The Little Dog Who Made Us a Pack

Welcome to Happy You Happy Dog. This show is for you,

the human behind the leash. I'm Coco, Animal Naturopath, and

this is Mana, the Mountain Boo. We are so delighted you are

here. If your dog is attached to your hip, your cat is

supervising your every move, and you are curious about the

wisdom, connection, and joy that blossom from sacred

companionship. You are in the right place. Our pets don't just

need us; they help shape who we become. So let's chat. Hello,

darling. Before we begin, I am so excited. Today I have some

very special people. My son Yu, his girlfriend Helen, and their

tiny little Chloe are here with me and Mother. Would you like to

say hello,

everyone?

Everyone,

glad to be here. Hey, Chloe, she's just so tiny and

cute. You you recently made the sweetest anniversary post, and

you called Helen and Chloe the best package deal. Tell me about

that, Yuu.

Yeah. So when I was dating Helen, I didn't know I would get

a two for one special deal. So it ended up being the best

package deal ever, getting both Helen and Chloe. So getting both

of them.

Yeah, that's great. Their best package ever. And

then I remember Helen sending me the sweetest picture after you

guys came back home from one of your trips. It was a picture of

Chloe on you's lap and reaching up to kiss it-it's the sweetest

moment. Do you mind if I show the picture of that? Yeah, of

course. Okay, it's this picture. Oh, and Helen said Chloe wanted

to be on his lap instead of mine after we picked her up.

So that made me laugh because Chloe had always been Helen's

little baby. She goes everywhere with Helen, and sometimes

literally inside your purse. And now apparently, she decided that

she has a daddy. So Helen, tell me about your life with Chloe

before you know you you just mommy and Chloe life.

Yeah, I think you know it's always just been mommy and

Chloe wherever I go. I'll try to bring her. Sometimes though, I

do feel like I want to be that responsible parent. If I don't

know how long I'm going to be out. You know, I'll try to kind

of leave her at home, but I do feel bad leaving her for long

periods of time. I think before COVID, I would just leave her at

home for like eight hours while I would go to work. But then

since COVID, our offices became dog friendly, and then now I can

bring her and I can also work from home. So she's kind of very

much used to me being with her, but I think it's always just

been me and her. If I go out with friends and if like I know

I'm gonna have a drink or two, I usually don't bring her. If I

know I'm gonna go somewhere that has like loud area, I usually

don't bring her, just because I want to make that responsible

decision. But I think now that he's in the picture, now we have

two people watching over her so it's a lot easier.

Yeah, of course. I mean, I think it's important

that you know they are with us as much as we can be with them,

right? And then it's great that you guys kind of like take

turns. Like you know, Helen has business trip, and then Daddy

watches over Chloe, so you know she's never kind of you know

alone or by herself for a long time. I think that's great. Yuu,

what did you first think of this tiny package that came with

Helen?

I thought she was adorable. She's so tiny, and then at least

for me, she's always been really friendly with me, and even ever

since the beginning. So yeah, I thought she was adorable.

Yeah, Chloe is like what, like pound three and a

half pounds. Yeah,

three and a half pounds.

Yeah, when you guys came to visit, and I was holding

Chloe, you know, versus Mana, and just like she is so light

and tidy. Yeah, I

think in the beginning, he he always loved Chloe, of

course. But he will kind of just let me make the decisions.

Whatever it is I want to do, like if I want to bring her,

we'll bring her. If I don't, we don't. But I think now he

definitely has taken ownership of that co-parenting father,

doggy, dad rule. Where now, if sometimes I'm like, oh, I don't

think we should bring her. He's like, oh, I already have her

bags packed. I already have the treats and everything. So yeah,

he he definitely feels like he is Chloe's dad.

So was there like a particular moment that like you

went, oh, I'm hard. Now, that's

a

good question.

