Junior - Maltese

Junior was a Maltese belonging to a family with 3 daughters. Initially, the father of the house had originally said that he did not like dogs. Yet the reason why this family got Junior was because the 3 girls wanted to tell their friends that they had a dog although they didn’t love nor want to look after him.

Due to much neglect, Junior's fur soon became matted and dirty, while having not enough food resulted in his malnourishment. Not being trained well also caused him to constantly dirty the house. It was when the mother started her new job that her husband decided that "enough was enough" and decided to evict poor Junior from the property.

Junior arrived one weekend with bad skin issues and extremely underweight. Eventually, dog-lovers sent him to the groomers to be washed up and cleaned. Soon after, he was sent for sterilization before finally being adopted in May and Michael, people who truly loved him.



By Michael and May:

On 18 November 2007, we welcomed our newest addition direct from Noah’s Ark to our family… a Maltese named Junior! What an apt name for the youngest member of our family of four dogs. When we first saw him at his foster home two weeks before on 4 November, he was a real bundle of energy, zipping around the garden and running circles around the other dogs.

We were initially rather hesitant about taking him in as we did not quite know how he would be able to adapt to living in an apartment after having an entire house and yard to roam around. We had also brought along one of our dogs, Snowy, also a Maltese, to see if the both of them could socialise because should we have decided to give Junior a home, they would both be living with us in our apartment.

Apparently Junior had never been taught that first impressions were important because when Snowy saw him running and jumping all over the place, she steered clear out of his way and seemed rather horrified! However, we decided that every dog should be given a second chance and without much of an afterthought, took on the challenge of giving Junior a good home.

He was rather apprehensive and wary of us when he first stepped into our apartment. However, over the next few days, he grew more comfortable with us and started getting along very well with Snowy. Junior was also a very fast learner and he picked up new tricks simply by observing what Snowy did.

Within a week he had learnt how to shake hands without having been taught! He adapted to our household routine and is now an indispensible part of our family. We are constanly amazed by his boundless energy and amused by his occasional “grumbling”, the low rumbling noise that he makes whenever he wants our attention or to express his dissatisfaction about something or someone.

Just last month, we bought him his first chew toy. He has been so attached to the toy ever since and insists on making us play fetch with him all the time. Junior has proven to be an affectionate and loving dog, often rubbing himself against us when we get home.

Besides successfully socialising with Snowy, he has also made friends with our other pets, Gandalf the chinchilla and Little Pip the hamster. He often places his chew toy in front of Little Pip’s cage and looks eagerly at Little Pip as though expecting the hamster to respond by playing fetch with him.

Junior has also put on some weight, tipping the scales at a healthy 5.4kg during his last visit to the vet in June this year. His skin condition has improved to a healthy pink and his fur which used to be dry and rough, is now soft and fluffy. We have absolutely no regrets taking Junior into our family.

For all his “grumbling”, he really is a wonderful and lovable dog! It is truly heartwarming to see how lots of love and care can transform a dog that was once labelled as ‘aggressive” by the previous owners into such a loving and affectionate dog. We are glad that we decided to give him a second chance because he has indeed turned out to be a pint-sized package of joy and energy!

Do not own pets if you're extremely irresponsible!

** pics are courtesy of Michael and May.