Sorry, been away from the blog for a while (been super busy IRL).

I did read a wonderful book a while ago that I wanted to post my notes on. It was A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron. I knew I had to read it simply from the cover (I think the dog shown is my favorite breed: Neapolitan Mastiff); in this case, I truly judged the book by its cover.

It was a tear-jerking story told from the perspective of a dog (it's subtitle is "a novel for humans"). I really liked how changing the storyteller to a dog allowed the author to make some interesting commentary on our behavior as human beings.

This was the second book I've read that was "written" by a dog (the first one was The Art of Racing in the Rain. I liked this book just as much. The interesting twist of this book was how the same dog "soul" was reincarnated from "life" to "life" and learned lessons along the way that allowed it to play a pivotal role in saving people's lives and bringing people to love. That was awesome. It was also fun to play "detective" as it took a bit of thinking to figure out what was "happening" from the human perspective since the only clues given in the book are what the dog could sense and understand.

You clearly have to be a dog lover to want to read a book all about a dog's life, but I encourage those who want to consider their dogs from a new perspective (and gain more appreciation for them) to check this book out.

Biggest lessons/thoughts/takeaways:

• Lessons learned from one life helped in next life to serve bigger purpose
  
• Humans have so many more emotions than dogs
  
• Humans capable of so many amazing things but often just make words
  
• Dogs rescue people from despair of life
  
• Dog's purpose is to find and save people
  
• Dog's job is to do what people wanted
  
• Dog's purpose is to comfort boy
  
• Dog's purpose is to lick owner and make happy
  
• Dog always friendly and positive until end
  
• Often misinterpreted by people
  
• Very adaptable

My full notes are below.

Ch. 1

• Birth
  
• Suckling
  
• Siblings
  
• Avoid and fear men 
  
• Picked up by animal control
  

Ch. 2

• Good life in shelter
  
• Food
  
• Playing with new dogs
  
• Mother runs away
  

Ch. 3

• Wanted to stay in shelter with new pack
  
• Dog social hierarchy
  
• Mating impulse
  
• Neutering
  
• Play fights
  
• Bones
  
• Top Dog
  

Ch. 4

• Very adaptable
  
• Positive attitude
  
• New dog Spike challenged order with fight
  
• Got into fight and leg hurt
  
• Taken to pound
  
• Dog's purpose is to lick owner and make happy
  
• Put down at pound
  
• Dog always friendly and positive until end
  
• Often misinterpreted by people
  

Ch. 5

• Reincarnated as new puppy (retriever)
  
• Seized by question of purpose
  
• Why was he a puppy again?
  
• Now at kennel or pet store
  
• Human reader in role of trying to understand dog (reversal)
  
• Escaped from kennel
  
• Picked up by man on road
  
• Man forgot him in car to go drinking; got closed in car with no ventilation (big heat)
  
• Woman saved him
  

Ch. 6

• introduced to child (boy)
  
• Dog's purpose is loving boy
  

Ch. 7

• Don't understand commands and games
  
• Boy goes to school, closed dog in garage
  
• Bored, accidents in house
  
• Mixed messages from humans
• Dog's purpose is to comfort boy
• Dog door
  
• Dog house
  

Ch. 8

• Boy's friend Todd from bad parents, glue addiction, pyromania, stole dog
  

Ch. 9

• Went to farm
  
• Skunk incidents
  
• Saves boy and retrieves from water
  

Ch. 10

• Ate food in kitchen
  
• Humans have so many more emotions
  
• Astronaut lands on moon
  
• Boy shy around girl
  
• Left alone in house, parties with dog
  
• Played with grandpa's gun
  

Ch. 11

• Noise in house
  
• Lost in woods
  
• Found by search team
  

Ch. 12

• Hospital
  
• Back home
  
• Go Kart race where dog helps him win
  
• Todd threw rock in window
  

Ch. 13

• Cat died
  
• Felt anger in people
  
• Boy got together with girl
  
• Todd bad guy, dog smells his evil
  
• Todd gave poisoned meat to dog
  

Ch. 14

• Todd set house on fire
  
• Dog attacked Todd
  
• Couldn't find Ethan (boy)
  

Ch. 15

• Dog revealed Todd as criminal; dog hero
  

Ch. 16

• Boy came home
  
• Cats useless
  
• Stayed on farm
  
• Leg problem
  
• Boy had to leave again
  

Ch. 17

• Felt betrayed because boy left
  
• Broke up with girl, missed her
  
• Parents divorced
  
• Mom met new man
  
• Boy would visit sometimes
  
• Dog grew older
  
• Stopped eating, felt pain
  
• Sleepy, put to sleep
  
• Thoughts of boy at end
  
• Remembered sense of dying
  
• Dog's purpose is to love boy
  
• Felt like puppy again
  

Ch. 18

• Born again as puppy
  
• He became a female for the first time
  
• Front seat versus back seat dog
  
• Smarter than usual
  
• Smells of paper and people
  
• Name: Ellie
  
• Dog's job is to do what people wanted
  
• Can a dog have more than one purpose?
  