Not officially, but I think when me and Helen moved in

officially, and then when Helen like went on her trip to Italy

for two weeks, and I just watched Chloe. I think that was

kind of where we really bonded because I was with Chloe like

every day for two weeks, and then I work from home, so she

was just with me every day. That's right.

You had a chance to bond with Chloe without mommy

being there because Helen was on a trip. Oh, I see.

Yeah.

What was that like? That was like the first time

that you were spending like just you know long periods of time

just with Chloe, right?

Um, honestly, Chloe's like really easy to take care of.

She's easier than I thought she would be easier to take care of

because we just leave her pee pads out. She just pees on the

pee pads, and then for food, she's one of the weird dogs

where like we can just leave food out all day, and she would

just eat whenever she wants. Like she doesn't, she's an

independent. Yeah, she doesn't like other dogs eat all the food

at once, and they eat it whenever the food's in the bowl.

But she just eats whenever she wants, and then we let her sleep

on the bed with us. So she sleeps with me at night and in

the morning too. So

she does bark at you a lot when she wants attention.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah. But she when she wants attention, like when I'm

on calls and stuff, and she wants me to play with her, she

will bark at me.

So she's talking to you, right? Like Debbie, like

look at me, pay attention. So, what hasn't been like watching

Chloe developing her own relationship with you? You,

I think it's really sweet. I think before, because

Chloe just she loves people more than she likes other dogs. So

whoever will come over, she'll bark at them first, but then

she'll always kind of gravitate towards you know wanting

attention and stuff. So I think before she just treated him as

like oh just another person that I I can play with. But now

definitely like if I'm ignoring her and I'm on a call, she'll go

to him. Or like if I see that she's hungry or something, like

but I don't have time to get to it, I don't even have to say

anything, and you you will just know to you know start packing

her food and leaving that out and everything. So I think it's

really sweet to see that he went from this passive friend that

comes and that Chloe just thinks of as like oh somebody that's

here to somebody that Chloe is like oh I can rely on and I can

trust. Recently, he actually after we moved into our new

apartment, Chloe has her own little corner and he actually

printed out adoption papers to put that he officially adopted

her.

Oh, that is so sweet! I love that. So you officially

her daddy.

Yeah.

Yeah. There

was also one time I think we were taking a flight, and then

Chloe kind of gets scared on flights, but she was on Helen's

lap. But then when the plane started taking off, she started

shaking a lot, and she actually went to my lap because I think

she felt safer with me.

Yeah.

So she sat on my lap while we were taking off, and she just

kind of cuddled me while she was a little scared.

Oh, so she knows like you are kind of a protective

figure for both of

them. Yeah, Helen and Chloe.

So does she act like or behaves a little different,

like when she's with mommy and when she's with daddy. Like

there is like mommy version of Chloe and like daddy version of

Chloe.

Very slightly, the only thing I notice is that when

she's she would rather play with him because he can roughhouse

with her. Every time she brings me her her toy, I will play with

her a little bit, and then I'll start cuddling her and

smothering her with kisses. And sometimes, like in bed, she'll

just take the toy away, and then she'll just go to him instead.

And then he'll make a joke like, "Yeah, it's not smothering time

right now. Like it's time to play.

I think that's kind of like a common theme that I

have seen on TikTok. There is like a talking animals or like

talking pets, and then they are talking about or that like an AI

pet is talking about the relationship with dad, which is

usually like more treats or more playtime. Yes, and mommy is more

cuddling and you know, doing some like you know, sweet stuff,

or like putting her to bed, or something like that. So it's

kind of like the same theme that I have seen.

Yeah, we always joke that he makes me be the bad guy

because he'll let her like he'll play with her, and then he'll

like allow her to eat on the couch and stuff, and then I have

to be the one to take the food away from her and be like, "Hey,

you have to eat down here. And then when it's time to like

brush her teeth, I'm doing it, so she gets all mad and then

she'll go in.

So there's like a not like a bad cop, good cop, but

mommy's. Always have to do like necessity stuff, right?

