It’s a quiet and cosy weekend morning and Meyshna Nair is just laying out brunch for her family.
The spread is a hearty one, featuring ample servings of hot poached eggs, slices of grilled chicken and fresh papaya, all of which have been laid out beautifully on the dining table.
Now that the table is set, Meyshna breaks the still silence with a loud call, “Who wants it?!”
All of a sudden, a frenzied amount of scurrying can be heard drawing closer and closer towards the dining table. No, it’s not an army of people rushing to the table.
It’s Unicorn Nair, Meyshna’s four-year-old Shih Tzu, hurrying to get his favourite foodstuff.
“Unicorn loves his chicken and papaya, but to be frank, he loves anything that’s not his,” joked Meyshna, who blames her father for mollycoddling Unicorn since he first arrived at their home as a precious gift.
“My father spoils him with treats every morning, just because both of them wake up the earliest.”
Cheeky, smart, pampered and naughty, Unicorn is the true king of the Nair household and knows exactly how to flex his cuteness to get his way. And according to Meyshna, everyone at home falls for it.
“If everyone’s upstairs and he’s downstairs alone, he’ll proceed to bark and howl until someone carries him up. Mind you, he knows how to go up the staircase but has learnt how to swindle my father into carrying him up, every single night.”
Even though Unicorn sounds like a handful, he is an independent doggo especially when it comes to keeping his manners.
“Before we take him on car rides, he’ll quickly sip on his water, scratch his wee pad cover frantically and run in circles until he’s able to pee. Once he’s done, he’ll lead himself straight to the car,” explained Meyshna.
While Unicorn has many toys to fool around and play with, the one thing he does enjoy doing the most is fiddling with used plastic bottles.
Meyshna can only send off the bottles for recycling once Unicorn, the in-house recycling officer, has ripped off the bottle covers and wrappers.
“We always make a conscious effort, to ensure that if we ever buy mineral water, we then bring home the empty bottle for him. We can only send them for recycling once he’s done ‘approving’ them,” quipped Meyshna.
Only two things can put the brakes on Unicorn’s endless amounts of energy – the rain and fireworks.
“He gets super anxious and drools so much that his front paws get so wet. So, whenever it’s about to rain, and if no one is at home, my entire family gets anxious.”
But when it’s clear skies outside, Unicorn tries his level best to live up to the “AWAS! Anjing garang didalam” (BEWARE! Fierce dog inside!) signage on the home gate.
“When he spots a cat outside, he will bark his lungs out like a warrior. But when someone rings the doorbell, he’ll run straight in. Or if he’s inside with us, he will still sound the alarm from wherever he’s hiding,” shared Meyshna.
Despite his admirable attempts at playing a fierce guard dog, Unicorn is a friendly and cheerful furball at heart.
“He once ran out of our house and into someone else’s home, located about four rows away from ours. But when we arrived to pick him up, we found the house owners playing with him. So yes, he’s super friendly.”
Perhaps the best testimony to Unicorn’s ebullient and infectious personality is that he was able to win Meyshna’s mother over in no time, who prior to meeting Unicorn, was against having a pet dog at home.
Four years on from the day he arrived as a gift to the family, Meyshna’s mum shows him the most amount of attention and affection, sneaking in little hugs and kisses with Unicorn when no one’s watching.
That alone, says enough about the tiny yet towering personality of Unicorn Nair.
If you’d like to follow the adventures of this pocket-rocket, head to his Instagram page.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR PET: FMT Lifestyle readers are invited to send in pictures (landscape format) and a short video (if any) of their furry, scaly or feathery friends to [email protected]. Don’t forget to include details like your pet’s name, age, breed and a short story about them.