A day in the life of Nadi (my dog)

Nadi is my Shi-Tzu mix dog that I have had for 10 years now. I got her when she was already around 1 year old and she was already kind of out of the puppy stages. She was already quite well trained when I got her, which was an accident. I just came home from work one day and my girlfriend at the time had acquired a dog without consulting me. At first I was quite upset about this because as someone that has had dogs almost all of his life, I know that this is not a spur of the moment decision and that it lasts a really long time and requires your attention and commitment.

That anger on my part quickly faded into "awwww" because it only took a day or two for me to be hopelessly in love with this little fluff muffin. It helped that she never did anything bad like pee or poop on the floor, nor did she seem to be at all interested in getting in the garbage or chewing up anything that wasn't bought specifically for her.

So here we are 10 years later and Nadi and I kind of have a routine that we go through almost every day.

When we get up in the morning she gets really excited about Yum Yums, which is our word for food. Then after eating them she immediately goes back to sleep despite the fact that she has just been in bed for the past 6-8 hours.

This spot on the sofa is one of her favorite places to sleep. After Dad does a bit of work we go on a walk together that normally also includes me getting some food for myself. My local cheap Vietnamese restaurant doesn't care if you bring your dog in with you so that is exactly what I do.

Today I had Pho, which is basically the national dish of Vietnam. She patiently waits over there and I will give her a piece or two of the meat. Look out, you might lose a finger if you don't know what you are doing.

After that we head back home and I will normally do a bit more work then we head up to the gym. The gym in my building allows dogs or at least they don't ban them because while i never asked permission I have never been reprimanded. It is at this point that she gets her afternoon treaty-pie or chewy chew snack

Once again, she struggles with staying awake because like a lot of smaller breed dogs, she spends a lot of her time indoors and this is just the way her life has been. While I am over pushing up weights she is snoozing away on the cool tile floor

After 90 minutes or so of me doing weights and reading, it is time to head back to the room 7 floors below. Where I will make a choice of doing more work, reading a book, or playing some Playstation. Nadi will always sit quite close to me and then after a certain amount of time something magical happens.

Dogs can't read clocks but they really do have an amazing idea about the approximate time of day. I don't know how they do it but it is pretty amazing. Like clockwork, around 5pm, Nadi will start to touch me with her paws or lean her head on me and if I ignore her long enough she will actually start to whine and even growl. She knows that it is times for "walkies" because this is around the time of day that I have always done it since we have lived in Vietnam.

Sometimes instead of going on a walk I will take her up to the pool instead.

She enjoys this just as much as going on the walk and before anyone asks, no, she does not use the bathroom up here. She is a good girl and knows where that activity is and is not allowed. Most of the other residents here like Nadi and this is good because she will go to greet you if you come to the pool. There is one Russian couple that won't so much as look at her or touch her - perhaps they are Muslim. So when they come up I will pull Nadi over and tell her to stay, which she does. She is a good dog and knows that when I say "stay" that I mean it.

I normally eat dinner quite late and I almost always do so at home.

My stalker will watch me the entire time even though I only give her tiny pieces of chicken or something like that. Of all vegetables the only one she will eat is tomatoes, so if I have some of those she is awarded them as well. Never too much though, I don't need a fat and unhealthy doggo.

If I don't go out to the pub I actually will normally go to bed quite early. It's how I like to live my life. I'm not much of a night owl anymore and since it is so hot in this country it is wise to be up early in the morning to take advantage of the few hours of coolness that still have light involved in the process during that time. So we 'hit the hay' around 9pm every night.

Nadi can tell based on what it is that I am doing such as brushing my teeth or turning lights off that it is bedtime, and by the time I get to the bed she is normally already in her doggie bed that is on my bed.

I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful dog that never makes any problems for me. The awesome thing is that I didn't really do anything to train her to be like this, it just kind of worked out that way. I have only had to discipline her a couple of times in her entire life and a big blessing was that she just kind of seemed to already understand the rules of using the bathroom. This is a process that most dog owners will agree is a tough part of dog ownership.

I got to skip all of that and just focus on the good. I know that everyone thinks that their dog is the best dog, but people who don't own Nadi think that Nadi is the best dog and I agree with them. We spend a lot of time together because I want to, not because I feel like I have to. She is the perfect roommate and she doesn't like change. Our daily routine is something that she understands and gets really excited about.