Yes.

Yeah. So Daddy gets a little bit of like fun stuff.

Yeah. The playtime. Oh, so I want to ask you for both of you,

how has loving Chloe together affected your relationship?

Like, has watching you, you love Chloe, or Chloe love you, you

change something about the way you see you, you, or and vice

versa.

Yeah, it definitely melts my heart. I think the picture I

sent you was the first time that she has done that. And while he

was driving, she actually like stood up and started giving him

kisses, and that just like totally melted my heart. And I'm

like, wow! Like she she went from like just like liking this

guy to being like, oh wow, this is my protector. I want him

around and stuff. Like I go to him, and it was very sweet.

Like how that like a human relationship with each

other, kind of changed, or having Chloe in the middle, like

added more, like moments in the relationship.

Yeah, I think at least for me, seeing how Helen is with

Chloe, I can see how she can be with like our future kids

because I can see how like motherly she is with Chloe, and

then at least like it's kind of nice because we like now it's

like we're like a pack, right? Because like because there's

like three of us, so not only just me and Chloe, but like now

like when we take out Chloe when we go on like activities and

stuff, it just felt like we're kind of like a group in a pack

with us three,

definitely a family.

Yeah, yeah,

yeah. I think it's definitely it would. We're

definitely closer because of it.

And I think like you and I, parent or mother or you

know Mano or Chloe, kind of similar way. And I think in like

Asian culture also, like we consider our pets our you know

of course part of our family and like our kids, right? Like we

literally take care of them, like you know our children. So I

can see that you know you you kind of stay a little bit you

know in the future, like how you guys gonna be or how you gonna

be as a mom? How you you is gonna be as dad too? You know

when you guys have start having human family, but I want to ask

you, Helen. And to be honest with me, was there any moment

that you were like, "Wait a minute, she's my baby.

Yeah, definitely. I think I joke about it all the time,

especially at night when we're laying in bed. She will always

go on him instead of me. And then at first, like it's because

she wants to play and stuff. And then I'll joke around. I'll be

like, "It's just because you have more real estate. Like your

body is bigger, so it's more comfortable for her to jump on,

but yeah, I think every once in a while, I'm just like, oh, I

can't believe he's choosing, like she's choosing him over me.

Yeah, Chloe has like this little dumpling that's like her

favorite toy, so Helen will use that dumpling so Chloe goes on

her, and I'm like, oh, that's cheating. You can't use Bibbit

to to make her go on you instead of me.

Yeah, and then whenever like me and him will hug or

something, Chloe will kind of always like nudge her way in the

middle, and she's like, "Oh, I don't allow that. And at first,

we're like, "I wonder which one she's jealous of. Like, which

one is she like? Oh, either like, oh, that's my mommy, or

like, oh, that's my daddy. And like, why is it that she always

does that? Because she's very aggressive about it. And then

recently, I think we saw on one of like the facts articles that

it's actually because she feels like we're all three of us are a

pack. So when we hug together, she's like, "Oh, my pack is

doing something without me. So it's not like out of jealousy.

She just genuinely feels like I should be in this.

So she definitely have like a definition or a

sense of like you, you belong to my family now, in addition to my

mom, right? Yeah. So I think

that was like a big tension, like turning point.

We're like, oh, she actually thinks of him as like a pack.

So now I bet like she acts different to like your

friend, like even though she may have seen people around or

friends or coworkers, but you is differently the daddy and the

mommy is there.

Yes,

Chloe,

I love that. So I wonder if there is something

beautiful about realizing that a new relationship doesn't always

take love away from existing one. Sometimes it gives love

somewhere else to grow.

Yeah.

Yep. Yeah. Definitely.

So something you've been saying makes me think or

wonder about the humans in our lives too. Do we sometimes stop

being curious? People because we think we already know them

because obviously Chloe kind of evolved herself right, allowing

you to become part of her family or her pack.

