Joy turns to sorrow after pet passes away

Toy poodle had helped writer overcome her long-held fear of dogs.

A FRIEND introduced me to his toy poodle, Hector, and I fell in love with the pooch.

Hector was highly intelligent and could sense that I had some fear being around animals, including dogs.

He was calm and that helped me to be comfortable in his presence.

Hector would often sit on the floor in front of me as if to prompt me to lift him, and I soon gained the courage to do so.

Once, he fell asleep in my arms while I was talking to his owner.

That evening I cried when I reached home as I felt Hector understood my emotions and had acted accordingly.

This pet had the patience to understand me and help me overcome my fear of dogs.

This fear was something I had been struggling with for four decades.

Both my children have always wanted a dog but I have been pushing this idea aside.

Finally, thanks to Hector, I had the courage to adopt a pet.

One of my friends, Jessica, had asked me if I would be interested in adopting a 10-year-old female toy poodle that had constantly ran away from her owners.

Jessica shared several photos of the poodle and I felt an instant connection with this dog named Coco that would soon change my life.

With the help of Jessica, the Coco’s owners took the responsibility of paying for the dog’s medical bills before handing her to me.

I renamed the dog Joy Krishnan and gave her my children’s surname as I felt she was now my “child” and part of the family.

Joy during a visit to the park a few weeks ago.

Despite having had a challenging past, Joy appeared resilient and determined to find happiness.

When my kids and I took Joy home, she seemed happy and was wagging her tail all the time.

My kids loved her but I was attached to her the most.

She was obedient, loving, had no bad habits and was beautiful too.

Joy loved to eat but there were days she was tired because she was old and on medication for tick fever.

She would wait for me to return from work and stand behind the door to greet me.

It kind of reminded me of the time when my children were toddlers.

Every morning we would put Joy in my car and she joined the ride to school.

In the evening, we took her to the park.

The dynamics of my family changed for the better after Joy joined us.

On Oct 8, we took Joy to the Bandar Utama dog park and she was her normal self.

However, while walking, Joy fainted.

We rushed her to a veterinary clinic nearby but she was declared dead, having suffered a cardiac arrest.

My children and I burst into tears.

It was hard for us to accept the sudden loss of Joy.

We gave her a proper send-off with the help of a funeral service operator.

I experienced grief and also anger thinking about Joy’s fate and I am now only left with the memories and many photos of her on my cellphone.

Despite her short time with us, we are grateful to have shared many priceless moments together with Joy, who lived up to her name.