Monday, December 8, 2008

Memories

This blog has been inactive for almost 2 months, but it doesn't mean that life for mom and dad stopped for the last 2 months. On the contrary, events took over their lives which only now have settled down again. Sadly, Cadet is no longer with us in body, even though he is still very much with us in spirit.

From the first day when mom and dad took Cadet home, we knew he was a fierce one, not someone to pick a fight with!! If you own a copy of the HKDR Tribute Book 2, which came out officially mid October, you could see on pg 53 the following paragraph alongside the beautiful picture of Cadet taken by Ali.

Cadet - 2 years old, American Cocker, Favourite treat - Home made dog muffins
Like alumni in many schools , dogs that get remembered are often the naughty ones. Cadet is remembered by many at HKDR as the fierce one who packed a punchy bite despite his cute looking face and bum-shaking gait. We brought Cadet home on a stormy night in early spring this year. Due to his aggression, things were a bit tricky with Cadet in the early days- even a simple shower was a problem, let alone cleaning his drooping ears. After trying out a multitude of groomers and a dog trainer, who essentially failed in all aspects other than charging a fee; Cadet is lucky enough to have met Jack, the trainer. And now he can have his ear cleaned, his body shampooed and shaved without being sedated. In short, he can now live like any other well-pampered American Cocker Spaniel with his 2 friends, Buddy and Scottie the Schnauzers.

So far so good, what it didn't mentioned was that Cadet never quite shed its sudden aggressiveness towards human. His punchy bites have landed on all the members of the family including Jing, the helper. November 10, Cadet left his indelible marks on mom's palm and dad made the difficult decision that Cadet need to be euthanized.

For the following few days, we took extra long walks with Cadet. Then came Saturday, a sunny and beautiful morning, we walked all the way from Mount Butler to Parkview and back. Cadet had a hearty meal and was taken to Valley Vet. He took his last breath after the injection and fell asleep and said goodbye to this world after its relatively short life. Mom and dad looked on with tears rushing out from their eyes.

When they got home, they were greeted by the first boom of the Bugambilla tree in the garden, which never bore flowers in the 2 years since we arrived. Hardly a day go by without them glazing in the clear sky and saying Cadet is watching all of us from heaven........