• Trained by new owner Jacob
  
• Dreamt of old boy
  
• Spayed and space cone
  
• Trained to be canine police dog
  
• "Find" command
  

Ch. 19

• Bomb squad
  
• Dog's purpose is to find and save people
  
• Depressed owner
  
• Ocean in Los Angeles
  
• Finding another victim
  

Ch. 20

• Found girl victim
  
• Officer shot
  

Ch. 21

• New officer
  
• German shepherd
  
• Cats in new home
  

Ch. 22

• New owner
• Certified search and rescue dog
  

Ch. 23

• Saved person but got into toxic waste and lost sense of smell
  
• Owner got married and dog carried ring
  
• Humans capable of so many amazing things but often just make words
  
• Became school volunteer to teach kids about search dogs
  
• Found another kid hiding in sewer
  
• Understood death
  
• Learning across lives helped him become rescue dog
  
• Fulfilled his purpose
  
• New owner had little girl
  
• Cat saw dog as new mom
  
• Ready to not be reborn
  
• Put down
  

Ch. 26

• Reborn again
  
• Born as exhibition dog
  
• Preferred to be alone and ponder self
  
• Got new owner and went to apartment
  

Ch. 27

• Abandoned by new owner
  

Ch. 28

• Recognized old place from previous life
  
• Found himself new home himself at old place but searched for Ethan and Hannah (girl)
  
• Escaped purposeless life
  

Ch. 29

• Lived homeless
  
• Lessons learned from one life helped in next life to serve bigger purpose
  
• Remembered old locations and retraced steps
  
• Found Ethan
  

Ch. 30

• Taken to shelter
  
• Ethan took him back
  
• Dog always forgives
  

Ch. 31

• Ethan never got married
  
• Sad
  
• Got his old collar and smelled himself from previous life
  
• Found Hannah for Ethan
  

Ch. 32

• Reunited
  
• Got married
  
• Fulfilled his purpose
  
• Learned to love and save people
  
• Dogs rescue people from despair of life
  
• Could tell Ethan got sick
  
• Realized his dog was Bailey (first name)
  
• Sat by owner while died
  
• Finally fulfilled his purpose
  
• Ends with dog tending owner to death (reversal)
  

The other day I saw a man walking his dog down the street very early in the morning. He was wearing a bathrobe and literally was walking with his eyes closed. I realized that I knew exactly what he felt like, and I further guessed that there are many common experiences that dog owners share which are special and unique. Here are some of my favorites; please add your own!

1. The morning sleepy walk. (Most) dogs have no problem waking up super early, if it only means they get fed. Mine is particularly accurate with respect to her internal breakfast alarm; she is rude enough to even start scratching on doors if she's not walked and fed by 8:30am. What a nerve.
   
   You know the morning sleepy walk I'm talking about: Throw on a robe or go out in your PJs; be blinded by the sunlight as you walk out first thing in the morning; check your email while stumbling down the street after your dog; bend over to scoop up any goodies she leaves.
   
   
2. Begging for food. Some dogs can be polite, and some can be very forward with their food requests. Some will dance, some will do tricks, and some will literally push you to move towards the cabinet where you keep their food. Talk about confidence!
   
   
3. Salivating on guests. You're hosting a nice, dressy party or just have some guests over randomly. Yeah, great timing for your dog to get worked up and start sweating and salivating all over the place (but that's when it always happens). Saliva on guests, on your nice pants, on the couch, on the floor. Maybe dogs think we like it?
   
   
4. Being lazy on a rug or sofa and not coming when called. You're running 5 minutes late and need to leave the house ASAP. You realize the dog needs a walk and so you call it down. That's exactly when it's least likely to come; it's snoozing softly somewhere, and it feigns poor hearing until you literally come up and give it the look. Attitude!
   
   
5. Shaking their whole body after a bath or rain and getting you all wet. Dogs have special muscles in their back meant just for shaking their entire body in rapid succession to maximize the amount they can soak you.
   
   
6. Smelling another dog's genitals and putting you in an uncomfortable position with respect to the other dog walker. You're walking Fido down the street and some strange-looking (or maybe attractive?) person is walking their dog towards you. After the initial awkward is-this-other-dog-going-to-kill-me check, the dogs start smelling each other's rear ends. Then your eyes meet the other person's, and it's always uncomfortable. Do you make your dog stop? Do you try to smell the other person? Do you apologize? Do you run away as fast as possible?
   
