In Loving Memory of Sheeba

We have cherished this picture of our dog, Sheeba. She's just an "askal" or a mutt ( "askal" meaning "asong kalye" or street dog without breed ) but we still loved her. She died three years ago after doing a heroic act of love.

I still remember how Sheeba saved my father-in-law that day. It was a weekend and usually, we wake up late but on that particular Saturday, I had to wake up early because my oldest son had a school activity and so I had to prepare breakfast for him. As I was doing my chore, I noticed our Sheeba yelping and scratching on the door of my father-in-law's room. I told him to stop but she didn't obey and kept on barking and scratching, as if she wanted me to open the door.

My brother-in-law woke up and tried to open the door which he thought was locked because when he pushed it, it didn't budge. He carried Sheeba from the door and told her to shut up but the dog leaped from his grasp and again went to the door and barked while scratching it. So he tried pushing the door harder and saw my father-in-law lying on the floor. He was unconscious and when I checked his blood pressure, I realized he had an attack. We immediately rushed him to the hospital and the doctor said that if we had delayed, the attack would have been fatal. He still cannot move his right hand until now.

That day, Sheeba saved him. My father-in-law stayed in the hospital for ten days. And a week after, Sheeba died. We brought her to the vet but he didn't see anything wrong with her. She just did not like to eat and grew weaker everyday until she died on her sleep. My daughter and I cried for days. I vowed not to have dogs anymore but as you probably know, I now have four! Still, I terribly miss her.....