Yeah, I think Chloe definitely teaches us to be

curious always and to just always look for little

opportunities here and there, so yeah, I think we learn from her

as much as like she's just a pet. But to us, like you said,

like she is not just a pet; she's so much more, and like

we're always learning from her and always knowing that as long

as she's curious and she's growing, we are too.

Yeah, yeah.

I was saying I think one example is like when we're going

on walks, she is like the worst walker because she will

literally stop and smell everything.

Yes,

but then we like saw a post that it's just her like her

thing is like smelling everything, right? Like that's

what she likes to do and that's what she likes to explore. So

like it's like those little moments for her. So then that

kind of like realized with us like oh she just wants to take

her time because she wants to smell everything and enjoy

everything.

Yeah, such

like always having to walk fast or like rush to the next

place that we're trying to go.

Yeah, so she definitely taught us to be more present and

be more in the moment. So now we try not to like rush her

anything.

I think that's a great reflection. I don't think

like you know Chloe or Mana or my cats. You know they don't

intentionally trying to teach us, but through our relationship

with them, it kind of reflects into okay, how am I living life

that we are sharing? Like you are saying, and especially in

the modern days, everybody's just rushing and like so much

noise out there, and we are always like scrolling on the

phone or something. But sharing our lives with them, you know,

we realize, okay, hold on, like you know, let me be present. You

know, let me enjoy this moment, and I think it's just so

important, you know, for us to you know take that moment and

just pause and breathe and okay, just like you know smelling

everything or just you know looking at each other, like

being present moment with each other. Just you know, Helen and

you you and Chloe. I think you know that's important. That it's

great that you guys kind of be curious with her through lives.

Yeah, it's funny you say that because sometimes when

we're on our phones and if she's within reach and she's like

barking at us and we you know sometimes we tune her out, she

will physically come up and smack the phone out of our

hands, and we're like, "Okay, yes, you're right, Chloe. We

have to put our phones away. It's family time.

So Mana and Haru do the same thing.

Oh, really? Yeah.

So Haru, yeah, Haru is my white tabby, as you know,

cat. She he uses his hands a lot, like even like trying to

take treat, or like if I'm like you know if I have like bacon in

my mouth, like yeah, yeah, butter. So he will literally

come and you know just push the phone down with his paw, or Mana

does too. Like Mana will use her nose to kind of like push my

phone away. Yeah, yeah. So you know they're either telling us

like you know I need some attention or you know like you

said it's time put the phone down.

Yes, be more present. Yeah,

because when you think about it, like they're only a like

they're only a small part of our everyday, but to them, like

we're their whole world, right? Like we're there, we're there

24/7.

Yes.

Oh, I love that. I love that. What you you just

said, like we are their whole world. Absolutely, absolutely.

So you you is on. Well, Chloe is on New You's lab right now.

Yes.

At night time, like she's more gravitate towards

mommy when she gets sleepy. But then on the bed, she's kind of

like sleeps on New You.

When it's playtime, she nighttime. The first, like I

would say, maybe 15 to 20 minutes, we just kind of lay,

play, be on our phone. So that's when she plays with him, and

then when it's time to go to sleep and we're winding down,

then she'll like ask to be under the covers and like nudge and

cuddle me.

Well, a lot of times she'll actually sleep in between us

too. Like she'll find the perfect spot between me and

Helen and sleep there.

Yeah, she wants to be in the middle.

Yes.

So how has Chloe? Did she kind of like change or

evolve at all before just having the one-on-one relationship with

Helen? To now it's kind. More like a pack or fan. Yeah,

I think now she knows that she has two people that she

can go to for different needs. I think now she knows, like, oh,

if one person doesn't want to play right now, I can go to the

other, or if one person doesn't want to give me a treat right

now, I can go ask for the other. So yeah, her mind is definitely

moving and thinking, how can I take advantage of this

situation?

