The way people (dog eaters)  are targeting 🎯 this my dog 🐕 in this neighborhood ehn, makes me cringe 🙄.

His only crime is being a local dog 🐕. And by the way, his name is Dollars  💵. This name isn’t random. It came from a place of memory. A serene place buried deep down within the recess of my soul. My safe place!

People would say “If you love dogs that much, why don’t you get a foreign dog? “ My reply had always been one and the same “Fuck you  🖕”. And it’s crazy because people advocating for foreign dogs are local themselves. How do we expect the country to grow if we don’t patronize our own? We worship everything that comes from abroad, meanwhile, we have a lotta good things in abundance but as usual, we ignore them with reckless abandon. And it’s the same people who will blame the government for not doing enough to sail the ship of this great nation.

If a Hausa woman marries an Igbo man, it’s not an achievement. But if a Yoruba woman marries an Oyibo it’s an achievement.

Fuck you 🖕!…..

If I buy my handbag 👜 from Karimo market, it’s not an achievement but if Yeni Benson Ali gets a gifted 🎁 handbag 👜 from the UK, it’s an achievement.

Fuck you 🖕!…..

If  Marshal Bakut a vibrant and hardworking man gives you a proposal on how to run a certain business is not an achievement, but a Nigerian in the diaspora gives you ideas on the same thing it’s an achievement.

Fuck you 🖕!…..

If Jane Nkeiruka Okechukwu  owns a beautiful boutique somewhere in Garki Abuja is not an achievement, but another buddy of yours owns one in Colorado is an achievement

Fuck you 🖕!…..

Discrimination didn’t start today o. It’s as old as the history of man. Let me narrow it down. Discrimination is when you separate your white clothes from the rest because the white is superior and must never be tainted.

Discrimination is when you call my dog 🐕 ‘Ekuke’ and call a Rottweiler ‘Daniel’.

I remember one beautiful morning when I was about to travel home for Christmas. QS Sleranda Hyacinth Dagala kept me waiting till around 10 am before he said “ Oya BB begin dey come. Let’s rendezvous at AYA”. I was actually gonna miss my Dollars. So I carried him to an Akara spot to buy some for myself. There he was, happily wagging his tail as he lay on my robust chest 😅.

Then suddenly one angry-looking guy was just passing by and the minute he spotted me carrying my dog, he shouted unprovoked  “ See this one, you no go buy a better dog. Na ‘Ekuke’ you dey carry around like gold, mtcheeew”. From his tone, I figured all was not well at home OR he was broke as fuck OR his boss in the office ( I could place him as a company temporary staff)  summoned him urgently  😂. Because the urgency in his movement spoke volumes.

His remark ignited a certain level of anger in me. So I turned unabashed as I fired “Uwarka 🖐️”. Shuuuuuuuuu 🙄.

Anyway like I said he was actually in a hurry so there was no time to exchange words. He zoomed off without another comment. That day I was ready to lose my home training. Seriously People gotta learn to mind their business in this frigging country. I’m not even sure if he’d eaten that morning sef.

I named my dog 🐕 Dollars because once upon a time, we used to have a dog named Same when I was little. Dollars was a friend to my siblings and me. There was no ocean he wouldn’t cross for us. No mountain that he wouldn’t climb on our behalves as long as it’d make us happy. Dollars would accompany us to school and would only turn back when we reached our school gate. Those good old primary school days at the College of Agric staff school Mubi. And what stunned me the most was that the dog was not originally ours. We’d inherited him from the owners of occupants of the house that we moved into. If you’re acquainted with how hospital quarters work, state staff were always on transfer from one hospital quarters to another in different local governments. My parents were both NURSES. So it was no wonder.

Dollars refused to follow his owners the very day we arrived with a lorry 🚛 and the former occupants were all ready to leave the house too. We accepted him as family. He did his role to protect us. On nights when my Mum would go for ‘night duty’ & my Dad would always drive her to the hospital with his lady’s bike, Dollars was always there. He’d stand on guard by the door until my father returned. The white uniform was a signal for him. Wherever he was which was not always far, he’d run down to take his rightful position by the entrance door.

That was Dollars. That was our Dollars.

I can’t even recall the many times he’d saved me from bullies. He took my fight as his own and troublesome kids stayed as far away from me as my Granny’s teeth before her demise 😂.  No kid could Sam Larry me. And he sure saved me from being Mohbad.

One ill-fated morning, Dollars got hit by a car while trying to cross the road. As the gallant boy that he was, he limped amidst pain to get home. He passed on right in front of our house. We mourned him like we would a human being. Gave him a decent burial. But for me, Dollars would always mean more to me.

So when I bought this new Dollars at the age of 3 weeks, I knew what name he would bear. I wasn’t around when a friend acquired the dog on my behalf. But I told her “ Big sis, don’t forget to always call him Dollars “. It was important to me that he bore that name. Probably as a reminder that Dollars still live on. Every dog I’ll ever get will always carry the name Dollars. Something like Dollar 1, Dollar 2, Dollar 3, etc.

I had to correct my neighbors when they started calling him ‘Dollar’. I humbly told them it’s actually a Dollar with an ‘s’ – Dollars. I think there’s power in that name. My mother actually baptized him as Dollars. I don’t know her reasons but in hindsight, I suspect she saw the future. Bonita will touch Dollars. Amen and Amen 😅. I have the foresight.

I didn’t train Dollars the way I’d wanted. Like I said I was away. But he’s catching up fast. Now he knows how to use the toilet for his personal business. He’s a great hunter. He knows his allocated space for sleeping. It’s how to eat without spilling food on the floor that’s my problem. And I wish I could send him on an errand to get some stuff for me 😂. I’m so enamored of him. He connects my past with my present.  Some people said I should castrate him so that he could grow bigger, but do I have the stomach for that?  🤔

Dollars motivate me to cook. And by so doing, I get to eat proper meals unlike before. I always told everyone who cared to listen that I’ll never sell Dollars. Dollars will die a natural death. I cannot even fathom making money out of my furry friend.

I care about him so much that when I met him for the 2^nd time, he had kwashiorkor. I ensured that no money was left unspent. No treatment is left undone. No care was left ‘un-given’.  At the time I thought I was doing the right thing. But it was even more. Through that act, I’ve inspired dog owners in my neighborhood to take their sick dogs to a Vet. As I came to learn, in this ghetto where I live, sick dogs are left to their fate until they die.  Nobody is willing to spend money to nurture their investment. As typical Africans, they rear dogs for business. I got mine for company and a conduit to connect with my past.

If you have a dog, pls tell me why you rear them ????? I’d love to know.

Thank you for your time.