FUSSY, My Pet Dog

President Obama had promised his children a pup as 'a reward for coping with the punishing election campaign'. The First couple now has a new member in their home...BO, six month old Portugese Waterdog ! Now we have the First Dog of USA ! Six months old pup is well trained already, so no hassles of toilet-training, etc. People have been speculating, but The President dropped the first hint of the imminent arrival at Jay Leno. True to his style. . .Congrats to the Obama family.

While the press was going ga-ga on this topic for last couple of months, we got into a similar loop at home, when our only son wanted a pet dog too. So, in Jan 09, we sort of linked it to best efforts ( not results though) in his final exams. We were reluctant to take this additional responsibility. Some friends, expecially dog lovers/owners, kept reminding us 'it is a big responsibility'.

We started window shopping. . .we wanted to look for a dog which

1. would be ideal for indoor ( poor dog needs to be able to step out and get some fresh air)
2. would not bark much (that is, control its natural instincts)
3. would not shed hair
4. would be easy to handle and less expensive to manage
5. would not be very ferocious ( dogs are animals afterall !)
6. would get-connected at first sight...an advise from our experienced (pet owner of BEETHOVEN!) friends from Australia ......

I should confess, I was looking for the above, but was more concerned about the price tag :) While the kid kept his focus on his annual exams, inspired by the imminent arrival of a pup, we kept looking around. Then we got the news two of his close friends were leaving, one at school and the other at our residential compound. So, we wanted to help him overcome the grief by getting him his pup.

Finally, on the last day of his annual exams, we both were back at our familiar pet shop ( 'known devil'!) We ran in to a dog which looked cute, slightly big for a pup( seven months young!) and I personally 'got-connected-at-first-sight' as it resembled to our dog during my childhood!!! The fact it was the one of the less expensive option helped too.

So, on March 11, the new member of our family made an entry into our household. We named it Fussy, same name of my earlier dog:)