By our instructor, JoJo
I don’t recall my life before pets because I am fortunate enough to have a dad who gave me pets as gifts since I was the age of five. You might think my first pet gift was a goldfish, and you’d be wrong. My dad would never give me a goldfish, because he knows the energizer bunny in me would stare at it for a good 60 seconds before running off into the garden and doing something fun and active.
Instead, he gave me 20 baby chicks. These little chicks of course grew into big chickens. I used to follow (read: chase) the chickens around the family garden all morning long, just to make sure I found the little eggs they had laid. I would retire after an hour or two, exhausted but happy. My parents thought this was the gift that just kept giving. The chickens kept me active and left them nothing but peace in the house and freshly laid eggs every day. Win-win.
Since then, I’ve had bunnies and puppies show up as pet gifts. The latter, is by far the best “type” of pet I have ever had. I’ve had a total of five puppies in my life. Three have passed on and two of them keep me nice and busy, both before and after a busy day of work.
When my first puppy arrived at my 6th birthday, I told my sister that my puppy was the love of my life. I even had a diary just centered on Cookie’s life. As I inch closer to the age of 30, I perhaps still feel that canines are the love of my life. Canines provide a sort of unconditional love that you might never have felt before… and not to mention, they keep you more active than you’ve been before (unless you are a parent to a child, then, I salute you).
In the mornings, my husband and I take the puppies out to the garden for a little play time before we head off to work. We play fetch with them and get those few minutes in before we bid them adieu for majority of the day. Our ordinary weekday sees us coming home pretty late, maybe about two hours short of midnight. We are spent from a busy day of work and working out (at boOm, no less), but we try our best to still take the dogs out for a short run or a brisk walk before we clean up. You may feel tired, but you never feel too tired to take your pup out for a run or a really intense game of fetch. Some days, my husband even cycles as the dogs and I run alongside him. The faster he cycles, the harder the chase for us! It sounds intense, but trust me when I say it really is a great way to get a work out in. You don’t even think about how you’re running (and I know how many of us loathe the mere thought of running). On the weekends, we have more time and the dogs love a good swim in a pool or Sentosa beach. If you head out to the beach, you get all the good stuff – the sunshine, fresh air, a good run, a cooling swim in the ocean.
Many of us say “I need a workout buddy” to either pique or maintain our interest and motivation to workout. But, nobody ever said that a workout buddy should only have two legs! If you have a dog at home, get out and have some fun with him/her. They actually love it more than their panting implies. If you think that a four-legged workout buddy is just what you might need, head to some of our favorite pet adoption societies to find your #fitfam.
Link to:
1) Save our Street Dogs : https://sosd.org.sg/
2) Action For Singapore Dogs : http://asdsingapore.com/wp/
3) Causes for Animals : https://www.causesforanimals.com/