A dog Named Niuniu


Liu jianyong


　

       Niu Niu was a German Shepherd, which I bought from a pet shop near the Chengdu Niushikou Police Station. She was only two or three months old at the time. There was another German Shepherd in the cage, but it looked dull. Niuniu, in contrast, was thrashing around in the cage like a dragon or a tiger, constantly bullying the dull dog. I fell in love with this naughty puppy immediately. The pet shop owner asked for 3,000 yuan. I hesitated, thinking that there should be room for bargaining, but I looked back at Niuniu, who was also looking up at me. At that moment, I decided to buy her no matter how much it cost. She probably felt this in her heart. Niu Niu came home with me like this.

       As shown in the picture: Niu Niu was just brought home. She was about three months old at that time, and her ears hadn't been pricked yet.

       She was a female without a pedigree or certificate. I didn't know her origin. The pet shop owner's words were probably not credible, but this wasn’t important. It was enough that she was my dog, no matter how she came here. In the following nearly a year, I trained her and established a deep relationship with her like a father and daughter. I named her "Niu Niu". The reason for this name was that one of my cars was called "Dandan". I imagined my first car with the personality of a little boy, and Niu Niu was naturally a little girl. I have a habit of naming objects I like. For example, my first car was called "Dandan", and later I sold "Dandan" to Qinghai. My second car was called "A Bao", my third car was called "A Bei", and the fourth car was called…. These little guys with four wheels were all boys, "Niu Niu" is the only girl , and the only one with feelings.
　

       one
　

       The second day after Niu Niu came home, I took her to get vaccinated. Niu Niu was very scared when she received her injection, and her whole body was shaking. I hugged her head, kissed her forehead, and kept her looking at me. In the coming year, Niu Niu had many injections, and developed a conditioned reflex to be afraid of seeing a veterinarian. When she saw a person in a white coat, she would cower even though she had grown into a big, terrifying wolf dog. Her ears showed her fright, and she tucked in her tail.

       When she first came home, I slept with my arms around her. When she got older, I thought she should become more independent, so I bought her a big cage and built her a warm bed to sleep on her own in the living room. In the first few days, she would run to the door of the bedroom, scratching the door and whimpering. I think she probably regarded me as a mother, a rough old man, and became attached. I just resisted and ignored her, hearing her scratch the door for a while. After crying, she ran back to the cage alone. When she ran into the living room, there would be a rattling sound from the cage. When I heard this sound dying out, I knew she had returned to the cage, and then I fell asleep in peace.

       I was afraid that she would be cold in winter, so I bought her a hot water bottle and warmed her up for a while before going to bed every night. I was afraid that she would be scalded, so I wrapped a layer of clothes around it. I was afraid that she would wake up and chew it at night, so I took the hot water bottle away quietly. When Niu Niu was still a child, she needed me to sit with her every night to fall asleep. At nine or ten o’clock in the evening, I put her to sleep, stroking her gently, and watched her fall asleep. But as soon as I left, she woke up, and then ran to chase me. At first, I was afraid that she would follow me, so I closed the cage. Later, I was worried that she would dirty in the cage and be left to lay in it all night, so I had to open the cage again. This was repeated for a long time. It was a few months later that Niu Niu had adapted to sleeping alone that I felt relieved to keep the cage open.

       Niu Niu failed to learn to go to the toilet alone. I was reluctant to beat her, so I had to let her defecate freely at home. Every time I could only help her pick up excrement and wipe urine tirelessly. During that year, it was probably the most time spent cleaning in my life. The stench in the house became worse every day. My mother came to visit after Niu Niu had been with me for 6 months, and the moment she entered the house and opened the door, she gasped at the odor. I had become used to it, and I couldn't smell it anymore.

       As Niu Niu’s teeth came in, she chewed everything at home. The sofa, shoes, cabinets, and walls were all covered with her chew marks. This is the price of keeping a dog. I bought her a lot of teething bones and soft balls to divert her attention, but it didn't work. She probably only gnawed on the soft balls for a few days, and then went back to my clothes and shoes again.

