Ziggy

Ziggy is, actually was Neda's dog. She passed away this morning between 2 and 8. She was a beautiful American Eskimo with white fur. I only knew Ziggy in the past few years. She was already older, but still fiercely territorial. She taught Kiko to be a guard dog (most people are surprised that Kiko, a Black Lab is such a territorial creature). The Ziggy that I knew was gentle and loving. She would bark at you, but once she knew who you were, it was all love after that. I remember just this summer when we stopped to visit, she saw the mailman and chased after him! That was one of her favorite things - scaring the mailman. Azam had to run after her to catch her. She was such a trooper when Coco went missing ( we were dog sitting, but another time for that story). As old as she already was this summer, she was out there day after day with us looking for Coco. I can still see her big beautiful eyes looking at me, her very delicate feet crossed like the lady that she was. There aren't words to describe the loss of a loved one. I know that Ziggy was loved by all of us, and will be missed. Rest in peace sweetheart.

Christmas 2010

After quite a number of years, we actually had people over this year on Christmas. Back in the day, we used to celebrate Christmas, not because we were Christian, but it was always an opportunity to get together with those that we love. I guess growing up in Trinidad where everyone celebrated everything, Christmas was just another chance to celebrate our multi-cultural heritage. We are muslim, and our faith is not one that lends itself to the sheer joy and exhuberance of Christmas.
I have always loved Christmas. It was a time of fun, presents, parties and gifts. Growing up we always had a tree. Every year there would be presents under that tree. I kept that tradition with my own kids. We always made a big deal of Christmas. It was only after my brother passed away that Christmas and its traditions became quite sad for our family. There was no more getting together at his place on Christmas Eve and staying until just after midnight so that we could open presents at his house. Then he would come over to our house on Christmas Day. We would always wait to open presents until he and his wife came over. Those were good years. The first year after Azim died, I tried to keep the tradition, but it was too painful for Sherry. After that, I guess in order to move on with her life, she stopped coming over at Christmas. I guess we were a reminder of what she had lost, and as much as it hurt, I could understand her reluctance to be around us. As for the kids, this coincided with them beginning to grow up. Christmas became for us just another day off. We slept in late. There were no more presents. It would take years before we could summon up joy at that time of year.
But as with everything, time changes things. The kids have grown up. Azam is engaged to Neda. Aaron is seeing Nikki. Ansaar has the dogs.
This year we lost my Dad, and once again Christmas was difficult. The one thing that I did however, was to not let it get us to the same place that we were when Zim died. I decided to surround us with those that we care about.
My cousin Joey came over. His wife Sarah worked and was working early the next morning, so she did not come. Neda and her parents came over. Nikki came over, as did Neda's sister Ziba, her husband Varqa and their kids. I made turkey with stuffing and gravy, potato gratin, wild rice, vegetables and baked my much-loved sponge cake, as well as a tres-leche coconut cupcake with dulche de leche and buttercream icing. My mom made the most amazing pone(cassava cake), and coconut sweetbread. She also made Dhalpuri roti and curry duck. Neda's Mom made a Saffron chicken and mango salad. Nikki's Mom sent over a Phillipino stuffed fish. The food was most excellent!!
More importantly though, our family was together. Being busy kept both my Mom and myself from getting totally depressed. The feelings of loss will truly never go away, but at least we were not alone so that all we did was focus on what was missing in our lives.
We had a lovely dinner. We talked, we laughed. The kids played video games. The parents watched. Nothing earth-shattering happened. Just good food, warm company, and lots of love. Some days, life can be good...

Lola and the Eggs

Okay, so while growing up in Trinidad we always had birds...Canaries, Robins,Parrots. No big deal. None of them ever had eggs, so I guess I forgot that female birds lay eggs.
Apparently female parrots of Lola's kind can have eggs at least twice a year and the clutch can be up to about four.
The first time it happened was about two years ago. I had never been close enough to any feathered creature when they laid eggs to know what actually happens. It was one of those things that you never really give much thought to. I just assumed that it was the natural course of things and the egg just popped out. No way! For a female bird, laying an egg is the equivalent to a female human having a baby. The first time was horrible for us...oh and for Lola too! The poor bird literraly squealed and squealed. We had no inkling of what was going on, so we thought that she was dying. Prior to that Lola had been extremely loving towards Azam. We just assumed that she was mellowing and was just grateful that she was obssessed with him to the exclusion of biting us. We were all in bed when we heard her. Of course everyone came running! We took her out of the cage, tried giving her water, rubbing her back, trying in some way to ease her pain. We started discussing whether to take her to a vet. At this point everyone was very emotional. Azam had her in his arms, and was trying to see where she was hurting when he noticed something white. We quickly figured out what was going on and took her back to the cage so that at least she would be sitting when the egg came out. Of course we all stayed up with her until it was over. For a small bird it was quite a large egg. We all went to bed keeping an ear open in case it happened again. Luckily she only laid the one.
When I read up on it, we were supposed to leave her with the egg and she would abandon it after about six weeks once she figured out that it would not hatch. This would also discourage her from more frequent laying.
That six weeks turned into over three months! Two months of hand-feeding Lola because she would not leave the egg for a minute. Three months of sneaking the egg out of the cage to wash it because she would try to feed it cereal and yogurt (it got pretty disgusting). After the second month she started leaving the egg for short periods of time. By the end of the third month we were all at the stage of thinking that it would never end. How did it eventually end? Well I took the egg out to wash it and left it on the counter next to the fridge wrapped in a towel. It was my attempt to wean her away from it. While someone was getting something from the counter the egg broke. Curiously Lola did not even look for it. After all our catering to her, I think that she out-smarted us all! We were the ones who would run to her the minute she made any sort of noise. We were the ones who came home early no matter where we were to hand-feed her. Even Lola could recognize a good thing!
Since then she has had eggs once a year. The last time, she really wasn't attached to it. She laid the egg and it broke when Ansaar was cleaning her cage. She never really sat on it.
This week she laid two eggs. Both are small so she did not have too much trouble. She sits on them, but comes out to poop, eat and shower. She will not poop in the cage once she has eggs. When we are at home, we leave the cage door open so that she can come and go as she pleases. Now we wait until she is no longer interested in sitting on the eggs or until another "accident" occurs.
In the meantime, she is so sweet. She talks to the eggs, gives the eggs kisses. It is absolutely adorable to see her running quickly back to check on them when she feels that she has been away for too long. We do not have to watch where we step because there is no threat of the little red devil on the floor to bite us. My cupboards are left alone, after all who wants to investigate silly cupboards when there are egss to be taken care of?