That is so funny. And has she like surprised you a

little bit? Maybe something that she didn't do before, like now

she just decided she's done on his lap and just came

over to. I think she just the biggest surprise is how quickly

she learned that she has two lanes to go to now.

When you guys came to visit and stayed, I noticed that

you you definitely discipline Chloe like he is you know, your

hard dad versus with Mana, my mom's dog versus my dog.

Uh huh. Uh huh. Yep.

So yeah,

I think when when I'm out like on trips and stuff, and

Chloe has to be with you, you. I think with anybody else, I would

always be thinking like, "Oh, is she okay? Because she doesn't

really like being around, like being around new people without

me. But I think with him, I'm like, "Oh, perfect! I don't even

need to think about it because I know that they're having such a

great time, and she's comfortable, and she's exactly

where she wants to be.

And actually, before me and Helen started dating, I she

asked me to watch Chloe one time, and I ended up renting a

bike and like taking Chloe on a bike ride. And then Helen told

her friends that at the time she was kind of scared because she

thought Chloe might get hurt in the bike or like I might fall on

the bike. But I think now she depressed me fully. Or like if I

did that like now she would she wouldn't blink an eye. So it

sounds like through Chloe, you guys's like trust grew as well.

You you say,

yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, definitely.

Yeah, I think so. I think

I can see how responsible he is and how he thinks of the

little things that sometimes I won't even think about. So yeah,

I think it's definitely made me love him More,

because you started the relationship not just one on

one. You started the relationship with Chloe inside

the package.

Yeah.

So I'm sure there is more that you learned about each

other, like you know, trust grew along with you know having Chloe

in the middle, and you know relationship evolved through

Chloe having Chloe too.

Yeah, I think it's similar. Like when people have kids too,

right? Like the kids either can like strengthen the relationship

between the parents. I think it's the same with Chloe too,

where she kind of strengthens our relationship.

So you are a blended pet family. You didn't have

Chloe or adopted Chloe together. You you know you you came in, so

it's kind of like a blended family. Yes.

Yep. Yeah, and that's where I think, like we were speaking

about earlier, where I got like a really good package deal. I

thought I was just getting Helen, but I got two girls.

Yeah, I love seeing the three of you.

I'm sleepy Chloe.

Yeah, so we're gonna wrap it up. So we sometimes say

that's just how mom is, or he's always been like that, or she's

the shy one, or he's the social one, and my dog doesn't like

that, or my cat would never. Labels make the world easier to

understand, but sometimes they can also quietly stop us from

looking again, and I think this is the key distinction. Knowing

someone deeply doesn't mean there is nothing left to

discover. Knowing someone by heart doesn't mean they can't

still surprise you. And Chloe didn't become a different dog.

Her new relationship with her stepdaddy may simply have

invited another part of Chloe to emerge. Sometimes a new

relationship doesn't change who we are. It gives another part of

us some somewhere to emerge. When was the last time your four

baby surprised you? And maybe who else in your life have you

stopped being curious about because you think you already

know them? Before we say goodbye, I want to. Share this

week's little love message from my love messages from your pet

oracle with all of us. Thank you. This week's card is. Can

you see? I cherish who you are. Maybe loving someone deeply

doesn't mean having them completely figured out. Maybe it

means cherishing who they are today while leaving a little

room to discover who they may become tomorrow. And I think

little Chloe may have demonstrated that one rather

beautifully. You, you, Helen. Thank you so much for joining

our family conversation today, and Chloe. Thank you for giving

us something to wonder about. And also, little Miss Chloe has

her own Instagram account, right?

Yes.

Yep.

@curious_Chloe. I'll put it in the show notes as

well, so make sure you follow her adventures.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, thank you for having us.

Oh, thank you for coming on. I love our family

conversation, and I miss you guys. I love you, and I love to

hear what you and your four baby discover about each other this

week. Until then, take gentle care of yourself and your

precious one, because your happiness matters.