       Whenever Niu Niu was sick, I had to hug her and seek medical treatment on foot to the nearby veterinary clinics - wrapped in a small padded jacket and holding her in my arms. Later, she grew into a big wolf dog, and her weight increased suddenly. It was a bit difficult to carry her to walk a little distance, but she was still like a child, lying quietly in my arms with her head against my chest, cradled in my arms, looking at me, and occasionally reaching up and licking my face. I, a big man, was like a little daughter-in-law who goes from house to house, as if visiting relatives with a child in her arms.

       The cost to raise a dog depends on how you raise it. If you raise it casually, it is nothing more than an extra bowl, and you can deal with any leftovers, as long as you don’t starve to death yourself. If you treat it as a child, the cost of raising a dog is no less than raising a child. In her first year, apart from feeding her milk and dog food every day for the first two or three months, Niu Niu’s monthly living expenses quickly soared to 5,000 then 10,000 RMB. Willing to eat dog food, the so-called transition from frugality to extravagance is easy, but from extravagance to frugality is difficult. I had to go to the supermarket every day to buy fresh big fish and meat, milk, and bones for her. A single piece of beef cost dozens of yuan. She was been raised as a family elder, and her living conditions are much better than mine. Even if I couldn't get enough to eat, I had to let her eat and eat. However, Niu Niu couldn't get fat no matter how much she ate, just like me.

       In this way, the relationship between Niuniu and I was established day by day. I regarded her as a daughter. As for her treating me as a mother and father, I don’t know. Maybe a dog can’t tell the gender of a person.

      When Niu Niu was five or six months old, her right ear gradually began to stand upright, but her left ear would only stand halfway up. I found many methods on the internet. I gave her calcium supplements, and smeared egg white on her ears—it is said that these are helpful for dogs to make dogs’ ears stand. There is also a saying that clips should be used. In short, I tried many methods, but none of them had any effect. Just when I had given up and started to accept that she had a broken ear, suddenly one day, her left ear stood up. I was very pleasantly surprised. After hugging her head and kissing her for a long time, my daughter finally turned into a beautiful big wolfhound!
　

       two
　

       Every time I was at home, it was the happiest time for Niu Niu. Every day she waited for me to come home, and then stared at me. I wrote articles at the desk, and she sat and looked at me. I sat on the sofa reading a book, and she was next to me, pressing her body next to mine. I was laid on the bed, and she laid under the bed, still looking at me quietly. I got up to go to the bathroom, and she immediately got up and followed me- no matter what I did, she would follow behind me. I once secretly observed that during the hours when I was lying in bed reading, she watched at me without blinking, without moving. Tired of holding her head up, she would stretch her neck forward on the ground, but her eyes still never left me. Maybe in Niu Niu's world, I'm the one she paid attention to with all her emotions all the time- I was her only one.

       As shown in the picture: Niuniu was a big, terrifying wolf dog in the eyes of others, but she was just a child in my eyes.

       Niu Niu is a big and kind wolf dog, every time I took her out, she never bullied other puppies. Compared with her peers, she had a natural disposition to people and preferred to play with them. Unfortunately, when others saw her, they were immediately frightened and afraid to move, which made her somewhat disappointed. I put her on a leash and bought a dog tag with her name and my mobile phone number on it. In order to prevent her from being lost and stewed as dog meat, I also engraved a sentence on the back of the dog tag, "If she is lost, return her to receive a heavy reward not less than 20,000 yuan." Selling dog meat can only earns a scoundrel one or two thousand yuan at most. I hoped black-hearted scoundrels who steal dogs and kill dogs would choose to return her to me out of greed. In the eyes of others, Niu Niu was just a piece of meat, but in my eyes, Niu Niu was my daughter and priceless.

       Sometimes when I was on a business trip, I put her in a kennel in a pet shop. After a little while in foster care, I missed her more and more each day. Every time I returned home, I would pick her up as soon as possible. Whenever she saw me, she would jump for joy, throw herself into my arms, and lick my face with her tongue frantically. In the days when I lived alone, Niu Niu was all I missed, and she and I depended on each other for life as each other's family.

