Sher of My Life

Lessons from our furry friends

I consider her the vocal type; she never holds anything back. When she sees you having something that she also fancies, she’ll roll out her first secret weapon -- she’ll coax you non-stop until you eventually give in. But at other times, she uses a different tactic; she’ll just gape -- not at me! -- but at the object of her desire, in my hand, until you-know-what-happens. Nonetheless, I still love her. If you are in my shoes, would you do the same? I’ll let you decide after you finish reading the whole story...       

Her name is Sher. And unlike any of her kind, her dark earthy body is fully laden with stripes so much so she was nicknamed Tigra by one of our neighbours. But because she doesn’t roar like the real one (she doesn’t even bark or yelp, mind you), I’m contend with Sher. Furthermore, Sher sounds more feminine. And ‘sexy’ she is in my eyes, in a different way though.   

You see, she’s neither furry nor fluffy. Velvety is more akin to her extremely short (and sometimes oily) coat of fur that of course adds to her ‘sex appeal.’ Not only that, she considers it another one of her secret weapon " one that is used only when she’s trying to ‘escape’ taking a bath! How smart of her.   

It has been a good six years since we adopted Sher. She was as thin as a famished stray dog " she was in fact a stray. Left alone to fend for herself under a tree during a stormy night (her mother and other siblings were nowhere to be found), she was shivering and drenched when we ‘rescued’ her. But not in our wildest imagination that this once frail female pup would one day become the Queen of the pack!       

Yes, while she may not bark like the rest of her kind, her distinctive howls (she has two different signature ‘tunes’ for two different occasions), without fail, will wreck everyone’s nerves, including the neighbours’! The trigger point for her uncontrollable ‘vocal practice’ is none other than the rat. Her sense of smell is particularly acute; she can “smell a rat” even if it’s hiding behind a three-inch wall! Well, this is good news for us. Because of Sher, our vicinity has thus become a rat-free zone.      

“Smelling a rat” when she sees a cane in one hand approaching her, she will unleash her next hush-hush weapon (not known to us until recently as a last resort) " her sharp and piercing cry. She would cry so horrifyingly as if someone is going to butcher her alive! As you’d have guessed, we back away instantly.   

Fully grown, medium in size, Sher has put on a bit of weight recently. Due to her constant chasing of rats and now cats, she has also built up some lean muscles, and speed, to mention but a few. Try to imagine a Doberman with a small but solid spare tyre. Another reason for the spare could be due to the highly nutritious dog biscuits that we feed her, and we make sure she has a bowl in her kennel before we leave for work. Not indeed a wise move.   

Showing signs of aggressiveness, Sher has started to growl whenever she sees an “enemy” nearing her pot of gold. For her, when it comes to FOOD, it’s a matter of life and death. Needless to say, a grim reality is lurking.   

On one dreadful evening, a fight between Sher (aka Tigra) and Lion, our other male furry friend with golden brown fur, ensued. It’s a battle not over dog biscuits, but over human food -- white rice! I made a ghastly mistake; I accidentally spilled some rice on the floor and without warning it triggered the fight.   

Baring their sharp teeth, they pounced on each other, growling and snapping aggressively. Pounding in my chest, my heart almost burst out during that few short horrifying minutes. The fight was horrendous, with bruises, puncture wounds, and blood smearing in every corner. It was a shock of my life! Never have I seen them so ferocious (and hungry) before. At the same time, my heart was shattered to a thousand pieces seeing them hurting each other like this.

After the incident, I learned an important lesson ... dogs are dogs. We don’t tell our dogs, “Now both of you, be good. Learn to share your food.” I’m sure there are some dogs or perhaps even cats that somehow understand the goodness in sharing food. Ours, unfortunately, don’t. So, we just let them be.   

By doing so, we still treat both fairly in spite that Sher is the more aggressive one here. When time comes for the occasional “delicacy,” we just have to put them in their respective kennels first. Case closed.   

Believe it or not, in no time Sher and Lion are seen playing just like two happy active puppies. Putting the horrendous incident behind, if you ask me again if I still love her despite her drive-me-up-the-wall behaviors, my answer is still a big ‘YES’ -- and him as well. How about you? Putting yourself in my position, would you, or would you not still love her?   

Incidentally, there are some important life lessons all of us can learn from these furry friends of ours. Here are just a few:   

1. They don’t pretend " they are just being themselves  

2. They don’t have ill-feelings towards each other 

3. They don’t hold grudges 

4. They don’t take revenge 

5. They learn to ‘forgive and forget,’ literally 

6. They learn to share (as I’ve mentioned, some dogs do) 

7. And most importantly, they know how to give love first    

To my Sher and Lion, I missed you guys.