Just yesterday, I was looking at my dog’s birth certificate. OMG I can’t believe the queen of the house turned eight already. 🙁 Time flies so fast.

The “queen” is our lazy english bulldog, Virginia. My honey & I bought her from a friend, and she’s been part of our family ever since. My youngest & I share her, we have what you call- joint custody. ;P

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Jinia: Please call me YOUR HIGHNESS! 😉

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She’s a fighter, this diva dog of ours. She has survived an asthma attack, ehrlichia, and of late.. Pyometra. With the last one, we thought for sure she was a goner. 🙁 She was too old for an operation, so we had to do with prayers & high doses of  antibiotics. This on top of her long dosage of antibiotics earlier on brought about by ehrlichia (damn those carrier ticks!)

Virgnia, or Jinia as we fondly call her, has brought a lot of joy into our lives, and to think that she doesn’t have much years left makes us want to pamper her more.

Dogs are so loyal, so giving, so unconditional. <3

My very first dog was a dalmatian, a gift from my uncle while we stayed with him & his family in New York for over a year. But I didn’t really consider her mine, more of a family dog -theirs. They certainly had A LOT of pets. Such animal lovers. Maybe that’s where I caught the puppy love fever! 😉

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Beauty, who always jumped & pounced on me. Nope, I didn’t like it at all! ;P

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Coz I fell in love with a dog I bought from cartimar after our brief U.S. stint. A dachschund mix! I named her Jefanie. 😉 Dogs weren’t allowed in hospitals but I snuck her in one day & my mom wasn’t able to separate us since. Jefanie has lived with me in the hospital, in the school, and in our first home until she passed. With her was her sister Cookie, a Lhasa Apso.

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My loves! <3

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Jefanie was the love of my life, But cookie was the apple of my eye because she was always so malambing & carinosa. <3 She & Jefanie had a love-hate relationship based on jealousy I think, some sort of a sibling rivalry over my affection. I had to give up cookie when my daughter came along for fear that she might think my daughter was too much competition for her -she was a bit aggressive. I have regretted that decision ever since. I should have just kept her downstairs. :'((

A variety of dogs have passed in our lives..

Janrey, a boxer – my birthday gift to Kap during our college days. Unfortunately she passed on quickly after we had her mated with an infected boxer. :'(( She had a face so ugly & fierce that it would stop you on your tracks, but was really such a sweetheart. <3 I remember when we had her ears cropped (poor baby!), she was soooo funny with her antics, trying to get rid of the “satellite dish” around her neck.

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Janrey looks so GOOFY!!! <3

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Boris, a german shepherd to replace Janrey. Sad to say, I didn’t connect with him -plus he shed like a cat. But my honey liked big, fierce-looking dogs. (He always complained that Janrey looked too goofy for him. He wanted a man’s dog. ;P )

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Truffle, a sad-eyed tri-color Basset Hound. She was my Kap’s too, after Boris passed away. She’s the one who lived the longest among his pets. And the stinkiest. You could smell her a mile away even after she’s had a bath! Her stench emanated from her ears, and no amount of ear drops ever cured her of it. When we got married, she (& my in-laws…) were part of the package, so she lived with us ’til she was old & gray. One day, her heart just gave out. That was a sad day for all of us. 🙁

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Truffles lived to a ripe old age. We loved her, but she really STANK! @_@ Whenever she & I would go walking in the village & she gets tired, no amount of coaxing can get her to walk again. She would just sit & not budge. ;))

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I’ve always had a fondness for English Bulldogs, ever since I saw an uncle’s in his posh home in New Manila. Our first bulldog was a brindle. I named her Hershey. She was my baby.. unfortunately, less than a year old, she drowned in our pool. I wailed like I never wailed before. :'(( (well, except for Jefanie)

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Hershey.. drowned after her 1st birthday. :'((

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So.. we went on to search for a new dog. And found Scoobie, the harlequin great dane. 🙂 She looked like a GIANT dalmatian. We got her old, aged 4/5?. Kap wanted her for the size. She was really big! @_@ Whenever we would go walking in the village with her, all the people in our path would cross to the other side of the street for fear. Sadly, she never liked me.. (but she loved Kap!) she would always growl at me so we had to sell her.

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She wasn’t in the greatest condition when we got her. And was actually small for a great dane.

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Betty & Veronica came into our lives (along with Virginia). So different from each other. Betty was a stocky American Bulldog. Veronica was a miniature boston terrier. But they were fast friends. They would always sleep together at night, leaving Jinia- the queen, all to herself on her bed.  🙂

Veronica belonged to Ate. She was a scared little dog who shied away from strangers but craved lots of attention & affection from her family. She could stay on your lap all day, not moving a single inch. 🙂 Nica was also a fighter. Poor baby had to give birth & her vet wasn’t attending to her needs. Good thing her daddy came at the nick of time & saw her fighting to squeeze her pup out midway, to no avail. The pup died. But Nica lived, thank goodness. However, she wasn’t so lucky the next time. She was infected with heart worm from a mosquito bite & we were just too late. She was turning yellow already from her liver disease that we just had to let her go when she was 5. I cried buckets of tears for my neglect to give her heart worm pills. :(( She is now buried in a place of honor by our fishpond, as an atonement for my sin.

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Ate with Veronica. Veronica was shy & timid around us, and was always shaking. I don’t know why. I’m so sorry you got sick, Nica. Love you, miss you! 🙁

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Betty belonged to my son. Boy was she notorious on our block. 😛 She knew how to open our gate, and she had such hatred for other dogs. (but not her sisters -just the rest of the neighborhood pups) Whenever dogs would walk by our gate, she’d go crazy, open the gate & run after them. So many times I’ve gotten complaints from the village guards because of my infamous Betty! 😛 But she was a sweetheart to us, she always knew when the kids were coming home from school. She always waited by the door, and was frequently rewarded with bread & loving pets and hugs.

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My babyson with Betty. Betty was very playful & smart. She knew how to open the latch of our gate & would often make us go on a wild goose chase whenever she escapes! :)) Betty died at the age of 6 due to cancer. Here you can see her multiple skin sores already, my poor baby. :'(( We had to have her put to sleep because she was already in so much pain. I miss you Betty. :'((

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We also got Midge, a black lab who loved to jump in our pool. She loved the water too much and would swim every opportunity that she got, so we had to give her away because she always swam in our pool, came in, and dripped all over the floor making it slippery and unsafe for everyone. That was a sad day because she was such a friendly dog. 🙁

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I think we were just overwhelmed with having 4 dogs at the same time. (I got on a wild dog-shopping spree! Fell in love with all and couldn’t decide which 1 to get. So I got 4.) Sadly, Midge had to go 🙁

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So we have come full circle, back to Virginia the English Bulldog (that’s her complete title hehe). It pains me to know that we only have so little time left with her. A bulldog’s lifespan is 8-12 years. She farts a lot, snores all the time even when she’s wide awake, sheds like crazy, lazy as a log- but she is our queen. And she’s the one I’m attached to the most. She’s even in all our family pictures.

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Virginia is in all of our family pictures. We think of her as the baby of the family! 🙂 This is our most recent family picture for the new year.

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After her, I don’t think I can bear to have any more dogs in my life. Yes, they bring so much happiness & joy. But when they leave, they also leave a string of sorrow behind…

To all the wonderful dogs who have loved us, cheers to you! Thank you for the unconditional love & genuine happiness you have given us. You will forever stay in our hearts! :-*