Chubby, my Labrador Retriever

More than 10 years ago, I was a midwife to my pregnant dog while she gave birth to her very first litter of puppies. I nursed the puppies, they grew up, and were eventually sold except for one fat energetic dog that we named Chubby.

This is Chubby and here are some things that I fondly remember her for:

1. Chubby is my only dog that cannot see if there’s glass blocking her path. Throughout her life, she would always bump into our glass doors whenever I call her from our house. She was so excited to see me that she would sprint towards us only to end up bumping into the door.

2. This dog was notorious for jumping into our pond just because it was terribly hot outside. For some strange reason, she loved water. Whenever an opportunity to get wet presents itself, she would make it point to drench herself- may it be in a small puddle, a murky creek, or our a nearby swimming pool. I can still remember the surprise (and eventually disgust) on the faces of the kids swimming when they saw a fat black dog in the pool with them. :)

3. While swimming in the pond, Chubby would try to catch anything that moves. She caught most of our fishes so for a time, we never had any fish in our pond. It became Chubby’s personal swimming pool. At other times, we would see him bring home frogs, rats, snakes, and fruits (yes, she stole our neighbor’s fruits) as part of her monthly catch. She was so proud to have caught these for us.

4. This dog was always hungry. One time, she stole another dog’s food because it smelled so good. Unfortunately, she got caught and the dog bit a portion of her tongue off. (Look at the picture and you will notice that her tongue is unusually shaped)

5. Whenever Chubby sleeps outside her kennel, for some strange reason, Maya Birds would perch on top of her body to sleep with her. In fact, birds love her so much that they would play with her when she’s running around our garden.

6. She is my dog Ganda’s grandmother and has this strange habit of following me around wherever I go. She once tried to enter our house and our car just to follow me.

7. Perhaps she already had a feeling of what was to come but one day, she went outside to the vacant lot where her mother was buried, slept there, and never woke up again.