The Story of a Stray Dog
On a dim moonlit night at an undergrowth near Taman Bukit Indah, a puppy with two other siblings were born to a family of stray dogs.

This puppy might have a distinctive name of which we knew not. “Wow-wow” was what we always heard his parents call him. As the puppy grew up to mingle with the residents of Tingkat Indah Road, he had assumed the name of Blacky given to him by humankind as his whole body appeared to be ‘metallic black’ in colour. Unlike many local politicians who felt insulted and offended if their skin colour is being associated with ‘metallic black’, Blacky,on the other hand, gracefully acknowledged his body colour as it was and accepted the name with pride and honour as he had learnt from an old-timer that “ an utterly black dog is a rare breed in the kingdom of dogs and it is hard to come by; it is like the top branded name of LV in the ladies’ collection of expensive handbags. It is said that a black dog’s penis wrapped in a red cloth or the blood of a black dog splashed over a haunted mansion would easily ward off all the hard-core evil spirits like ‘eating kacang putih'.”
Blacky was no ordinary dog. He was not oblivious of the predicament of his life as a stray dog.He knew fully well that ‘a stray dog is not born with a silver spoon like a house dog; for him to survive he has to be self-reliant to find his own food and shelter.’ To do that he would have to win the heart and soul of humanity.So he decided ‘to take to the street’ by being a faithful and responsible watchdog to guard the entire stretch of Tingkat Indah Road.












Blacky guarded the road like a water-tight compartment. No stranger appearing on the road would escape his ‘CCTV eyes’ and his ‘radar ears’. He would bark and chase after the stranger like a shadow attached to its object during broad daylight, until the stranger had disappeared into another road.

Whenever there was a dog trepassing Tingkat Indah Road, Blacky would confront it by exchanging glares for a couple of minutes until one party started to fight. Blacky always emerged the victor of the fight just like the invincible Mohamad Ali during his golden years with his famous catchphrase of ‘dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee’.
Blacky started his day by going from door to door making his daily calls to the residents of Tingkat Indah Road. He would sniff at people’s trousers to show his friendly gesture, or as a way of saying “good morning!”. Some residents would like to play with him while others would provide him with scraps for his breakfast.

Blacky was not a filthy dog. In fact he was very hygienic and environmentally friendly. He would never relieve himself anywhere along the road like many house-trained dogs would do when they came out for a walk with their master as if the road was “the only toilet in the whole of the universe.” In the case of Blacky, he would look for a secluded place behind the bushes to do his business.

Undoubtedly, Blacky was a very good dog adored by most of the residents of Tingkat Indah Road. Some kind hearted families once offered to keep him as a house dog but he shunned away from the noble invitation as he preferred to lead a life as free as a gypsy. He would rather sleep beneath a car or under the shade of a tree just like any lobby dosser would do in a big city.
Blacky was adorned around his neck with a red ribbon band coupled with a dog licence tag by a well-wisher at the taman; a rare honour given to a stray dog. With the licence on his neck, Blacky was considered a house dog. He could walk up and down the road holding his head high without the slightest fear of being shot by a City Council enforcer.

For the past few months, there was no sign of Blacky to be seen along Tingkat Indah Road. Everybody was wondering where he had gone and what had happened to him. Later, it was learnt from a reliable source that a pack of feral dogs, out of nowhere, had launched a surprise attack on Blacky until he was fatally wounded and disappeared from Tingkat Indah Road . Not long after that he was poisoned to death by an unscrupulous thief who frequented a recycle centre in the neighbourhood.

The death of Blacky is a great loss to many of the residents of Tingkat Indah Road. It is hope that someday somebody somehow would write a best-seller and make it into a blockbuster based on the tale of Blacky, a very extraordinary stray dog.