumed lying down on the floor but kept an eye on me, in case I changed my mind.

It was nice to see him again, it was the same feeling you get when you see an old friend.

Always at the back of my mind, there was this regret and sadness that he could no longer be with me.

I feel so sad to remember how, after I got married and moved out of my parents home, he kept waiting in the front door for me to come home every evening.

We’ve had so many wonderful memories together, I hope he still remembers me in his doggy dreams.

Now he has a new home with more people to pamper and play with him, so I know he is in a good place.

I miss him so much.

Happy Birthday Sushi!

Today you are five years old. It seems like yesterday when you came into my life.

I remember meeting you for the first time at the pet store. You were a curious bundle of fur eager to come smell our feet and explore any corner you could find.

I remember taking you home and watching this bundle of fur slowly exploring the house, smelling anything you could reach.

Do you remember how you loved hiding under the sofa? It became your cave for a while until we built you a temporary cave using some cushions.

I still feel the joy of having you follow me around the house, and how happy you made our family. For the first time in many years, we actually spent more time together and laughed together.

I feel so bad each day, that I am no longer living with you. My heart breaks when I picture you waiting at the door each evening for me. Good boy.

Ko ko will buy a special treat for you the next time I visit ok?

P/S: Your niece Rachel sends hugs and kisses. She says, “I want to play with your tail again Sushi suk suk”

Last night I went home to have dinner with my parents, and also to visit Sushi my lonely Shih Tzu.

Me and Sushi reunited again! Pardon my messy look. This is how I look most of the time at home.

The first thing he did was to go and get his toy fish to play with me.

Meow meow… I mean… woof woof!

You can hear the squeek squeek squeeks of joy. He kept chewing the toy out of excitement.

Don’t try to snatch my toy from me… I’m watching you mister!

Not so successful close-up, because he refuses to sit still.

Sushi looking at baby Rachel. He was really excited to see her and wanted to go near and check her out, but we kept him away. I continued to sayang and love Sushi so he won’t feel jealous.

Thanks for a wonderful night, everybody! Thanks to daddy, mummy, Lydia, Poey Chin, Rachel and of course Sushi!

I’m feeling really sad these past two days.

I’ve not had a good night sleep, because I’ve been having sad dreams.

Two nights ago, I dreamt that Sushi my loyal Shih Tzu died by turning into a piece of ham.

Last night I dreamt that he died.

I’m really depressed. Last night my wife told me that my sister told her that Sushi is still waiting for me to come home every night.

A new neighbour moved in next to my parent’s house, and they have the same car as me.

My heart breaks when I think of Sushi being disappointed day after day.

I think dogs don’t have memories and can’t reason. So imagine him waking up every day wondering where I am, and then day after day, evening after evening having his poor little heart broken when I don’t turn up.

I really miss my doggy. Now I realize that I’ve been pouring quite a lot of effort in my Facebook Pet Pupz to compensate for this feeling of guilt.

Poey Chin thinks I’m being silly of course. But I guess you won’t understand if you’ve never owned a dog.

I’m going back to see Sushi this weekend. I miss him terribly.

Hang in there Sushi, ko ko (elder brother) is coming home soon!

It has been almost three weeks since I’ve seen Sushi my adorable Shih Tzu.

Somehow or other, I did not have the chance to go back to Kota Kemuning, so my puppy and I have not had the chance to meet.

I miss seeing him wait for me at the front door when I come home from work.

I miss his excited bark asking my mother to open the door quickly.

I miss his turbo-wagging tail as he waits for me to put down my stuff and give him attention. He will then come charging towards me and jump on my lap as I give him a complete body rub.

Then when he is satisfied with my massage, I feel that he is tensed up, waiting for the command…

I say “Where’s your toy?” and he takes off at the speed of puppy and retrieves his favourite toy back to me, and we spend some time playing together until I get bored.

Sushi’s probably quite lonely nowadays. During thunderstorms he gets so scared that he comes to hide under my legs. Now he has no one, and has to hide under the dining table or crawl into the space between the sofas. I feel sad that I can’t be there for him.

My mom tells me that he continues to wait for me every evening. It breaks my heart picturing him being disappointed day after day.

I’m sorry Sushi.

