Stars, stripes, and suddenly NACHO!

Top: Nichii (Similar here)

Skirt: ASOS (Similar here)

Bag: Betsey Johnson

Bangles: Old (Similar here and here)

Sunglasses: Aldo (Similar here)

Shoes: Far East Plaza (Similar here)

 

Don't you think this looks a bit Halloween costume adjacent? Halloween is after all my favourite festivity of the year because a) I love dressing up in costumes b) I love candy especially when it is free c) I get to scream 'trick or treat' like a deranged child.

I also love Halloween now for a totally new reason though -  Nacho (or the Artist Formally Known As Macho) joined the Wee-Hui-Maltese-Pan (WHMP) clan on 31 October 2013!

Taun taun Nacho reporting for duty

I adopted Nacho through a friend's neighbour's contact, a man who owned a small office in a conservation house. That's where we went to meet Nacho. We had very little information about this dog - he was a poodle and had to be rehomed because of some child's allergies (or so I initially thought). I had no idea what I needed to know so I took to Google to find out what I should ask before adopting a dog. Google was helpful.

Good questions to mull over first before even getting a dog include:

1. Can you handle the responsibility? (YES!)
2. Do you have the time and resources? (Maybe)
3. Have you considered your mother's feelings about having a dog (Who is 'mother'?) 

These are a basic starting point but I found this really useful.

Some good questions to ask the current owner of the dog you intend to adopt include:

1. Why do you (current owner) not want this cute guy (greatest dog in the world)?
2. What is this cutie's (NOT the owner obvs) medical history?
3. Has he been neutered? 
4. How is he around kids/other people/other dogs
5. Does he have any behavioural issues? 
6. Is he house-trained? Does he pee indoors or outdoors? 
7. Has he been given any training? (Ninja training?)
8. Does he know any commands? (Sit/stay/kill all my enemies?)
9. How often a day does he get walks and for how long each time? 
10. What is his eating schedule and what does he eat?

There are so many questions to ask so I suggest you do what I did, go to this site and print out all the questions and read them off to the current owner.

Anyway, as it turned out, Nacho's owner had done a silly thing, he gave in to his children's wishes for a dog but then they got bored of taking care of Nacho so he became an unwanted burden. The owner brought Nacho to his workplace to let his employees care for him but this meant that Nacho wasn't properly cared for so there were a couple of things that weren't great:

1. His vaccination had lapsed 
2. He wasn't neutered
3. He wasn't socialised with other dogs (so he used to charge up to other dogs)
4. He wasn't trained so he was kind of a maniac, barking randomly, pulling on his leash, trying to pee at every tree to mark
5. He was a tick-covered, worm-infested germ factory
6. His teeth had a lot of tartar build up
7. He wasn't properly groomed so his fur covered his eyes 
8. He wasn't being fed enough and was quite underweight
9. He wasn't being shown all the love and care that he should have because he really has a great personality 

Haaalp I think I'm blind - Nacho day 1 in the WHMP clan

Seriously guys. Where are my eyes?

We had to shave him because of all the ticks.

What the hell is this alien creature I brought into my home??

Ugs but happy!

It has been over a year since we got Nacho and I think we've addressed almost all of his issues but it really took a crap ton of hard work and consistency. He's still a little crazy sometimes (like when he wants to kill this Yorkie terrier) but he's an awesome little dude and I'm so happy that I got him. He's changed my life for the better, and I would wholeheartedly recommend that you adopt a dog (or a few dogs) because it gives them a better life and in turn makes yours awesome.

Nacho of today: I can seeeee!