It's not entirely wrong to make such an association, although if dogs could think in English, I'd think both dogs and kids would find that quite insulting.
I've never seen myself as a dog owner, ever.
Then I went to one of South Korea's dog cafes and I fell in love with the dogs. Not instantly, though. My elder sister is terrified of animals, but I was the neutral kind - never gushing over other people's animals or kids (I don't like or don't don't like them equally lol). I started my first ten minutes at the cafe trying to assess the friendliness of the dogs there - because the dogs were on average, much larger than me, and it was the first time I was in contact with about 15-20 dogs at one go.
So of course I was generally cautious as a noob (and also in a foreign country with limited conversational skills where I won't be able to get medical help as fast) but the dogs were so friendly and lovely, it was frankly hard to fall in love. JS, at the time, was also jumped by a large Goldendoodle who basically was so enthusiastic, he pounced on JS and JS fell to the floor (It was unexpected and too funny). Since I saw the whole thing with my very eyes - judging from his face - he certainly had the 3-second "Omg, is [the dog] going to bite my face?!" thought cross his mind. After that, we both made a conscious attempt not to get into any compromising positions within the dog cafe (e.g. bending too low, or squatting down), haha. Yeah guess we were kiasee.
Korean pet owners seem to love large dogs. Perhaps due to relaxed pet ownership laws in Korea (e.g. size restrictions based on residence), and more affordable dogs/pet supplies/grooming services, people would easily decide to go for "the bigger, the better"?
Well, in Singapore, if I was filthy rich and wasn't sensitive to dog fur, I would pick a Husky or Golden Retriever any day. What toy breed. What is toy breed. Pfft.
***
So anyway, we returned from Korea, forgot about dogs and the interest went dormant.
We never knew what compelled us to walk into a pet store in November (2016). My own advice is never to stroke temptation because you will most certainly act on it LOL. Of course, I didn't take my own advice. Suddenly we were 80% decided to get a dog once our new place arrived. Fast forward, we got married in December, was ready to move into our new place and our new dog joined us 1 week after we moved in. That. Escalated. Quickly!
Nugget has been an incredibly easy dog to train, cohabit with, and a dog who constantly learns our quirks and preferences. He never barks, never bites, is 100% pee-tray trained and basically a lovely dog to live/work with. (Disclaimer: This is after constant training and correction, please don't expect a newly-adopted/newly-bought dog to come with such skills ah please. At the beginning, they WILL pee and poop everywhere.)
Dogs are more predictable than children - which make them so much better to live with. We have a neighbour with two kids. Frankly, after living alongside them for the past few months, if you give me a free kid (let's say, no 9-months wait + no pain of childbirth), I'd pick a dog. Perhaps in the past, I was neutral to the idea of having kids, but after looking at my sisters (their kids) and my neighbour's kids, I realised having a kid is gambling. There's a 50:50 chance your kid is good-natured; a 50:50 chance your kid is nasty etc.
Say what you like, I won't gamble (haha).
Perhaps a few years down the road, I'll change my mind and eat my words. Until then, my stand remains the same. Enough with the 早生贵子 already - we'll have kids when we decide to ;)
Back to lighter things, Nugget lives to please and enjoys having visitors over. Given a chance, he would play 24/7 and die from exhaustion (he doesn't know when to stop playing at times). Some days, I feel that if he could talk, he would say he would love to die from playing cos at least he died happy and like #yolo? Gosh.
Nugget can be found on Instagram here. I assure you I try not to be a crazy "dog lady" who force feeds people with pictures of her dog. With all the crazy things happening in this crazy world, looking at photos/videos of animals doing funny things/looking adorable might just provide a small relief. Why not share these photos then? I just want to make your day better.
I've been away from this page for so long, I feel like I've forgotten how to express myself in words some days. Don't mind me if I sound a little awkward and lacking in flow. Trying to write freely again - this will take time.
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