Brandy Pooh’s Time-Traveling Adventure: Finding purpose in life

We, for all time, find the purpose of our existence. We ceaselessly ask for the real meaning of living. And at some point we find answers in unexpected places or in improbable circumstances. And here’s one that one can find inspiration from. It’s a fiction novel about a courageous young dog trying to find its purpose in life. Yes, it’s a time-traveling adventure book by my beloved film director Janice Y. Perez.

For Janice, writing “Brandy Pooh’s Time-Traveling Adventure, Book 1: The Legend of the Fourteen Shih Tzus,” really helped her deal with the grief of losing her dad. It allowed her to bring her father to life in story form. Her father is her biggest inspiration whom she considered as the biggest dog lover she has ever known.

Another source of inspiration is her favorite author Agatha Christie, an English crime novelist, short story writer and playwright, one of the most famous writers in history, with mysteries like Murder at the Vicarage, Partners in Crime, and Sad Cypress.

An interesting scientific account tells us that dogs have the power to turn your frown into a smile. When you take care a dog, your body produces oxytocin and endorphins, hormones that lift your mood and strengthen the emotional bond between you and your pet. Oxytocin is the “love hormone” that bonds a mother to a child and one lover to another; our bodies also make it when breastfeeding or having sex. Simply watching dogs playing or goofing around helps people feel happier and more relaxed.

From the book launch, the author has made a laudable advocacy which is to promote responsible ownership and humane treatment of all pets. Owning a pet is a privilege and should result in a mutually beneficial relationship. The benefits of pet ownership come with responsibilities. These include lifelong care of the pet, selecting a pet that is suited to your home and lifestyle and avoiding impulsive decisions, recognizing that owning a pet requires an investment of time and money, keeping only the type and number of pets for which you can provide an appropriate and safe environment, ensuring pets are properly identified, adhering to local ordinances, helping to manage overpopulation by controlling pets' reproduction through managed breeding, containment, or spay/neuter.

Other responsibilities include establishing and maintaining a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, providing preventive and therapeutic health care for the life of pets in consultation with, and as recommended by the veterinarian, socialization and appropriate training for pets to facilitate their well-being and the well-being of other animals and people, preventing your pets from negatively impacting other people, animals and the environment. This includes proper waste disposal, noise control, and not allowing pets to stray or become feral, providing exercise and mental stimulation appropriate to pets' age, breed, and health status; including pets in planning for an emergency or disaster, including assembling an evacuation kit, making arrangements for the care or if you are unable to do so, recognizing declines in pets' quality of life and making decisions in consultation with veterinarian regarding appropriate end-of-life care.

Get to know more about the author and her book this coming Saturday, September 1, 2018 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the 2nd floor Activity Center in Parkmall, Cebu’s best pet-friendly mall. Let’s get inspired by the stories of what the author considers as the most emphatic creatures in the planet, or even in the galaxies. Let’s support this local fantasy novel for children and for adults, too.