I can be a fairly heartless person, especially on the work front. I used to manage a team of approximately 40 people and if you weren't pulling your weight and slacking off, I would come down on you like a ton of bricks. I haven't come across a particularly cute baby, one which I will go "ga-ga" over... in all honesty, I don't think that my maternal instincts has kicked in yet... I am hoping that I am a late bloomer i.e. at the "ripe old age" of 29, I still don't have that urgent need to reproduce. Anyway, this story is about Harry, an almost 5 month old Terrier mixed (with what, we have no idea) dog.

Harry was given to my brother, by his girlfriend as a birthday present and as my brother spends most of his waking and sleeping time with her, it is my responsibility to look after him. I am the one that feeds him, cleans up after him, bathes him etc. I don't mind doing it as Harry is the CUTEST thing you ever did see... however, why she gave it to him remains a mystery as (as mentioned above), my brother spends less than 20% of his time at home (and this includes the time one spends in the Land of the Nod).

Anyway, Harry is THE spoilest dog in the history of mankind. How can anyone not fall in love with that adorable face?? Harry has since tripled his size when he first arrived but he is still adorable. He was named Terry when he first came here... however, a huge debate followed. You see, members of this household (excluding my brother) didn't like the name Terry. Suggested names were Boomer, Sebastian, Char Siew Pau, Basil, Mu Shu etc. This debate (which spanned 2 continents) lasted for approximatley 2 weeks... finally, as Terry (also our neighbour's name) was starting to get used to his name, we needed one that rhymed, thus Harry was chosen.

Let me tell you about Harry's character. Harry is a night dog i.e. he sleeps during the day, and comes alive at night. There is no point playing with him during the day for he just lies there like a sack of flour. However, as the sun goes down, through a miraculous cosmic change, he suddenly awakes from the coma that he is in and literally bounces around like he is on speed! Now, this poses as a problem as we, the humans of the household like to sleep at night... the time Harry likes to come out to play.

Harry absolutely LOVES my mum. You see, my mum loves food... she loves feeding people, and now dogs. Mum would go to the market, pick up meaty meat bones, boil it and give it to Harry. Harry knows that mum has a soft spot for him. He makes it a point to greet her at the door everytime she comes back from work. He follows her around, constantly wagging his tail and jumping on her. He knows how to sulk infront of her, how to goad her into giving him treats. Mum is the person who disciplines him the most and yet, his adoration for her is undiminished. Harry loves everyone seemingly unconditonally. He is always happy to see you, he is always wagging his tail and he is always waiting for you when you come home.

Harry is also a HUMAN kind of dog... i.e. he NEEDS to be around humans, whether he is sleeping or not. He HAS to HAVE humans around. He used to sleep on our balcony at one stage (for about a month after his arrival). As he grew used to humans, he NEEDS to be around humans. He will howl, bark, whimper, scratch at the balcony, bedroom doors etc. just to be around people. He will do this no matter what time of the day it is. Now, we don't mind him sleeping in our bedrooms, however, he is like a baby... when he has to go, he has to go. His usually bowel movement time is approximately 4.30am. His favourite nite sleeping place is on the floor, next to my mother. At 4.25am, like clockwork, he would tug at her bed clothes (and if there is no response, he will bark) to wake her up. My mum would then have to trudge down and let him out. Then, he would follow her back up to her bedroom. If by chance, he misses the "door" and is locked out of my parent's bedroom, he will come to my bedroom, scratch at the door and howls till I let him in. Harry simply can NOT spend the night alone in the living room. It isn't enough that he migrated from the balcony to the innards of our house. He now wants to invade our bedrooms. We don't mind him sleeping with us but we like to get continuous sleep.

After a few months of not getting continous sleep, it was decided that Harry had to be trained to go back to sleeping in the balcony. Now, this isn't as easy as it seems. Once locked out on the balcony, Harry would howl, bark etc. Now, we are not talking about 10 minutes of barking mind you... we are talking about hours upon hours of barking... so much so, that he wakes our neighbours. Drastic measures had to be taken... hence a muzzle was bought. We have been trying to train him to keep quiet at night... however, much to my surprise, I can't do it without considerable guilt *sigh*. I cannot for the life of me discipline him. When he starts barking, we would put the muzzle on him and leave him outside, on the balcony. It started of as a 5 minute duration punishment and has since moved on to 30 minutes. The stupid dog cannot seem to understand that he is being punished. I know that he doesn't like being muzzled but he can't stop barking. Then, he likes jumping and scratching at the door, whacking it with his tail, trying to get our attention. To stop this, we have resorted to leashing him up. This, doesn't seem to work as well...

The point of my story... well, it's hard for me to punish Harry... I can't do it. It is painful. I never thought that I was this soft hearted *sigh*. In the absence of my brother, the responsibility has fallen on my shoulders... Harry is destined to be the most loved, unruly and spoilt dog known to the human race.

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