Dear Duke...

August 20th, 2010

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I remember the first time I saw you

A little puppy which looked like an old man

In a small chaotic petshop

You were in a white cage right in front of the air conditioner

Shivering, but nuzzled at our curious fingers

Which stroked the fur on your head

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The moment we went home

We started thinking of a name for you

You being so precious and all

We picked the name Duke for you

And lengthened it to Sir Duke Lancelot

As your full name

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We picked you up from the pet shop the next day

And how excited we were

We'd already set up your crate

In a corner of the living room

And once we placed you into the crate

You were curious

Yet intimidated by the new home you had

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We left you by yourself for a couple of hours

By then you were exploring

A small area around your crate

Sniffing and pawing at the furniture

For your dinner

You had puppy food with milk

And how cute you were

When we tried to tie up you long ears

With a green scrunchie

Your head barely filled the bowl

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You slept in you crate for the first few days

Then the first night we decided

To let you roam about at night

We all slept in the living room

You had your own little table lamp

In case you were afraid of the dark

The first night you were let out

You chewed on the PS2 cable

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For the first two months of you life here

I was having my year-end holidays

This way I was able to wake-up

At 6am every morning to give you breakfast

After you'd finished munching

I'd sleep the rest of the morning on the couch

And you would accompany me

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For the following weeks we did nothing

But play games and snapped shots of you

Then every afternoon during your lunch

I'd train you to do the basics

I remember the wary look on your face

When I pushed your rump to the floor

For the umpteenth time

In attempts to teach you 'sit'

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Slowly

I taught you how to 'lie'

I taught you how to take the snack

Only after I said 'OK'

And to nod when I asked 'yes or no'

While mum potty trained you

I remember the seemingly useless attempts

The way we waited in the backyard

For you to land perfect rosettes

And empty your bladder

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I also remember the way

You backed away from

The little package or

The yellow-stained cloth

When we put it in your face

In hopes that you'd recognize the scents

And know where to do your business

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The holidays ended

And I went to school rather warily

Because I was leaving you at home

With no one else except grandma

Only to get home at 1.30pm

And be greeted by your cute face in mine

Impatience written all over it

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I continued teaching you

To 'turn'

To 'roll'

To 'paw'

Even when I was completely exhausted from school

Though the only thing

That kept your attention on me

Was the food in my hand

I was in complete bliss

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A few months later

You graduated from potty training school

Every free minute was spent with you

Either playing with you

Or just combing through your latte fur

Which was the reason why

Your name was lengthened to

Sir Duke Lancelot aka Latte

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1st of September 2008 came around

It was your first birthday

Someone special got you a chiffon cake

In celebration of your birthday

We shared the cake

Though most of it was eaten by you

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Just about then

You started to violate rules

You started to leave puddles all over the place

And your free space was slowly reduced

To only the living room

You also bit me for the first time

And how mad I was at you then

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We spent less time with you

As time slipped past

We were busy with work and studies

But you were there for us all the same

Not uttering a complaint

Which was why we thought you were mute

Until the time you first barked at a visitor

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You weren't allowed out of the house

Though at first we did take you out

For occasional walks with the three stooges

And washed your paws

Blowed them dry

And powdered them with care

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We took turns to give you your bath

And I had a love-hate relationship

With that particular task

Slowly you were weaned from milk

And breakfast altogether

You had meals with canned food instead

And boiled anchovies every blue moon

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For some unfathomable reason

Your named was lengthened further

To Sir Duke Lancelot aka Latte Shoopuf

After the fictional creature in FFX

And we called you 'Dukie'

Or 'naughty little mutt'

Or other nicknames we thought of

Every other day

But I called you baby

Because you we're like one to me

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Past the years

We celebrated one more of your birthdays

And the third one

We won't be able to be celebrating it

Because you'd be gone

Perhaps to a better home

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I'll always remember

The way you surprised dad with your presence

The way you pushed away your blanket when you slept

The way you wormed into everyone's hearts

And left your pawprint on mine

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I'm sorry for the times I hurt you

I'm sorry for the times I neglected you for material things

I'm sorry I didn't take better responsibility for you

For if I did

You wouldn't be going away

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Thanks for being part of my life

Thanks for being there for me when no one else was

Thanks for giving me a few extra scars

For that's one way I'll remember you always

I didn't have much of a life before you came

And also thanks for adding more colour to my life

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I've never cried so badly before

Even when dad left for China

I tried to divert my attention from you

But it just made me more depressed

I hope I'll be able to get over it eventually

And I hope the same for you

I also hope you'd remember me

The next time we meet

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Be a good boy

Treat your new owners

The way you treated us

With love and perseverance

And your stubborn personality

And your wet greeting when they return home

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Live a good life

You've still got many years more to live

And think of me whenever you can

I'll think of you for the rest of my life

And keep a part of my love for you always

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With love from

Someone who'll miss you a lot