On Nikko

Nikko is the name of my first pet, a mongrel between a Bull Terrier & a Dalmation. He was already close to a year old when we bought him from a farm. I remember being slightly disappointed as we had previously visited a few pet shops and I had seen a few baby Bull Terriers which were the size of my palm. I always liked the smaller and cuter animals.

Nikko liked to gnaw on the slippers and shoes when he first arrived and my parents had a hard time teaching him to kick the habit. Eventually, he stopped but I always felt it was the result of he out-growing it, rather than a success of my parents' canings. He loved bread. He could smell me bringing bread from 20 metres away in the kitchen and would start prancing around happily.

When I was in Pr3, my aunty's house was broken into. My mum decided to lend them Nikko to watch over their house till they bought a dog. I remember crying uncontrollably. I simply could not stop. I think it was the fear of not seeing Nikko again that overwhelmed me.

Eventually, he came back and we decided to put him with my grandma. I would see him every weekend.

I tried brining him out once, but he ended up in a fight with another dog, almost severly injuring it. It was never his fault. I told the owner to pick up her dogs, (she had 2 small dogs), but she couldnt control them. They camer over to attack Nikko, and he simply defended himself, albeit, abit too over-enthusiastic. But after that, my family weren't too pleased with me bringing him out. I myself did not want him to possibly get harmed or harm other animals.

In 2001, Nikko's health worsened. He would cough blood occasionally, but still would gnaw on the grass as a form of self-medication. He started to go blind as well. At this time, I would make it a point to spend close to an hour with him every week. Be it feeding him bread which he still loved, and was still sensitive to, or just talking to him, and saying a prayer or two.

In 2002, he started vommiting alot of blood and could barely walk. My family decided to put him to sleep and spare him the obvious pain he was going through. One Friday, my aunt called me and told me that he had been taken away. Now, it was a funny feeling I felt. I did not cry like I did 8 years back, even though now, I knew I would really never see him again. Somehow, I felt comforted that i had taken every opportunity to fully accompany him in a large part of his life, especially his later years. I had no regrets to myself or to Nikko. I believe I brought him joy, as he had brought me. And thus, I was comforted that his suffering had ended.

Through Nikko, I think I learnt that somethings, it is really about making an active effort to treasure the present. You may want to do alot of things, but if you let your daily pursuits and ambitions overcome you, in the end, you may have achieved every ambition, but you would have lost that something eternally : love.