It was like a dream when I received the opportunity to meet with the President of Russia. It was my first time in Moscow. The teeth grinding cold was unbelievable. Just as I got off the plane, something strange happened.

Everywhere began to go silent and I could feel something soft on my back. It all went dark...then I opened my eyes and found myself on the comfort of my bed. Turns out, it really was a dream.

In reality tho, Putin is actually the name of a dog I grew fond of not so long ago. Before I tell you about him…

I once asked myself if I would be willing to personally keep a pet animal, the answer was an unquestionable NO!

I mean, keeping a pet could be fun (however you choose to define fun) and comforting. I’m sure those who do keep them have their reasons. Me? No way, e get why.

Funnily enough, thinking about this reminded me of a Veterinary Professor I knew who keeps a pet snake, he named it Moses. My first reaction was… Who does that?? Then it dawned on me, people are simply dynamic in their own way.

I first met Putin sometime at the end of last year at a family house where I stayed for a while. ‘’Goodness, that dog is huge’’ was my first impression of him.

You’ll notice my use of the pronoun “him” while describing this dog. I know, I know, the general pronoun for animals is “it” but like I said, I grew fond of Putin. I don’t care what English has to say about this, using “ït” isn’t good enough.

Oh boy! I hope my mom doesn’t hear me say that, she can defend English language like crazy.

Naturally, at first I kept my distance from Putin. He had this terrifying look that said “If you cross your boundary, you’ll lose a leg” and I wasn’t willing to find out if he was bluffing. After a few months, something started to draw me closer to him. I noticed he was very lonely.

He was the only family dog in the house, confined to the building and didn’t have any companion. Hardly anyone paid attention to him. All he does is lay down and sleep or stretch around the compound.

This made that a scary looking bull dog grew to be so tame and soft. He hardly ever barks, excepts those days when he poops around the house and gets punished by being chained under the scotching sun. I felt for the poor dog.

I had reasons to stay away. Did I mention how huge he was?? Plus, he probably hadn’t had a bath in months (could be years), he smelled so bad. Flies were his bodyguards but hey… it’s not as gross as you’re picturing it to be, the imagination has a habit of creating over-the-top images. He was well fed though.

Well, I didn’t stay away. Compassion can do that to you.

Slowly, I started to pay attention to him. I’d walk by and say something like….

“What’s up dude?”

“You’re bored out of your mind, aren’t you?”

“Em, you won’t chop off my hand if I pat you on the head, will you?”

"It must suck not having someone to talk to huh"

All of that is usually met with a blank stare but I didn’t stop. Conversations turned into gentle strokes on the head. Oh and I still have my arms thank you for asking. I’d wash my hands afterwards of course.

That was as far as it went for a while. Rome wasn’t built in a day lol.

Something happened that put the fear of Putin in me, just when I had started getting comfortable with him. We had travelled to our hometown for the Christmas holiday and decided to bring Putin along.

We then made the mistake of putting him in the same vicinity with a goat or was it a ram? I guess we figured…what’s the worst that could happen? Oh, we found out eventually.

Long story short, Putin ended up almost decapitating the goat/ram with his teeth, left it bleeding and injured. What’s funny is, Putin is so gentle that we defended him by saying the other one must’ve first looked for trouble.

Turns out, we sometimes can’t deny our basal instincts. In case you don’t know, a dog is simply the domesticated cousin of a wolf, they are still carnivores however tamed they can be.

Another time, Putin raped a sheep. No jokes, the poor sheep was bleeding. Will you blame him? A male dog that had been deprived of intercourse for so long, of course he’d jump on whatever seemed available.

You know what? I still didn’t back away despite all that.

The next step in our relationship was taking him out for walks in the evenings. That was a whole new adventure.

Imagine if you had been restricted to a four-cornered wall for a very long time, not really knowing what the world outside looks like, then you get a chance to explore. You’d be ecstatic!

It was usually a struggle getting the chains around his neck. He’d keep jumping up and down, running to and fro and panting heavily from excitement. What this dog didn’t know was that the whole dramatic display only freaked me out the more.

Here I was, still nurturing the victory of recently being able to pat his head, flying in the air like that and threatening to jump on me wasn’t helping the little courage I had.

Thankfully, I had a coach. Someone who was more familiar and comfortable with handling him. If not for Batun, I’d have ran away and given up before the unexpected happens. I was finally able to chain him on my own and take him for walks.

Like I said, it was an adventure. The funniest thing Putin does while we are out is stop at intervals and take a leak.

It was as though he had been storing the pee for when he gets to go out. He’s so well-mannered that he’d drag me away from the street (he’s pretty strong) into a nearby bush or behind a trash-can and quietly do his business. That always cracked me up. The way he’d bend his back legs awkwardly and stay still.

Another thing is the reaction I get from people when they pass by. You could see the fear on their faces. Some would shamelessly change their route or keep a safe distance even if it meant walking in the bush.

There were guys who would rather frown, hold their breaths and pass than lose their manly ego by admitting they were scared. I must have greeted some of them and sworn they were too busy counting the seconds left till they were at a safe distance for them to hear me.

Don’t judge me but that made my head swell big time! They usually give me this look like… “You chop liver to dey waka with this kain dog” meaning it took guts to walk around with him. The feeling never gets old. He looked that scary.

What was funnier was that Putin didn’t even mind them. He was too busy bouncing excitedly to give them attention.

Now to why I began writing this in the first place. Putin started to get really sick. His eyes were sullen and scabby, He developed injuries on some parts of his body and began losing weight drastically. He could barely eat or move around as he used to.

We tried what we could, called his vet who couldn’t give a definitive diagnosis of what was wrong with him but prescribed some drugs. He didn’t seem to be getting any better.

We even started giving him regular baths. Well, Batun did, I just stood and watched. My faith was not that strong yet please. Nothing we tried seemed to work. I felt genuine concern for him.

Then I travelled, only to find out that he had passed away a few days ago. I didn’t think I could feel sad over the death of a dog but It hit me. All the experiences I had with him came flooding back.

I can still see the warm look in his eyes whenever I stroked his head.

The way he jumped happily whenever we were about to go for a walk.

The feeling of loneliness that first drew me to him.

I wish I got to spend more time with him or even be there when he drew his last breath. What hurt me the most was hearing how he was simply disposed after he died. He didn’t deserve that.

I know it seemed like he was just a dog but he had a beautiful soul in there, a personality I could perceive when he looked me in the eyes every time I talked to him and pretended he could understand every word.

I wish I had to chance to know him more, whatever that really means. The short period of time I had with him gave me memories I’ll never forget.

Someone should deeply feel the impact of his passing. I did!

Nice write up.... Is it you and Putin that's in the picture after your story??...


I love your use of punctuations.

Rest in dog heaven Putin lol

RoeEvi:
Nice write up.... Is it you and Putin that's in the picture after your story??...


I love your use of punctuations.

Rest in dog heaven Putin lol

Yes, that's Putin and I.

Oh thanks.

There has to be a dog heaven lol. It's only right.