Menina

Hello everyone!

Today, we have Menina introducing herself to the world!

First, some basic information is required.

Name: Lizzie
Nicknames: Elizabeth, Mui-Mui, 妹妹, 阿囡, Mädchen, Menina
Commonly known as: Menina
Breed: Unknown. Looks like a Dachshund and Terrier mix
Birthday: Unknown, rescued on 6 December 2005

Story:

It was the coldest day of the season on that fateful day, 6 December 2005. I was walking along the street when I saw a girl walking a white dog. The white male dog was sniffing around, and the girl sat down on a bench. I thought, "since she is walking a dog, she must like me!" so I immediately jumped up and sat on her lap.

"Oh, hello!" The girl said to me. "Where is your owner?" she asked.

I don't understand what "owner" is, but just then another man walked past. If the girl doesn't want to hug me, fine. I'll go with the man. So I jumped off her lap and followed the man across the street.

The man wasn't too friendly either, so after following him for a while, I turned around and walked back, but I did not cross the street. Along the way, there was a small patch of grass and so I walked into the grass, hoping to lie down for a while.

I then saw the girl with the white dog again! So I ran towards her. She had her back facing me, and in order to call for her attention, I barked once.

"Woof!" I said.

The girl turned around and said "oh! It's you again! I thought you followed your owner?" she asked me.

She was talking to me! So I wagged my tail furiously. But the girl just walked away.

"Aren't you coming with me?" I heard the girl call out to me. Wagging my tail, I ran towards her and followed her closely. I hesitated when she crossed the street and stopped mid-way. Certainly, the girl was exasperated and yelled "Come over here, quick! A bus is coming! Come!" and whistled. I ran towards her.

For the rest of the way, the girl kept looking back at me and whistling. We walked up slopes, we turned into alleys, and we had to stop and let cars and motorbikes pass. Finally, we went into a building. The girl talked with some people, and they looked at me. Suddenly, I'm not so sure if this was a good idea or not...

But the girl called me again and we went inside something I now know as the elevator. After a while, we exited again and the girl opened two doors and we went in.

It was a warm house. A woman and a man stood there looking at me. I was suddenly afraid and tried to wag my tail again.

The girl suddenly picked me up from behind and put me inside warm water! The water is warm, but it's still a cold day! What would happen after I got out of the water? I'll feel a lot colder than now!

I did not have to worry as the girl used a blow dryer and dried me thoroughly as well. Then she took some photos of me, gave me food - quite a lot of food! And even told me to sleep in a red round dog-bed! Wow!

This night, I slept very well, shielded from the elements with a full tummy. I slept well!

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Thoughts from Kat, "the human girl"

I honestly thought she had her own "boss" so-to-speak, so when she came back to me I was surprised. it was a cold winter's day (coldest winter day of that season) and the traffic was quite heavy, so I decided to take her home. I was lucky that my parents didn't say anything. Mom was just worried that she did belong to someone else and we took her away. Dad however, said "don't worry, this is a good dog. We will keep her."

The following days flew by because those were really busy days. I had to take her to the vet to make sure she had no serious sickness (I had Peppie at that time) and found out she had a really serious infection in her ears. I was told to name her for the vet records, and said that, "I don't know, I just picked her off the street. Call her 阿囡 (Ah Loi) first. 阿囡 practically just means "Girl" in Chinese.

I don't remember the details, but eventually we took her to another vet because her ears never got better and then we decided to actually keep her, and officially named her Lizzie (she is "Lizzie" on her papers, short for Elizabeth). Her ears cleared up (finally!) but her "official" name Lizzie never stuck. In the end, we just kept calling her "Menina", which, also means "Girl" in Portuguese. My Dad calls her "Mädchen", which means, take a wild guess, "Girl", in German.

One of my neighbours believes that this was the dog she saw being bullied by some school kids - they had the dog on a chain and pulled the dog everywhere. To date, Menina looks at children with special attention (I do not know if that is in fear or in anticipation). I also noticed her tail was slightly crooked, as if someone had twisted or bent it... but it did not seem to bother her at all, so maybe she was born this way. The vets she went to never commented on that.

She is now one bossy girl and probably even Queen amongst the dogs. All she has to do is shriek and all the other boys will stop whatever they are doing.

The following are a couple of photos featuring just Menina :)