　

       three

　

       I still blame myself for not noticing when she became sick. I only noticed when her nose started to run. I took her to all the veterinary hospitals, and finally learned that she had canine distemper. During the few days when she was dying, I stayed with her day and night without sleep. She laid on the ground panting heavily, and I also laid on the ground with my arms around her neck. In those few days, I asked all the doctors for hep- unwilling to give up and unwilling to let her die by euthanasia. I couldn’t accept Niu Niu’s death and was suffering. A veterinary hospital said that an injection of blood serum might be able to cure her, and the price was no longer a consideration. I felt Niu Niu had to be saved even if I had to sell the house or car to raise the money. By then, I had already entered a state of madness. I didn't wash my face or take a bath for several days, my beard was sloppy as I looked for veterinarians who could help. I had never believed in ghosts and gods, but even prayed to Buddha for the first time, and made a promise that if I could, I would reduce my life by ten years in exchange for Niu Niu's life.

       However, in the end, there was nothing I could do. When I carried her into the car and drove her to the pet hospital, Niu Niu passed away from this world. When I arrived at the entrance of the pet hospital, I realized that she had already gone. The doctor of the pet hospital stood in front of me as I was sobbed so much that I couldn't speak. The doctor gave me a business card with the address and telephone number of an animal cemetery in Qionglai, about 200 kilometers away from Chengdu, which may be the only place in Greater Chengdu where animals can be cremated. I carried Niu Niu into the car again and drove there.

       Along the way, I kept talking to Niu Niu, recalling the good times with tears streaming down my face. If Niuniu has a soul, I want her to see this and thank her for having her in my life, thank her for accompanying me on such a long journey in the world, and hope that she would still be a lovely child in heaven.

       After making countless phone calls and searching for a long time, I finally found the remote cemetery before dark. In a crude adobe cremator, Niuniu's body was put into the fire. Before cremation, I hugged Niuniu's body and put my head on her head. At that time, her body was already stiff, and I couldn't cry anymore. It was a rural woman who was the cremator. She was very respectful and waited quietly for me to say goodbye to Niu Niu. This was the last time I saw Niu Niu. I cut Niu Niu's hair with scissors, carefully wrapped it up in cloth, put it into my pocket, and carried her to the fire.

       During the cremation interval, I walked into the animal cemetery. The cemetery was on a hillside. It was almost dark. I walked around the cemetery for a long time, and finally decided not to bury her there. I want to take Niuniu's ashes home. In case Niu Niu's soul wanted to come home, she wasn’t be able to find it after such a long journey (although she was a loving dog, she was very stupid). Looking at the blue smoke from the cremation furnace, I anxiously babbled, "Goodbye, Niu Niu" over and over again.

       Niu Niu's ashes were kept at home for more than two weeks, and I didn't bury her until I found a quiet place. It was an area of high ground, so even if it rained, there would be no water accumulation. It was in a quiet woods and a peaceful environment- it was Niu Niu's favorite place when she was alive. It isn’t far, so if I want to visit her, I can go anytime. After burying Niu Niu, it took me a few months to get out of the depression. Once in my sleep, I dreamed that Niu Niu was crying under the bed. When I woke up, I found that my face was covered with tears. For a long time after Niu Niu passed away, I didn’t clean up, and I didn’t dare to open the windows. The room still smelled of Niu Niu. This was the last thing Niu Niu left for me.

       A few months after Niu Niu passed away, I once saw a German Shepherd on the street. It looked like Niu Niu from the back. I followed it silently for a long time until it ran away and disappeared. After searching for a long time, I couldn’t find the dog again and I knew my Niu Niu would never come back.

       During those few months, my hair began to turn gray in large areas. Later, I began to feel relieved and the grief lifted. If her wish was to live well, she did although it was short

       Since then, I have never had a dog again.

       中文译本：一条叫妞妞的狗狗
　

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