   
7. Washing and refilling dog bowls. The food bowl, the water bowl, the travel bowl, the dog bed, the dog towel, the dog tag necklace, the dog toys -- all this paraphernalia that requires constant maintenance for one simple creature. How about it take care of itself once in a while?
   
   
8. Going "shopping" at Petco and thinking about all the toys you would want as a dog and realizing your dog may have different preferences. Petco for me is like a toy store; so much new-smelling, colorful stuff, even snacks that look like human food. I love how they make it pleasant for dogs and humans alike.
   
   
9. Sneezing when smelling second-hand smoke. While humans have to just put up with it or move away respectfully, dogs can just sneeze loudly and proudly of their hate of cigarette smoke.
   
   
10. Jumping up on your shoulders to greet you. This is always fun, unless you're carrying something fragile. In any case, it's nice to feel loved and wanted, even by a four-legged creature.
    
    
11. Rolling onto their back to help facilitate belly scratching. Dogs are so smart; they can calculate and optimize the perfect angle to keep their body to maximize scratching and petting sensation.
    
    
12. Picking up dog poo and carefully negotiating with the swinging bag surface, keeping track mentally of every surface and bag fold between what's clean and what's dirty. No one wants brown fingers, especially before having to eat breakfast, so figuring out how to do the most delicate maneuvers with a bag of poo is one of the first things we learn as dog owners. The other awkwardness comes when you run into others you know on your way to the trash and have to somehow greet them carrying a bag of poo. Wonderful.
    
    
13. Playing tricks on you to get you to finish a walk faster and give them food. If I'm trying to get my dog to walk more or poo, I just keep walking farther and farther, and at some point, my dog just gives me this dramatic chipmunk look like, "are you crazy?" Once that fails, it starts to dig its nails into the ground and pull back on its leash. Once that fails, it finally decides to take a few steps onto some grass before immediately swerving backwards and trying to walk home (in basketball, this is a pump fake). This is all in order to come home and get fed faster.
    
    
14. Understanding situations and coming to comfort you or give you space when you're packing. Dogs can sense very early if their owner is leaving or sad or hurt. It's amazing when they're able to show this level of compassion and how they express it.
    
    
15. Nuzzling up against you and petting themselves against your legs or hands. Face it: your dog is using you like an object, and you're just its walking, feeding massage chair.
    
    
16. Snoozing next to you while you're working. This is perhaps the most peaceful and gentle expression of love from a dog, and it's a wonderful moment to appreciate.

Here's the scenario. You're at dinner with both your family and your significant other's family. The awkwardness that results needs no explanation.

How does the awkwardness go away? From my experience, there are often two main solutions: guys and dogs.

By "guys," I mean the most common link between the two families. (This example can be extended to include two social groups that share some common members but do not often mix.) There is this pressure that guys (if they're the most "common" member of the two social circles) feel to help break the ice. Often times, girls play this role much more naturally. Everyone often looks to whoever it is organizing the event or joint outing for social cues as to what to do with the awkwardness.

And the best way to dispel it is through humor. That's where dogs come in. Having a dog around immediately (for better or worse) shifts the focus of attention away from the social interaction and onto the cuteness or hilarity of the animal. Everyone likes to pet it, ask questions about it, tell stories about its escapades, and that dispels awkwardness and also creates bonding (as the two social circles learn more about each other through their common experiences around dogs). Maybe cats and all pets help serve this function too.

But humor and cuteness need not be solely from dogs. Often funny hats and weird clothes can serve the same function.

I wonder if other guys (or pet owners) out there have felt the same way and what techniques others use to help their guests feel at home. When it's my job, I know that I feel responsible to do this as the guy, and my dog always comes to the rescue to help.

When most people think of the chihuahua, they think of the Taco Bell dog. That certainly made the breed a lot more famous, and I heard it unfortunately created an oversupply of the breed which still exists today.

But Taco Bell wasn't the only place in pop culture that featured this rat dog. Consider Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Though the movie definitely jokes about ultra-luxurious living for dogs (comfy suntanning lounges by the swimming pool, manicures and massages -- how could a modern dog live without these necessities?), it actually does do a bit of justice to the long history and richness of the breed that eludes the eye (which is usually just overwhelmed by the cuteness of the face).

There's a scene in the movie where the dogs meet the powerful, wild chihuahuas that represent the grace, beauty, and fearlessness that the chihuahua contains inside. This is obviously for cinematic effect, but there is some truth to this. Every time my chihuahua is annoyed (such as by being put into a rabbit costume or by having its teeth brushed), it displays the meanest and fiercest set of fangs that are better suited for a lion than a rat.

It is true that the breed possesses a long history and is named after the state in Mexico of the same name. Chihuahuas were the favorite companion of the Toltec royalty and were bred to be small and cute. They are perfect examples of the "toy dog" category.

