X, Y & ME: Day 20: "Imma make soup outta you!"

My family has always been a fan of dogs. Especially my mom.

(before you think of anything else, we raised them as pets, not food...)

Our very first dog that we had was a Korean dog, called a "Jindogae" A hunting breed of dog. It's name was Dino.

Later on we got another dog, it was a mixed breed. I don't think we're really creative with names because his name was also Dino.

Dino...was, in simplest terms, a special dog

(When they say mutts are more intelligent than pedigrees...Dino#2 was the exception)

My mother couldn't take any more of Dino when he destroyed half our house one day when we were out. Luckily, she found someone who had a huge yard for him wreak havoc on.

Later on, my dad's friend really needed to get rid of two German Shepherd puppies.

One was brown/black male and the other an all black female.

My nine year old self, said that we should get the all black one because she had hair like me.

I named her Shadow...a name well suited for her because we lost her on the first day. It was night and her coat blended in with everything.

Shadow was an excellent watchdog. I was fascinated with her ears because they would rotate in different directions. Like radar.

Those ears saved my life when I fell into the pool.

On some nights she would howl. This would make my mom yell out the window..

One of my grandma's friends had a huge Black & White Newfoundland. When my mom heard that he was living in the garage because noone could take care of him, my mom rescued him.

His name was Hugo. A name that suited him because he was..HUGE. My mom had put a cowbell on him because he walked slowly and had the markings of a cow..somewhat.

He was really a gentle giant. I used to call him a burnt marshmallow. I remember walking him was a lot of fun. This particular incident happened while I was waiting for my mom outside the store..

Wreaking havoc on the neighborhood kids was a fun pastime.

Shadow, never really liked Hugo.

She would always pick on him by jumping on his back whenever she wanted him to move.

He never fought back. He would always move to his corner.

I tried to help him be a more tough dog.

Of Course...that led to some embarrassing moments.

It wasn't so bad living with two dogs, though Hugo could count as two dogs.., we then had another addition to the family when my dad's friends gave me one of his dogs puppies.

A male German Shepherd. I named him Bruno.

I think this was where I learned what it would be like to raise a baby...I got him when he was too young to eat by himself..

So every night for about a month, I didn't sleep too well.

First he would whimper, the intensity increasing until I got up..

I fed him wet food by hand.

then he'd want to play for about an hour..

Or until I collapsed onto the floor.

The three of them were fun to watch. I think Shadow became Bruno's mentor because they would always jump on Hugo.

Of course my friends had some smart remark as to why we were raising three dogs...

We had the three of them for a couple of months. But then my neighbor complained to the police about their barking when we weren't home. My parents didn't know what to do, so they decided to give Hugo and Bruno away. I miss them.

A couple of years after that, Shadow passed away in her sleep.

We thought we weren't going to have any more dogs after that. My mom couldn't take losing another dog. It was also around this time that my mom was going through Menopause or something, because she was always yelling at me or my dad...

When I showed my dad a picture of a Bernese Mountain dog, he suddenly began to look for Bernese breeders. My mom...hated the idea. We didn't listen to her.

Which made her yell at us even more.