@ecency-star released a prompt today, asking us to share our favourite pet. While, I have, and have had a few pets over the years; and although I wouldn't physically be able to choose a favourite of them all, I decided to pick this absolute creature - formally known as Jabba The Mutt.
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Here he is when he was just a few weeks old. The state of him. With ears like that, Yoda may have been a more fitting name.
When he was a pup, he was absolutely wild and would just snap and have these massive bursts of energy that he tended to use for biting and nipping at us. There was no controlling him whatsoever. Small dog syndrome at its finest.
It was a dark and stormy night, and my partner received a phone call from a family friend who had pups and asked if she wanted one; I knew none of this until she sent me a video of these zippy nutcase running around her house.
He was the runt of the litter and had already developed a little personality for hating any type of authority or rules. As far as he was concerned, he was the boss and that was the end of it.
She tried to stop him from going on the couch, and when he realised he couldn't physically jump up on them, he would stand on it like he is in the picture above and bark... needless to say, the no couch policy was abolished within a few days.
Here he is just after having a nap, waking up on her couch after some cuddles. You can see the look of pure contempt and disdain in his eyes, even at this early age.
My partner would often bring him with her when she came to my town, and soon we realised that not having a stable home wasn't good for him, as he seemed to constantly be agitated.
Everyone loved him in both houses, but something had to be done. What didn't help the situation was the fact that he was constantly nipping and biting us, to the point of my partner being in tears because she didn't really know how to stop him.
I mentioned that it was possible that not having a home to "protect" could be the reason for the aggression. But, she still wasn't sure what to do, so my dad - who fell in love with him - offered to keep him with us.
Within a couple of weeks, he calmed down and settled into his new permanent home, and with that, he calmed down... a bit. He still had/ has his moments, but for the most part, he's pretty friendly.
This is me, my partner, and Jabba a few years later when he was a teenager - in dog years - and still full of energy. I like this picture, apart from the fact that we look wrecked as we had just woken up to him rolling around on the bed.
He sleeps in the bed with us, most nights, but after a while, he started sleeping in the bed with my dad.
Funny enough, he was a traitor. Jabba would head off with my dad to go to bed, and then around 6 in the morning when my dad got up, Jabba would barge into my room and jump in the bed to go back to sleep.
Here's a picture of him, when he was taking one of his many naps. It's funny, he actually tends to crawl under the covers of a bed, or blanket that might be lying on the couch.
He isn't a destructive dog, although he has a lot of his own toys which he has destroyed, he tends to respect other people's possessions.
For example, the baby has a lot of teddies and things like that. Within minutes of Jabba being given something, he would have it destroyed. But, if one of the baby's teddies fell on the floor he wouldn't even look at it.
There are a couple of pictures and a few stories about Jabba The Mutt, and while I may have made a couple of jokes at his expense, I do love him.
He is a real character and has a great personality. He is also extremely protective over everyone in the house, to the point that he often barks and gives out to anyone else that visits us. While that is annoying, it's nice to know that he is overprotective of his family and turf, so to speak.