He Is Not For Us | Letting Go of Casper

The mosque echoes with its call for prayer and I half-heartedly expect to hear Casper's cries. He does not like it. We live next to a mosque and he hears it 5x a day, but he never got used to it. Perhaps he is scared of the loud sound. He does not cry whenever the mosque calls and someone is next to him though.

Oh, Casper! Our not so little Casper! We introduced him to the Hive community about four months ago. He is a Saluki pup that we fostered for a few months because the original family who was supposed to could not handle him.

Not a Dog Lover.

Personally, I cannot say that I am a "dog lover". I am actually terrified of them, having been bitten thrice when I was a kid. One was so traumatic that I feel like I am reliving the moment every time I see the big scar on my thigh. That said, I can tolerate them especially after being around them for some time and getting acquainted with them. That's what happened between Casper and me.

He is loving and sweet. But like a kid, he is also always jumpy and hyperactive. We built a connection - he listens to me, but since I am definitely not a dog behavior expert, I failed to really train him.

Weeks passed and Casper is becoming more of (sorry to say) an inconvenience to us and I know, even to our neighbors. He is like an alarm that wakes us up at 4:00am when the mosque calls for the Asr prayer. Then he also barks at the slightest movement outside the gate. Oh, what a great guard dog he is!

This is one of the reasons why we do not really take a dog as pets. We cannot control when they would bark, and Casper is growing up to be a large dog with such a loud voice! It's only a matter of time when someone from the villa could complain to the landlord and we could be homeless in a jiffy!

_{Casper loves belly rub!}

Casper always seeks attention and he loves jumping at anyone that comes near him. In the three months that he was with us, he has grown bigger that he stands up to my chest. He is also stronger that he can open our door. LOL. His being jumpy eventually caused me stress as well.

We sometimes let him stay inside the house especially when it was extremely hot, but of course that can't always be the case. It also became a struggle as he would be the first one to enter the house whenever we opened the door. I tried to teach him to stay, but nope I was not successful.

_Teething?

He Is Not For Us

We waited until last August because the kid who originally has to foster Casper said that Casper will be taken back during this month. End of August came, and Casper is still our alarm clock at 4:00am. We know we have to make a call.

Casper does not fit in our current way of living. If we were in the Philippines, it may be a different story, but nope, not here in the UAE.

We managed to speak to the girl's parents who said that they would arrange for Casper to be picked up on September 1st. So yeah, last September 1st, we bid goodbye to Casper.

Can you see how big he has grown over the time he was with us? Comparing the first photo and this one below, Casper has definitely grown a lot!

_{That final pat on Casper's head.}

What a ride it had been, having Casper in our lives even for just a short time. I think my eldest missed him most because he was the one who was really "in charge" of Casper most of the time. He had been very patient with Casper all throughout.

Anyway, we hope that Casper is in a better position and is getting the best care possible.

We miss him but we don't miss him. Our hands are extra full again this past week. Something we did not expect, but that is a story for another day.