One of my uncles is taking care of our family durian plantation, with a dog he rescued as a stray a year ago and named Bak Baan after the mahjong tile 白板.
My parents and I met Bak Baan for the first time in 2025's Lunar New Year. When we saw Bak Baan the next time in 2025's Qingming Festival in early April, Bak Ban was pregnant with her first litter of puppies, then she gave birth in late April. We got the opportunity to see Bak Baan's children ourselves in August 2025.
Months later in December 2025, we learned that Bak Baan gave birth again on December 16 in the evening. Like her first litter, Bak Baan's second litter consisted of seven puppies.
Meanwhile, Bak Baan's first litter of puppies had been given to other people for adoption, except one puppy who was named Musang King after a durian cultivar.
Our chance of seeing Bak Baan's new children came with 2026's Lunar New Year. Specifically, on Lunar New Year Eve on February 16, when my uncle and his girlfriend went to our family durian plantation to feed their dogs, after a reunion lunch in my uncle's house with other relatives from my father's side of the family.
A number of Bak Baan's second litter of puppies have black coats, which reminds me of our own dog, Yat Tong (一筒), who like Bak Baan was named after a mahjong tile. One other puppy has a black-and-white dual-tone coat, so we nicknamed it "dairy cow".
On the other hand, Musang King already grew so big that he has become taller than his mum, despite only being ten months old. Aside from the coat colour, Musang King looks a lot like his mum.
While I was unable to take a picture of Bak Baan and all her children together, since the dogs moved around often, but I did manage to capture the moments of them enjoying their lunch and then resting.
