Better late than never, is what I kept telling myself about introducing Billy to the world. So here it is. This is Billy.

Billy is our new love, our new pup. I probably use the word ‘new’ too loosely here, as Billy has been joining our family since February this year. We have been looking for a new pup to take care of since end of last year. We have been looking for a possible dog to adopt, but with our family situation, i.e: two small kids under 11 and a senior dog, it was proven challenging to find a good match. We were actually in a stage of waiting for a Rottweiler pup from RSPCA, when we literally stumbled upon Billy.

One day in January, my husband heard a yelp from our neighbor’s yard while he was walking Bruno, our 12 year old Labrador. He approached the fence feeling curious (and a bit nosey too I suppose), and hopefully in a non-burglar/creepy stalker way, he went closer to the fence for a better look, and saw our neighbour surrounded by cutest than cute litters of pups, who were born in Boxing Day last year. They were Staffordshire Bull Terrier, a.k.a Pitbull pups. Once he got home he shared this new findings to his family, who couldn’t jump fast enough and practically ran across the street begging for a quick play and cuddle visit.

Right. We know now that the visit didn’t end just then and there. We fell in love with ALL of them. The waiting list period for RSPCA puppies was suddenly too long for us to bear. These puppies were super cute, toddling around (sometimes fell off because they tripped on their own paws or each other), and had that lovely puppy breath. I know I probably should not mention about puppy breath; my husband told me not everyone understands this. Still with me?

We were not worried that he’s a Pitbull. I don’t believe certain breed is more dangerous than others. It all depends on their owners. A responsible owner would raise and train a well adjusted, calm and submissive dog, regardless of their breed. Of course each breed has it’s own characteristics, and some are stronger or have bigger teeth than others, but still. I have raised a huge Rottweiler who was so gentle and cute, and this was in the era when Rottweilers were the breed to avoid because of their viciousness. I cried for a week when he died.

Cut the story short, we picked our Billy. Or, I should say we found each other. We picked each other. This was another experience I had when faced with a litter of pups. Back when Bruno the Lab was still a pup along with his 11 other siblings, in a kennel somewhere in a village in Belgium, we sat inside the kennel with him and his siblings to play with them. The idea was to see which one of the pups would pick us. We wanted the one who stayed with us the longest. You know puppies like to play but they get tired or bored easily too, we thought, the ones who didn’t find us a big bore would be the perfect one for us. That has been proven true for Bruno. From a kennel in Belgium, to 12 years after, in a different side of the world, he is still very into us. The power of puppy love!

Billy has less siblings. They were only 5 of them. Billy was the biggest of them all, and he was the one. He was all over me and my kids. He was playing non-stop, and when he was tired he would climb one of our laps to lie down. He’s beyond cute. We took him home right after his three month’s puppy vaccination.

Bruno now has a brother, or should say grandson? Anyways, they got along very quickly. I couldn’t believe that moment when I said to myself I have 2, TWO dogs! It’s unreal. I am a mother of four kids; two two-legged ones and two four-legged ones. It was the beginning of a new era for us. I became real fit real quick. Billy the new pup was boisterous, strong and very energetic. We took three short walks at the beginning, and now we had two long walks with him. It was challenging to walk two dogs with this massive age difference between them. One was taking his time sniffing around and enjoying the world with his mild arthritis legs, while the other was running, charging everything he found fancy, which was literally everything. Add juggling leash, treats, poop bags in the mix, let’s just say it’s not a trip for the faint hearted. It got better though.

So there you go. Billy has been properly introduced, finally. Here, I mean. He’s been featuring a lot in my Instagram (@ayusrimoyo) so he’s not new there. Anyway, he’s 8 months old now. He goes to school and everything. He is very strong and cheeky, which is not an easy combination to deal with when you don’t have plenty of time to walk/play/tire him out. We have had casualties, or damages thanks to his itchy gums and growing teeth, a number of accidents -from number 1 and number 2 variety- inside the house, with and without guests around when it happened. But we are happy. It feels wonderful to have these dogs around us all the time. They are family!

Billy and his toys.

Close to you.