When I first interacted with a chihuahua, I thought it would be a stupid, small dog (for chicks to carry in their purse). As I spent more time with the breed and got to bond with one closely, I realized that the cuteness was a front, a facade. They use their cuteness to get into your heart and your arms and use you for food, shelter, warmth, and love. Chihuahuas are in fact devilishly clever;  I was surprised to see how incredibly smart they are. Their love for people and social nature makes them happy to meet anybody and to play, but each dog has a very unique personality. I can say that there are only 2 things in the world that my chihuahua cares about, so making her happy is very easy: food and being petted. She has mastered several circus animal tricks (she reminds us of Abu sometimes) which she uses to be rewarded with extra treats and petting.

Another part of the animal that I think is neat is its ears. Though they're not as soft, large, and easy to pet as a Neapolitan Mastiffs, they are clearly strategic tools in the limited arsenal of self-defense mechanisms of the chihuahua. When the dog hears something, one or both ears can turn to help it analyze the sound. When it runs, it can slide its ears back into what I call "aerodynamic mode" sort of like a Batmobile changing shape to minimize air friction/drag. This is obviously instinctual and unconscious, but I still think it's cool.

I also think the dog's eyes are deep and full of life. At first, it may appear that they are black, lifeless orbs. In fact, the dog's face and eyes look very similar to monkeys', rats', and even camels'. In this way, every facial expression the dog makes immediately invokes a smile due to its cuteness. However, upon closer inspection, it's clear how deep and complex its eyes can be and how it uses its eyes to convey emotion and excitement (like for food).

Overall, I've enjoyed getting to know this breed and appreciate its more subtle points much more than when I first met it.

My first dog ever was a Neapolitan Mastiff, and I've fallen in love with the breed ever since. Though I currently live with an amazing (but high-maintenance) chihuahua, I wanted to dedicate a quick blog post to the breed that first stole my heart.

My first dog was Mario, a Neapolitan Mastiff we rescued. Since then, my family has rescued two other Neapolitan Mastiffs one after the other. I named Mario after my favorite video game as a kid and because the breed is Italian. We decided to keep Mario's memory alive through Marcello's name, and similarly through Marceza's name, our family's first female Neo.

As you can see from the photos, Mario and Marceza feature the grey color, whereas Marcello the brown color. Those are the two main colors the breed sports. Also, all three dogs feature fairly full tails and ears. It's a tradition to chop off the tails and ears to conform to the official Italian breed style, but we didn't do this. I find that the ears are one of my favorite parts of the dog. I think the dogs would agree, based on how loudly they snore with pleasure when their ears are massaged.

The breed is very old, with its name originating from Naples. The history is very rich, with the dog featured in cavemen drawings and playing important roles in both World Wars.

You can read all about it online, including finding tons of photos and videos (I especially love how cute the puppies are). Though the breed is not that well known or popular, it has quite a devout following of admirers. What I want to focus on in this post is what I personally love about the breed myself.

Here are the top 5 reasons I love Neapolitan Mastiffs:

1. Super smart: They are incredibly smart and can learn almost anything. All of our dogs have been trained, and though they do have strong personalities at times, they will behave and listen to commands. They also pick up on every nonverbal and situational clue around them, such as when you get dressed or are in a bad mood; they will clearly respond intelligently to this, and that fascinates me.

2. Fun: Though they weigh typically 100-200 lbs., they are extremely fun to play with and not aggressive. They can be aggressive against strangers who surround the home without invitation, but for family and friends, they are extremely fun and gentle. They love to chase balls, play tug of war, chew bones, and perform tricks, like giving a high five or standing up and resting their paws on your shoulders.

3. Loyal and protective: They are extremely protective of their family and will be a great deterrent to anyone considering trespassing. From what I've read of their history, they have helped shepherds and farmers protect their livestock and homes for centuries.

4. Ears: As I mentioned before, their ears are amazing. Oh yeah, they also have great sense of hearing (and smell/nose).

5. Flews: I just learned this word, but apparently that's the name for their mouth/snout/muzzle (the flaps of skin hanging over their lower jaw out of which their whiskers grow). The flews are extremely cute and a hallmark of their look, but they are a double-edged sword. This cuteness comes with a clear price. Though the flews can be very cute while flapping in the wind while the dog is running or sticking its head out of the car window, they are like leaky kitchen sinks after the dog takes a drink of water or is sweating/breathing hard. We keep rags all over the house just to wipe the dog's mouth every time it drinks. It's ok: this price is definitely worth the cuteness.

Overall, I really love this breed and hope others can appreciate it too. Though most people's reaction may be one of hesitancy or fear (because of the dog's size or look), a deeper study and any time spent with the breed will immediately convert you to a lover of the Neapolitan Mastiff for life.