Hey. Read your post thing that you could go on and on about what you like about your dog. I was wondering if you would mind doing that, if you have time? It sounds interesting.
omg YES!! of course! i’ve touched on a few of these so far but i love talking about her so i’ll just write a small novel lmao.
so i think the thing that amazes me the most about pixel is the fact that i picked her based 99.999% on photos. i was doing my every-other-day petfinder search for available pups (i had been doing this for ~3 months) and i saw her picture and stopped dead. i knew i couldn’t live without this pup. i actually stepped away from my desk to immediately call the woman who was going to be fostering her when she got to the U.S. and tell her how much i felt a connection to this dog. i’d been looking at thousands of dogs, and none had spoken to me as loudly and clearly and perfectly as this one. i don’t recommend getting dogs based on photos (and if she and i hadn’t clicked once i met her, i would’ve passed on her), but our match couldn’t have been more perfect. i couldn’t get her out of my head, she’s my very own love at first sight.
another thing i love is the fact that she is literally the easiest dog i’ve ever encountered. i lucked out with her great personality, yes, but in terms of maintenance and exercise and training, she’s been almost impossibly easy. she’s only had three accidents inside the house (not counting the five other times when she’s been sick, but even including those it’s been minimal mess), and understood so quickly that the house is not a potty zone. she’s got the biggest bladder in the world too, i don’t really try to push her too often but if i want to sleep in on the weekends, she never actually bugs me to get up and take her out. i’ve never had to crate her, she’s never even tried to chew furniture or things that aren’t hers, and on the rare occasions when i have to leave her in my room for a day instead of giving her free reign of the apartment, she couldn’t care less. she doesn’t get into food that’s left out, even if it’s within her reach, and doesn’t pull things out of the trash.
she’s been extremely quick to train, and is an angel off leash. she’s not perfect, but even if she does give in to her prey drive and chase after something, she’ll give up after a bit and then stay in place and wait for me to come to her, or come back to me on her own. obviously i would still prefer she doesn’t chase at all, but after my first dog who would bolt out the door and never look back, it’s been such a huge relief.
she doesn’t jump on strangers!! i’m so thankful for this. if a stranger looks at her and says hi, she will sit nicely or lean against their leg for pets. she will OCCASIONALLY jump if the person is petting her and then straightens back up (kind of a “wtf why did you stop”), but it’s so rare that i don’t really have a solid way to train it out of her (and nobody she’s jumped on has minded, she’s very gentle in her paw placement). also she has the EASIEST body language to read in the world, which has made socialization with both people and dogs so so much easier.
so far i’ve pretty much just talked about the actual training/living with her aspects, but in terms of her personality, she’s an absolute delight. she greets me with a low “woo” when i get home, and sits up in a sit pretty until i walk close enough for her to lean her front paws/face against my leg. she sprints back and forth down the hallway to the elevator when we go out for walkies, with the happiest expression on her face. also sometimes when she’s ESPECIALLY excited for walkies, she’ll slightly nip my pants at the side of my knee during the walk to the elevator because she can’t contain herself. (actually it’s not even nipping so much as bumping my leg with her open mouth. it’s always so gentle, i can’t believe it.) she’s not the most snuggly dog i’ve had, but when she’s in the mood, she loves to be close and presses her body up against my leg or back or whatever she can get to. she makes this stupid goofy toothy face when i stop petting her, like she’s offended that i dared to stop.
when porsche lived with us (she and her owner have moved out now), pixel fully understood that porsche was a third of her size, and would constantly flop over and let porsche win. i’m so excited to get another pup in the house for her to be buddies with, because when she gets excited about another dog, she plays ADORABLY.
basically i just lucked out more than i ever could have imagined with this little thai street dog. just the other day when we were doing tricks in the park, some tourists asked if they could take pictures with her. everyone who meets her absolutely loves her, it’s hard not to. she understands my body language incredibly well, she’ll do things that i’m about to ask her to do before i can even get the words out, and i just really can’t believe the bond we’ve developed in the short months that i’ve had her. she’s the luckiest dog to have been able to get out of the dog meat trade the way she did, and i’m the luckiest person to have gotten such an incredible best friend.
