Peepao

I learned days ago that Fiona Apple lost her dog. I learned now a friend of mine lost her cat. Two months ago I lost my dog.

The name Peepao came from a MySpace profile account which my officemate saw in the office. She called me as I passed by her workstation and said "Josh, Tingnan mo oh ang cute ng name". I also found the name uniquely cute.

When I went home in 2006, six months old Peepao greeted me with his barks as I entered our gate. He was in dog chains attached to a barbel to keep him from running around. Months later, I told Mom to let him stay inside to the house to give us comfort in our grief over father's death.

We got Peepao three months after my father's death. He was given to us by our help. From then on, we enjoyed Peepao having around inside the house.

He was a very friendly and happy dog. He has silver thread like coat. He likes to eat paper and tissue. When he is hungry for dog food or human food, he puts his face in between our legs especially when we are eating in the dinner table. He barks loud and every bark would mean something. Either he wants to go out to pee or he saw a rat in the cabinets. Though he dislike taking a bath, he does not smell that bad.

I attended a party the night before he passed away. I came home tired and crashed in the sofa. Peepao followed me and stayed beside me. I was touching his coat repeatedly while I tried to get some sleep. He was still alive when I woke up to have an early morning walk. But when I came back he was gone.

I found him lying in the living room after opening the light on an early morning. I called out his name "Pao, Pao" but he did not respond anymore. He was frozen. I woke up my mom to help me wrapped him in a bag.

Peepao came to our lives when we were grieving. He went ahead a few weeks after my nephew's first visit and a few days after my younger brother visit at home. Pets like people come to our lives for a purpose. And before we part ways, we want to be with those persons that means so much to us.

A friend of mine once said, that dogs die in order to save us from something bad happening to us. I do not know now what Peepao saved me from. All I know is though his life, Peepao saved us from grieving. Peepao made us and our home happy.