They say there's nothing like the experience of raising your first dog. You get the hell out of your house, wander off somewhere in your village, lie down under a tree and walk off into the sunset together. Just you and your dog best friend. But that's not my experience! Browny’s not even the first dog in the family. If my memory serves me right, Browny is the 4th dog in our family.

The former dogs didn't even seem like ours because after a few months, my Grandpa would ask my Uncle to take them all away far from us. My Grandpa doesn’t really like dogs or any animal running or playing around the  house. He didn’t even like us playing around at all. That's why, whenever we pass by him we walk with great caution and always make it sure that he won't have anything to say about us. Yeah, he's quite of a terror at home, too strict but that's his nature. But anyway. . .

My Uncle Allan, who lives at the province, would then bring the puppies to our farm and train them as guard dogs. Many years passed, they grew up there and probably died there too. I don’t really know that because I never asked anyone about what happened to those poor dogs. But this Browny, he happened to have stayed with us long enough for us to consider him family. And I’m not really the kind of person who gets attached to animals way too easily. Not until, Browny happened.

Right from the start Browny isn’t even my dog. One night, my cousin Min and I were discussing about owning a dog for some reason (which I couldn’t recall) and the next morning her classmate and our Uncle’s colleague brought one puppy each to the house. My cousin revealed to me though that she called her classmate to accept the puppy she offered to her during their biology class. Our Uncle Danny's colleague, on the other hand, may have overheard us that night.

Everything happened so fast and we never really expected to have two dogs exactly a day after discussing about owning just one. We were so excited! My cousin kept the puppies that day and it was up to her to decide which of the two puppies she’s gonna choose. Not that I have no say about the decision or the puppies but I left it to her since it was really her idea. Although honestly, I was just playing safe because if anything shit happens - at least nobody's gonna blame me. Sorry cuz! :-)

Unfortunately she was not allowed to keep two puppies at the same time because “owning a dog comes with great responsibility.” Says so my uncle. Sounds so cliché right? But that’s exactly what my Uncle said and he’s quoted for that.

Morning came and my cousin decided to keep the brown one. And yep, that’s Browny. A cute hairy brown puppy! In case you wanna know the other one was mostly white with lighter brown spots around its body – we didn’t had the chance to name him because we couldn’t really think of any name that suits him well. That's probably why we picked the brown one because he gave a good first impression. Forget it! He actually pissed on the floor. "Sonofabitch!!". I was about to spank him when he gave me an innocent, wide-eyed expression.

It felt like he was saying. . .

"Just look at me! Just look how adorable I am! Oh come on..you stupid asshole! Can you hurt something as adorable as me?"

And I was like. .
"The bastard's got his way of escaping punishments huh?"
"Ahhh...forget it!"

I then went looking for some old rug and cleaned his mess. And the other dog? Well, he was given back to his owner the next day.

I would actually have preferred the brown puppy too. But that’s just because he’s cuter, chubbier and hairier than the other one - or well, trying to.

As for the name, we really didn't thought about it. We just called him Browny right away. We didn't even care if there are other brownies out there. Because on that day, I knew that there was something special about Browny. Whatever it is, I was looking forward to it.

And I can't wait for that day where I can walk Browny up to the place in our village where one can behold one of the most breathtaking sunsets. Just Browny and Me, best of friends, watching the sunset together.

TO BE CONTINUED. . .