Russell.

My cousin's dog 'Russell' is of Jack-Russell breed. Russell was a stray dog before it was adopted by my cousin's family. When I first met it, it was very shy. So shy that it always hide in the kitchen located at the back of the house. The only person it was close to was the domestic helper. During that time, Russell was thin. So thin that it could squeeze through one of the squares of the kitchen gate. It used to vomit quite often too, which I think it was due to car sickness.

The grey kitchen gate located behind Russell. It used to be able to go through  one of them.
(Photo taken on the 2009 Chinese New Year @ ang mo kio avenue 2)

After a few months, Russell became accustomed to my cousin's house and their way of living. It used to  follow Jack, a beagle breed (the other dog before Russell came) and ran out of the house whenever my family came over for a visit. Eventually Russell became matured. Unlike other dogs that randomly bark, or barks whenever someone else's  dog passes by the front gate. Russell's barks are a form of greeting. When we came over either for a visit or a dinner, it will greet us with a bark plus his tail wagging side to side. It is a very good dog. It seldom barks and knows what to do and what not to do in my cousin's house.

It didn't require much training either. Russell knows that if it needs to go to the loo, it will do his business outside in the front garden and only enters the room when asked to come in. A well mannered dog it is. During the times in ang mo kio,  my cousin and I will bring it out for a walk whenever my family came over for dinner. As such, Russell learned the words 'go out' means to go out for a walk. I used to teased it by calling out "Russell!!! Go out!?" Upon hearing those words, it will rush right outside to the front gate very excited and waiting for me to put on it's collar but instead, I closed the front door which made it's excitement dropped drastically.

Russell loves to run, when they lived in a landed property in ang mo kio, there is sufficient space for Russell to run about, especially running straight to the door to greet us. As time pass, my cousin's family moved into an apartment in kallang. This made Russell very bored, so bored in fact that it turned to sight-seeing by sitting around the living area's balcony.

The last dinner we had when Russell was still healthy.
(Bottom right)
(Photo taken on the 2013 Chinese New Year reunion dinner @ kallang)

Last month, I was told that Russell was sick. I went down to accompany it as Dana Sis could only come by at 3 pm to take him to the vet. The vet diagnosed Russell with cancer, and prescribe some medicine to control the virus. On the 1st April 2013 at 10:17 pm it passed away. When I  called to my cousin to give my condolences, he told me that initially, Dana Sis wanted to put it down on  31st March. But I was told Russell was not ready as he was crying. After bringing it home, it waited for my cousin's family to return home before passing on. Russell is a strong dog. It is loyal and kind to it's family and relatives. Russell, will always be remembered by loves ones.

In loving memory of Russell.