Night Routine

It's been a while since I've had the desire to write. Life has an irritating habit of stopping us in our tracks, but more on that later.
Kiko and Lyra have developed a night-time routine. Dinner tends to be typically between 7 and 8 at night in our house. Following this both dogs need to go outside to do their business, then it's bed-time! They will go to the platform that's in the middle of the staircase and look at me expectantly. If I don't pay heed, they will come to me, then go back to the stairs. I've been quite successful at ignoring their attempts for the most part until I am ready to go to bed. Most nights they'll give up and lie down and go into a half-sleep until I am ready to go upstairs. Other nights, when Lyra gets really vocal, I tend to cave. A whining, complaining Husky is a pain in the behind!! And Lyra is very vocal. Aaron taught her to speak, so now she asks for "wa-wa"(water). She can't say bed, but the sleepy face combined with the whining sure lets you know what she wants! Kiko just paws at you with what I am sure she thinks is a gentle motion - I have the bruises to prove otherwise!
So they go upstairs and have to have their "night water". I still cannot believe that they both drink simultaneously out of a medium-sized margarine container. I tried giving them something larger, but they would have none of it...so the margarine container remains.
In the meantime, Azam or Aaron is downstairs giving Lola her "night water". She gets her water replaced everynight, but has to drink some out of the cage before she goes to bed. Lola also has her dinner with us...she eats regular food, typically with Azam - the love of her life. She substitutes Aaron and Ansaar when he's not around, and us when the kids aren't at home.
Some days the dogs will sleep in our room. other days they sleep with Azam and Aaron or Ansaar. They pretty nuch decide where they want to sleep. Of course they can and often do move around in the middle of the night.
Lyra no longer gets up to pee in the middle of the night, thank goodness. Kiko has however recently decided that she must drink water in the middle of the night. She will come to my room and go to the washroom to investigate if there is any water in the dish. If there's none, she then comes to wake me with a "gentle" pawing. The kids have said to ignore her, but she's very persistent. The dog would either sit there and stare at me, or sit and sleep until I get up. It just gets both of us back to sleep faster if I just get up and give her water! I am hoping that this new behaviour is temporary and soon I won't jump up to that creepy feeling that someone is staring at me while I am sleeping.

Update

Lyra and Kiko are doing extremely well since they were spayed. Both were very active (keeping their activity level down was the most difficult part!) and it's as if though nothing had happened. Kiko had some minor discomfort in the couple of days afterward but she was fine after.

Lyra had her dew claws removed as well on her hind legs. She looked adorable in her pink bandages!

Both have healed really well and are back to normal.

To Spay Or Not To Spay

Kiko and Lyra are going in to be spayed on Friday March 19th.

As the date comes closer and closer, I find myself worrying about them as though they are one of my children.

When we made the decision to spay them, it was the logical thing to do. We are not going to breed them, and the benefits of spaying a female dog as early as possible are many. The chance of getting mammary cancer is reduced to 10% if they are spayed prior to their first heat and to about 25% if spayed after their second heat. Spaying also eliminates the possibility of them getting ovarian or uterine cancer. The chance of them getting Pyometra (an infection of the uterus ) is also eliminated. Having a female dog in heat is also not the most sanitary of situation (as we learned with Kiko).

However, logic and emotions are two totally different entities. I am concerned about their reaction to us leaving them. They've never gone anywhere without one of us. I know that they will be sedated and as such asleep most of the time. Yet I feel this uncontrollable desire to go and overnight at the vet's office (we're not allowed - I got Ansaar to ask). I know that it's a routine procedure. I know that they are very resilient. I know that they will heal and be ok. Yet I cannot help but feel like I should be there to hold them and reassure them. They are dependent on us for so much, yet we are the ones who will cause them pain - even though it is for their own good. How very strange to feel such an attachment....It was much simpler when dogs were just that..dogs. They slept outside, you fed them once a day, gave them a bath once a week, didn't really play with them or share space with them, never got to know them as individuals, there was no emotional bonding, just humane compassion if anything happened. With Kiko and Lyra, they are very much a part of the family, not just dogs....and so I worry until I know that it is over and that they are well again.

Our Little Graduate!

Lyra has successfully graduated from her puppy class! She passsed her final exam with flying colours! We've learned so much from her class and will for sure continue practicing everything she learned. After their spay, I'm going to regsiter both Kiko and Lyra for the intermediate class! I've also included pictures of Lyra's friend and classmate Nikkita.