... another blessing

Now, on the day of the "Pamanhikan", Yasmin and Tu brought with them a really cute puppy that they were pet sitting for the weekend. Her name was Cookie.

If you know my mom, you would know that she hates pets. She hates how they shed and makes a mess of the house. We were lucky that she let us keep my cat "Lucky".

Not surprisingly, my sisters and dad fell in love with Cookie. Cookie was up for adoption, but my mom wouldn't allow it. So Cookie ended up going back home with the Gacads. The following day, my mom, sister and I were headed to Mississauga for a Bridal Show. Miraculously, as we were driving to the show, we somehow convinced my mom to let us keep Cookie! =) We were thrilled! So we planned on picking up Cookie after the Bridal Show. In fact, we even had a new name picked out for her!

We called Mark's sister to pick up Cookie, only to find out her owner changed their mind and she was no longer up for adoption. =( Of course you can only guess how devastated we were. This turn of events made my sisters obsessed about getting a puppy. It even came to a point that my sister was willing to buy a puppy. Of course my mom wouldn't hear of it. She would simply tell us, "Hindi yun ang para sa atin." ("It wasn't meant for us.")

But my sister was adamant. She wanted a puppy, period!
She searched everywhere for a free puppy. She even got me searching with her! Ha ha! But unfortunately, we did not find any that were "puppies". They were all either too old, or ugly looking. Ha ha! We're terrible, I know! The ones which are for sale range from $500 to more than $1000. We knew there was no way we would be able to afford it.

By Tuesday morning, we have pretty much given up looking for a puppy. I guess my sister decided to check good old Kijiji one more time to see if there are any puppies available. By fate, a guy just posted an ad for two puppies for sale for $350 and he was located in Guelph. The puppies were Shih-Poo puppies. Being the research freek that I am, I tried to find all the information I can about Shih-Poos. Here are some highlights of what I found:

• A type of mixed-breed dog. It is a mix of Shih-Tzu and Poodle
• They are crossed intentionally for the purpose of obtaining cute dogs that have hypoallergenic qualities and a desirable level of intelligence and vigor
• Normally weighs about 10 pounds
• Typically happy, playful, and gentle
• Usually coexist well with other household pets, including cats and other dogs. In most cases, Shih-Poos get along well with children. 
• Tends to do well with obedience training. These dogs are also able to learn tricks with ease
• Thrive well indoors and require only moderate exercise

As you can see, she pretty much met all of our requirements:

• Low shedding
• Good with other animals
• Loves being indoors
• Won't get too big
• Smart
• Most importantly, will get along well with Lucky

Also, she was selling at a really good price. It was a done deal. =) But, we still needed my mom's permission. The way we did it was probably wasn't the best way to go about doing it, but we ended up buying the puppy without my mom's permission. >_<

Our back-up plan if she won't let us keep her is to sell her again. (I know, we're terrible!)

a pleasant surprise
In the end, my mom let us keep her! Of course she was pretty upset with us for buying it without letting her knowing first, but after explaining to her what a perfect Puppy she is, my mom gave in. =)


Tuesday January 28, 2011, Mika joined our family. How did we come up with her name you may ask? "Mika" was derived from the word "PaManhIKAn. For it was because of this occasion that we decided to get a puppy in the first place.