“Since I moved to Singapore, I’ve always wanted to adopt a dog to keep me company. Growing up, I’ve always had a pet in the house and so it made absolute sense to me that I should have one here with me, even if I wasn’t planning on staying in the country for long.
I was quite confident about my experience with dogs and thought adopting a dog would be easy peasy. How wrong I was! Adoption drive after adoption drive, I came home dogless. I decided I didn’t want to adopt anymore and considered buying a dog instead. But even that plan didn’t materialize, as I became extremely busy with work and personal activities.
Only after I met Che did I start thinking about adopting a dog again, since she was so keen in getting one herself. We went to multiple SOSD drives and came home, again, dogless. It just wasn’t the right time, I told myself. I would shelve my plans of adoption first and focus on other things, on myself. Take up a hobby. Work. Anything but. So when Xulan contacted me about an urgent need for a new fosterer for Bolpi, I didn’t exactly jump at the opportunity – after all the rejections we were being asked to foster a dog we didn’t choose and knew very little about! But I guess what they say is true – the universe gives us exactly what we are ready for at the exact time we need it in our lives.
Previously we didn’t realise or understand why there were so many hurdles we had to jump over en route to adopting a pet. But there’s 1 simple reason for all those hurdles: shelters want to make sure their babies — many of whom they’ve saved from illness, abuse and death — are placed in permanent, loving homes where they will be spoiled and pampered for the rest of their lives. We were so enamoured with the idea of ‘rescuing’ a dog and finding a furry friend for entirely selfish reasons, that we had pushed aside any serious concerns about the responsibility we were taking on. Simply put, we weren’t ready then (and I seriously doubt we were 100% ready when Xulan approached us) but after a few years we were definitely more financially stable, mature and less focused on ourselves. So with Xulan’s guidance (I can’t thank her enough for all the trust and support), we agreed to foster Bolpi. In June of this year we decided to adopt her.
It’s been a wild ride but we wouldn’t change it for the world. Bolpi has given us so much insight into ourselves and helped us grow as human beings. Che and I have learned so much about patience, commitment, and selflessness. We may have given Bolpi a permanent home but she has filled a void and saved our lives more than we saved hers.”
Jo,
Bolpi’s adopter
