Dogs and Door stoppers

In MM Online, regular columnist Tunku Zain Al-‘Abidin penned a nice piece in his Dogged by cultural fears (extracts):

... we live in an age where every action or inaction is sure to offend someone, and it seems some businesses are being criticised by culturally Chinese customers for failing to properly celebrate the Year of the Dog.

Apparently some business owners then face a choice as to which party to offend, and to calculate the potential damage caused by such offence.

Whether these fears are grounded in concrete precedents is a key consideration; but if this trend continues then Malaysia as a nation will continue inexorably on a path towards greater division and extremism in the long run.

For those who will “not want to be offended” will demand greater and greater constraints on the activities of others; and others will want such constraints reciprocated; and eventually such constraints will cross from the public into the private domain.

So, this cat lover says, honestly and loyally to the spirit of our Rukun Negara: Welcome to the Year of the Dog!

Well said, YM.

Tunku Zain, who was born in the year of the dog (meaning this year he is 24 or 36 or 48, wakakaka, take your pick. That's how easy it is to calculate one's age using the Chinese animal zodiac calendar) started his article confessing to his personal dislike of dogs. He wrote:

For as long as I can remember, I have disliked dogs. It must have been triggered by some childhood incident, because I feared and loathed them as a kid, and until today I am unimpressed by their gormless panting, incessant tail-wagging and unabashed displays of emotion.

There is nothing satisfying about a dog excitedly jumping towards (and trying to lick) every new human it meets; in contrast, a cat choosing to amble across the room to greet you with a headbutt — that ultimate sign of feline affection — is a pure triumph.

Of course, such prejudice based on biological factors is not in keeping with the times and I try to appreciate that every individual creature is different. However much I try though, in my books, the best dogs are those which behave like cats.

We all grew up in different environment thus it's OK to love or dislike a dog, cat, bird, etc because we are individuals with different individualistic characteristics and traits.

I on the other hand believe the only good cat is one stuffed and used as door stopper, wakakaka, whilst I love dogs, having kept numerous since my childhood days.

Mind, when I was a kid, my late mum kept several cats though thank goodness not at the same time. Thus I cannot claim to be deprived of cat company when growing up, but nonetheless I quiet frankly dislike cats.

Once I had a GF who kept two cats. Every-time I visited her I had to meditate internally to keep calm, but on leaving her house, meditated externally on how to get her annoying cats stuffed, wakakaka.

Undeniably cats lack loyalty unlike dogs who are 'pack animals' thus the latter loved to be part of a 'team' of which we humans should impress on our pets or companions we are the Alpha (leader). There has never been any companion more satisfying than a well trained dog.

I grew up in perfect harmony with such a dog, though it was not due to any training but rather my companion care for the mongrel. Yes, Rover was just a mongrel and not a pedigreed one, which strangely my late father brought home one day. Rover was given to him by his friend who didn't want to keep the poor creature anymore as he was moving to a new neighbourhood. Dad's friend also provided the rather unimaginative name of Rover, wakakaka.

somewhat like above 

I mentioned 'strangely' because my dad wasn't a man who liked to keep pets at home, whether that be a dog, cat, fish (mine of course, wakakaka) and the ones he disliked most of all, birds.

No it's not the birds he hated but the act of keeping those aves. To my very devoted Buddhist dad, that was an unspeakable act. My cousin who was living with us but naughtily kept birds had an hour's lecture from my dad on why it was unbecoming of a Buddhist to keep birds which should be flying around freely and not imprisoned in cages (as he did to me on my pet goldfish- for more on this, see my post If only ... at KTemoc Kongsamkok).

But for some unknown reasons he took to that dog he brought home. My grandfather also liked that canine, explaining to his grandson (moi) why it was a good dog from the way it rested with front legs crossed. My mum was pretty neutral though whatever my dad liked, it must be good. The family left the dog in my care.

For years I fed, groomed and care for it. It was so devoted to me that no one, not even my mum, could raise a hand against me without the dog showing protective aggression.

Of course his show of aggression varied, depending on who acted against me, wakakaka, being a 'clever' dog who knew which side of the bread was buttered, thus it never approached the level of actually biting my late mum. A mild warning growl saved me from mum's thrashing on several occasions with my mum wisely walking away with mumbled imprecations against Rover.

One day Rover disappeared when I was away in KL in my first job. Reconstruction of its disappearance during my return on leave, discovered Rover, by then an old ageing dog, had accidentally wandered in a neighbouring district and thus canine domain. I was deeply stressed to learn he was killed by a pack of dogs in that neighbourhood.

Thus, unlike our MM Online author, I have never taken much to the very sombong and annoying cat as I hadn't experienced my mum's cat defending me with a loud miaow, wakakaka. Bloody door-stopper.

wonderful, as cats all ought to be, wakakaka