It was evident that he could not adapt to being
confined in the cage, which was so small that when he stands on all four legs,
his head will touch the top of the cage. He would bark insistently to be brought
out of the cage, and each time he barks, his head will bump onto the top of the
cage, which resulted in a bruise on his head.
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| The bruise on Polka's head |
With a heavy heart, we were brought to our
last resort, which was to bring Polka back to where we found him (the workshop
at the industrial park). It isn’t the best option but all we could do was to
check with the people there if they could help us to look out for Polka, as
well as to pass them food and other items to make sure that Polka would be well
taken care of.
Much as we hated to release him back to the streets, we knew that we could not have Polka boarding in the vet forever, where he was kept in a small cage. After all, he had been a stray dog all of his life – he had been conditioned to a life where he was able to roam around freely, and to have him confined to a small cage was definitely something he wasn’t going to get used to.
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| Polka and Ah Girl at were at the vet together |
Early next day, I went to the vet to pick
Polka up and arranged for his discharge before the pet transport came. I
brought Polka out of the vet and we sat at the car park while waiting for the
pet transport to arrive. I could see that Polka was excited – he was expecting
me to bring him for a walk around the vet, which I normally do. But soon, he
realized that we were not going for his walk around the vet, and he started to
howl and whimper. It was a heart-breaking sight. Soon, the pet transport
arrived and after bringing Polka up to the van, we were off to the workshop.
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| Polka waiting to be discharged |
As I drove my car behind the pet transport
van, I could see that Polka was excited to go on a car-ride, as he was prancing
back and forth inside the van. For a while, he even sat at the front seat of the van –
he was clearly enjoying his ride back! As we were nearing our destination, it
was evident that Polka knew where he was going. He was getting more and more
excited, and started barking when we turned in to the industrial park.
Upon reaching, we brought Polka out of the
van. It was not difficult to bring him out of it; he happily jumped out of the
van without our assistance. As we brought him around the area we found him, all
of a sudden, we heard someone saying in Mandarin “isn’t that Lucky? His owner
has been looking for him!” and he was pointing to the workshop unit next to
his.
I was truly taken by surprise – little did
I know that Polka had an owner all along! Then I brought Polka over to the next
unit, and his owner who introduced himself as Uncle Soon, was just as surprised
to see Polka. He came over to us, beaming from ear to ear. He said that he
could not believe that he will be able to see Lucky Polka again, as he thought
that he had went somewhere faraway to go off quietly. It was obvious that Lucky
Polka was as excited to see his owner again, as much as Uncle Soon. It was a
happy reunion!
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| Uncle Soon and Lucky Polka finally reunited after 3 weeks! |
Uncle Soon shared that he has been taking
care of Lucky Polka since he was a little puppy, and it has been 15 years since
then. He even showed me a photo of Lucky Polka from his younger days. I updated
him on the events that happened over the last few weeks with Lucky Polka, and
also broke the news to him about Polka’s health (his heartworm condition,
cancerous masses found in his chest and stomach). Uncle Soon said that he has
taken care of Lucky Polka for the last few years, and he will continue to take
care of him until his final day here on Earth.
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| Look at the love in his eyes |
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| A photograph of Lucky Polka from his younger days, pasted on a wall in Uncle Soon's workshop |
Before I left, I passed Lucky Polka’s medication to Uncle Soon, and explained to him on how frequent he should feed them to him. As he does not know how to read English, he told me to explain to him while he writes it down in Mandarin. With this, I knew that Lucky Polka is under good hands.
The following week, I went to visit Polka
and Uncle Soon. It was a humid day, and Lucky Polka was lying down on the
concrete floor to cool off. Upon seeing me, Lucky Polka stood up and started to
smell my hand. He could recognize me! And he couldn’t look any better – he was
looking so much happier! Apart from that, he seems to have gained weight as
well. Uncle Soon says that he has been eating well, and have been taking his
medication on time as well.
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| Lucky Polka, 1 week after being reunited with Uncle Soon |
Like they always say, every cloud has a
silver lining. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise that Lucky Polka did not
find a fosterer or adopter. If not, he would never be reunited with Uncle Soon.
Lucky Polka is indeed, a lucky dog. I do wish that all the dogs out there will
be as lucky and blessed as Lucky Polka.
I would like to thank Fiona and HOPE Dog
Rescue for their guidance on my first dog rescue, and may there be more to
come!
Written by Denise Lim. Photographs courtesy of Joceline Loo and Denise Lim
