Many people like gardening, many others love making foreign pastry, but for me small animals, especially dogs, are my cup of tea. When I was a country boy, I kept quite a few cats and dogs during the whole childhood. However, when I began to work in town, I had to give up this hobby for the simple reason that even we humans didn’t have enough space to live in, let alone keeping a pet dog.

As the housing conditions improved, again I started thinking of getting a dog of my own. But my wife strongly objected to the idea, saying she couldn’t stand the smell of a dog and would not take care of it. In order to get her permission, I said I would do everything that was needed for keeping the dog so long as she gave me the green light. At any rate, we all have to compromise occasionally if we want to live a harmonious life.

It was not until I got to the pet dog store in the Workers’ Club that I found pet dogs were much more expensive than common dogs farmers raised in the countryside. An affordable and reasonable price would be less than one thousand, I thought to myself. So I looked around and found all the dogs were barking disturbingly at me except one, who looked at me for a while, walked about and then looked at me again. What impressed me most was the bridge of his nose, which was shorter than most dogs but still in good proportion. I saw many dogs whose bridges of the noses were very long like a horse’s, which is very ugly in my eyes. So I decided right away that was the one I was looking for.

Quickly he was named Marvin after an American friend of mine who gave me a very deep impression in one of the Global Language Villages. Another reason for giving that name was that it sounds like a Chinese name. It was not long before he became an official member of the family. Keeping a pet dog is very much like raising a child. Generally I walk him in the neighborhood twice a day, one in the early morning and the other in the evening. Every two or three weeks a bath is necessary. Of course, I also need to take him to get vaccinated once a year

Maybe as I spent more time with him, he got attached to me soon. When I sat watching TV, he would sit at my side. Once he even tried to get onto the bed when I was lying in it. Each time I come home, he will be so glad as to turn around and around and this welcoming ceremony will be held several times a day! One of the tricks he likes to perform is standing on his two hind legs when asking for something to eat. Somehow he knows if he does this trick, he is more likely to get the food he wants. When he wants to show us that he behaves well, he would lie on the stomach with his hind legs stretched out and front paws crossed, like a primary school student does in class. When we moved to the present new house, he couldn’t adapt himself to the new surroundings at the beginning. He peed in the kitchen several times, which made me very angry. To change his bad behavior, I scolded and beat him in front of his pee. He struggled to break away and hid behind the sofa for a long time. When he finally came out, he walked furtively with his tail between his legs. When I tried to scold him again, he looked up at me with his regretful eyes as if saying: “I am terribly sorry.” What a pathetic sight!

Marvin is timid by nature. If I don’t hold him by the rope while walking him outside, he would even ran back home if there’re many people blocking the road. However, he would always stop and wait for me if I happen to lag behind for some reason. Whenever I talk to him, he seems to try to speak back by wagging his tail and licking my hands lovingly. Timid as he is, he would always bark bravely at the doorway whenever a stranger comes. Oddly enough, he will never bark when my son or dad comes in spite of the fact they don’t live with us most of the time.

As a man sharing this world with others, we should remember those who once helped us or treated us well, yet we can not expect others to do the same as we do or repay what we have done for them. However, we can always count on a dog being loyal to us no matter what happens. And what we devoted to him/her will be doubly repaid！

Look! I can do this if you give me something to eat.

Life is good! Let me have a smile.

Yummy! It tastes great!