“What?” I exclaimed to myself in my head (I said it with a British accent, it sounds more like Wort) “How can Shih Tzus be agressive?” Look at Sushi my little angel Shih Tzu… how can he raise a paw against anyone?

But then, I thought of a few incidents:

1. He seems to have no mercy when playing with his plastic toy fish. He would hold it in his paws and keep chewing on the fish head.
2. He used to have this pillow… Sushi will grab the pillow and try and tear out its guts. One day he did.
3. Sushi would bark at strangers at our gate. Strangely he will then become their best friend once they come in to lull them into a false sense of security, then… lick them to death.

This prompted me to do a little Googling and I found out that:

1. Shih Tzus can have agression problems, but it is not normal for the breed *phew*
2. The agression may take the form of dominance behaviour towards people or other dogs.
3. Abused puppies will also show agression triggered by fear.
4. Shih Tzus will be territorial and will bark at strangers.

One tip I got to stop Shih Tzu agression: “Try not to spoil your Shih Tzu too much“. All Shih Tzu owners know that it’s hard not to spoil our cute little doggies. I try my best not to spoil him too much… the key word here is too much. He’s so manja sometimes that he refuses to eat unless I hand feed him.

Poey Chin will testify that I DO spoil Sushi too much. I miss Sushi…

Related Posts:
Sushi the Shih Tzu
Happy Birthday Sushi!
My Little Basketball Star
Happy Chinese New Year From Sushi

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I remember the first day we got him back from the store. He had just travelled all the way from his breeder somewhere in Old Klang Road. The night before I was so excited setting up a cage for him, and getting ready his food, toys, toilet area, his bathing stuff. My dad went to the store to get him, and when he came home, I saw this trembling little bundle of puppy fur in a basket. We set him on the floor and he began to walk all around sniffing the corners of our house. He looked all fluffy and dumb dumb haha…

The next few hours we spent trying to teach him where to drink water, and watching out for his signs of wanting to go pee. He wasn’t really responsive yet, because he hasn’t learned his name. He spent a lot of time lying down and looking sleepy. I sat down near him and manja manja him.

One game i always played with him was making his cushion come alive. He had this sleeping cushion he would lie on, and I will put my hand under the cushion and suddenly make it move around, and make some monster sounds. Sushi my cute little Shih Tzu will bravely attack the cushion I had a hard time those first few months.

He would cry at night when we went upstairs to sleep, and we had to learn to ignore him. After a week or so he learned that we will not answer his cries so he kept quiet at night. We had to feed him every few hours, I had to toilet train him which meant going to toilet every few hours and watching so that he doesn’t pee or pooh elsewhere. I had to discipline him with a stern “No! Naughty boy!” when he was doing something wrong.

The difference Sushi brought to my home was amazing. Every evening, my family will gather around in the living room to play with Sushi. There was so much laughter seeing Sushi’s dumb dumb moments. We felt proud whenever we managed to teach him a new command like “sit” or “lie down”.

Sushi is really my little furry angel, and I love Sushi very much. Darling Poey Chin don’t get jealous… I love you the most ok?

Technorati Tags: Puppy, Shih Tzu, Sushi, Birthday

Sushi catching a pass from center court… Adino sets the pick…

Dribble to the left, fake to the right and Sushi gets pass his defender for an easy layup!

Sushi goes to the bench for a time out.

I think it has a certain catchiness about it. It kind of rhymes, and I bet you will remember my dog’s name for the whole day.

Anyway, just want to let Mummy and Lydia know that Sushi and all of us are missing you both. Have a great time in Melbourne!

Right now I’m feeling groggy, a bit dizzy and disorientated. I feel a bit moody, but I’m not going to let that affect me at work today.

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Related Post:
Sushi Spring Fashion Show 2007 Part 1

Related Post:
Sushi Spring Fashion Show 2007 Part 2

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“Roar!!! I’m a lion!”

“You are feeling sleepy… give me a biscuit now….”

“Did I hear the sound of daddy coming home?”

“How much are you paying me for this photo shoot?”

Sushi’s Dogster Page

You can register your pets there too, then you can add Sushi as your pet pal too. Hope to see you there! Woof woof!

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He’s so friendly and playful, and he’s brought so much happiness and laughter to our family. We love him very much.

Technorati Tags: Shih Tzu, Dogs, Sushi