Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Mallows


Mallows at three months old

*Note: This is a repost from one of my older blogs. Mallows has actually learned to be more behaved--which I will try to write about soon. :) 
I think that my pet chow chow, named Mallows has the misconception that she is a small dog; as small as Chloe (a yorkie), perhaps. Why? Let's see... First of all, Having Mallows with us is kind of an accident. A fortunate one, nevertheless. I never really planned on having a chow chow as a pet. In fact, I didn't even know what a chow chow was when my brother had suggested to us (me and my sister) to get one as a present for our mother's birthday. Of course, it was only my brother who really wanted a chow chow because as it turned out, our mum doesn't even like big dogs like Mallows; she just wants the smaller more scruffy ones like Chloe and Choco (a shi tzu). Poor Mallows. She was already brought into our place without any real welcoming space (because neither my mum nor my brother wanted Mallows to stay in their rooms--Mallows had tick problems then). But as I noticed how uncomfortable she looked as she was about to be left all alone downstairs, I decided to take her into my own room--and seriously, I didn't know what I had coming. First were the ticks! Aw man. We had to take it out one by one. There were so many that we lost count! Moreover, it took more than a day and even a week to COMPLETELY get rid of each and every tick enjoying the luscious coat of Mallows. After which, I had to maintain it by spraying Frontline (anti-tick spray). And of course, the regular grooming which includes brushing her coat, trimming her nails and cleaning her ears--and I get really OC with those things! Anyway, perhaps it's either because Mallows has always been around smaller dogs or because I tend baby or spoil her so much that she doesn't act the way that a chow chow is stereotyped as. Books and other literature tell me that chow chows are normally lazy (perhaps because of their heavy built); "Non hyper and will always walk well on a lead"--http://www.majestychows.com/chowfacts.htm. However, Mallows loves to play! She plays with Chloe, Choco, her rawhide, and even her treats, et cetera. She'd jump up the couch or beds with or without her treats, sometimes even dropping it on the cushion then suddenly diving into her treat or toy with her nose on lead. She would also try to dig onto beds and basically, any type of cloth lying around; so we had to be wary of clothes, towels or blankets scattered around the house. She also has this tendency of stealing all my hair scrunchies! I've had several occasions of finding hair scrunchies dripping wet from all her drool. She can really be a handful! Furthermore, she doesn't necessarily walk well on a lead. I know it's natural for dogs to stubbornly sniff around. But as we were walking this afternoon around the village, our walk was cut short as Mallows cowardly remained in place (with her tail down) and wouldn't continue walking no matter how hard i pulled her leash! The reason: the gate where the labrador lives was wide open. Mallows is so scared of big dogs--well even of several smaller dogs like pugs, grey toy poodles and et cetera. OMG. Aren't chows supposed to rank high on dominance? Harhar. Hence, I don't have a chow chow. Mallows is a toy chow who enjoys being carried up to avoid having to go all the way up the stairs. Mallows is also a baby who wants to be protected from all the seemingly mean and big dogs. She might not be what a typical chow enthusiast would want or expect but I guess it's those things that she isn't expected to be that makes me love her even more. :) 

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