Nova (#1 Bear)

The first week after rescuing her. It clicked the moment I looked into her eyes,
and it all makes sense now that I know we will be connected forever

Love Pig #1

Nova, female, 8 years old, mixed breed. We found her on the beach with 7 other pups when we lived on a remote island in Thailand. She was the runt, got pushed out, small enough to fit in my palm. Her whole body was covered in fleas and ticks, she was weak and struggling to breath. We didn't think she was going to make it, she had so little strength... The heat was brutal, she wouldn't move, eat, open her eyes while the other puppies were so playful, at least twice of her size and much stronger, healthier looking. All we knew was she could die at any moment. 



We really didn't give it too much thought, picked her up, took her to the island doctor for some shots, fed her, gave her three hardcore chemical baths to kill all the fleas and ticks. It was so rough on her, she was fragile, shivering all night. Her eyes were still blue grey-ish, she was teething, walking wobbly but very affectionate. 

Funny as it is, from the outside we did the hard work rescuing her, but in fact, she rescued me inside. I would never know I could love, give and sympathize with animal friends without her.

She's born wild, untamed, hard headed and extremely stubborn as hell (just like her adopted daddy), yet she's the most loyal one in the family. We suspect it must come from her German Shepard genes decades ago. She's one little piggy that has no fear in any circumstance. I have nothing but clingy endless love for her. I need her more than she needs me, the bond between us is unbreakable.

Our journey begins in Thailand, then Taiwan, and then the US. Any transportation vehicle you can think of, she's been on it. Boat, train, taxi, airplane, pickup truck, bus, scooter, etc. Pretty rad huh?

We had a rough start and almost lost her a few times. The first time all of the stray dogs in the area were murdered by eating the poison rice while we were gone about a week for a VISA run to Cambodia. Very unfortunate, this was how the locals controlled the stray population, I didn't see one single cat during the time we lived there either. Our neighbors two dogs were found, of course, dead. Our friends were pet watching Nova for us during this time, so she was kept safe. All her siblings on the beach were poisoned, including her mom. Very very sad, how ironic, the runt was the only one to make it.

The second time the locals at the train station tried to convince us that we should just leave her in the kennel while we were waiting for the train to Bangkok as she had to travel as baggage. They assured us that they would load her kennel for us into the baggage car. Well, we didn't feel safe leaving her with these people so we took her out with us. Thank the universe we didn't listen to those people, because the kennel didn't even make it on the train. We saw it was left out sitting on the platform when the train took off... That was a 10 hour overnight train, I held her with me tightly all night. It was so scary, we could have been kicked off the train due to the strict prohibition of animals in the passenger car. She was very cooperative being extremely quiet but just as anxious as we were all night.

(What happened in Thailand, stays in Thailand. This was 8 years ago, I think the conditions have improved a lot nowadays with regard to animals. I wouldn't feel disencouraged to visit at all.)

On to Taiwan: she had to go through a rough three week quarantine, caught a horrible skin disease due to the conditions, nothing was easy at all. People were intimidated by her size (40lbs, really?) and unfriendly looking (black face = mean face, really?). No taxi would even take us. Non pure breed pedigree dogs are treated as a second class citizens. Sigh, that's ok, these lessons only revalidated and taught me not to, in any circumstances, abandon her, ever. She is one tough cookie, a trooper indeed.

 

First day, she wouldn't eat or move

 

Little pup got herself trapped in the hammock

 

Six month old, we were about to leave Thailand for Taipei

 She's starting to look like a mini German Shepard 

Smiley Love Pig #1 and Love Pig #2

She has done some stupid funny things over the years like chewing up two of my cell phones, brought a bag of onions onto our bed and tore them apart so we still smelled onion even after washing the sheets and blankets three four times. For the record, onions are very unhealthy for dogs, luckily she only tore them up and did not appear to eat any/much, still quite a scare. She also brought a bag of toilet papers on the bed AGAIN and just shredded them hardcore... the whole bedroom was filled with snowy flying broken toilet paper...  Not to mention food on the table would just disappear when I walked away for a minute (I would have blamed my husband if she didn't burp so loud afterwards).

Nova and I are still together, she's my sweetest little bear. She is living in Austin, TX with her sister (Luna), cat brother (Sun Kissed) and us.