“Hello everybuddy! I’m Lumi and I would like to tell you the crazy story of how I found my forever home!
When I was 4 months old, I was found on Jurong Island without a mummy. Life was tough coz I got bullied and was always hungry. One day, I was trapped and brought to SOSD’s shelter where everything was scary and unfamiliar. Luckily, I had 4 big brothers and sisters in my kennel who reassured me that everything would be ok. My favorite brother was Marsh and I miss him so much! He would play fight with me and always let me win. The only problem was that he was white so everytime we played, I had white hair all over my black coat hahaha!
About one month later, during the bi-monthly shelter tours where random humans come to visit us, I met my daddy and momsicle! I was just prancing around my kennel when suddenly, this nice Jiejie pointed to me and told her cousins “have you seen this little black dog?” I was stunned and curious to see who she was talking to. And then it happened, 2 humans came up to my kennel and I was instantly smitten by momsicle. I walked up to her and followed her as she walked the length of my kennel. I was wondering who she was and why we shared this strange bond.
With luck, these 2 humans actually contacted SOSD after the shelter tour and asked if they could come visit me!!! BUT they were notified that I was not yet HDB approved as I was under 6 months old and I wasn’t even trained to walk on a leash.
Nonetheless, daddy and momsicle said they would come and visit me every week. When I heard this, I was determined to prove that I was a good doggie and be on my best behavior during all our walks together. I walked like a dream and was super quiet and shy, I never barked and would shy away when anyone tried to pat me.
Seeing their willingness to try, Aunty May and Aunty Min decided to bring me to their house for a day visit! I was so excited but so scared at the same time. Also, no one told me about the scary car rides but that’s another story for another day.
When I arrived, I sniffed around their living room and admired the 17th-floor view of Serangoon river, wondering if I could really live here for the rest of my life.
To my surprise, on the 2nd house visit, there was a playpen in the living room! I was walked into it, locked in there and then everyone left the house. Of course I panicked and jumped the fence! I wasn’t sure what was going on but they put me in again when they came back so I kept trying to get out and even got my paw caught in the fence.
On the 3rd house visit, while we were strolling downstairs, Aunty May and Aunty Min suddenly disappeared! I was brought upstairs and dad and momsicle spent the afternoon sitting with me in the playpen with the gate open. They allowed me to go in and out as I pleased and I was starting to feel a little more comfortable.
I was still unsure of everything and the only thing I knew was to stick to momsicle. Because of my fears, she slept on the sofa in the living room with me for the first five nights I was home.
On the 6th night, mummy finally went back to her room to sleep and I was still a little scared but she left her bedroom door slightly ajar, just enough for me to see and smell her but not wide enough for me to enter.
Night by night, the gap in the door would get smaller and smaller and I took the hint, daddy and momsicle had their bedroom and so did I! I love momsicle so much that I would follow her everywhere but when night falls, she would point me to the living room and tell me to go, that’s how I learnt when it was sleeping time.
I mentioned that no one had heard me bark yet right? Well not until the 3rd day home at least! So that faithful day, daddy and momsicle kept offering me strange objects that I had never seen before. They came in funny shapes and sizes, some were hard, some were soft and some made weird squeaky noises. Apparently, they were called toys and oh my goodness they were a ton of fun!! I was so excited when I realized that I was allowed to chew and play with them that I lost my mind and started barking like crazy at the toys! When I found my voice in that rowled up state, I started barking at every little sound that I heard and rolled around the house.
Silly daddy and momsicle were so startled by my sudden change in behavior that they called Aunty May in a panic! The next day, Aunty May and Aunty Min came to visit me and I thought that I was in deep trouble. Another Aunty named Su Lin came too and I was so nervous that I growled and barked at her for 10-15 minutes. She told everyone to ignore me but when I didn’t stop, she told mummy to leash me and walk me around the house. Surprisingly, that calmed me down.
I have a little separation anxiety too but daddy and momsicle have desensitized me by opening and closing doors a million times, giving me lots of treats in puzzle toys that I have so much fun solving and sometimes daddy will just have to distract me so that I won’t realize when momsicle leaves the house first. Sometimes I still whine a little but I have found that the trick to staying home alone is to play, eat and sleep sleep sleep!
I have a million other crazy stories of me settling into my new home but this is getting too long and I’m getting a little sleepy.
It’s been almost 4 months since I’ve moved in with daddy and momsicle and all I can tell you is that I’m still learning but I love my new home!
I know my boundaries (I don’t enter the kitchen even if the door is accidentally left open overnight) and I don’t chew on anything that is not a toy. Daddy and momsicle are super proud of me and give me lots of fun and yummy things when I’m good.
Every night at 10pm, I get to play with the neighborhood dogs, some of which are now my bestest friends! I even have 2 dogpa’s (godpa dogpa, get it?!) and a whole village of people who love and take care of me. I have learnt lots of new tricks but my favorite is kissing momsicle on the lips. I’m still a little wary of strangers and I still get very nervous at bath time but I’m getting more and more confident each day.
I just started obedience class at Aunty Su Lin’s K9 Kampong and although I’m distracted (coz I really really wanna play with everyone), Aunty Su Lin is really proud of me when I focus and do what momsicle tells me to.
I’m sooooo happy that I have a super nice home now and I have daddy and momsicle and 2 dogpas and Aunty May and Aunty Min and Vanessa and Emilyn 姐姐s and Uncle Jason and Aunty Cindy (my BFF Amber’s parents) and Aunty Amanda and Aby (dogpa’s wife and sister) and lotsss of other friends and family! I hope all the shelter dogs will be as lucky as me and live happily ever after!”
Live it up,
Lumi A.K.A Luminous Lam
