You Can’t Change A Dog’s Past, But You Could Rewrite His Future!”
By Sheena Thamman*
“The World would be a better place if everyone could love as unconditional as Animals”
Since I was a child, something attracted me to animals more than people. Now that I am all grown-up and still similarly attracted to them, I have realized that something has always been the way they Love.
I am a Dental Radiologist by profession but my passion has always been animals. I am and have been a dog mother since I was a child. While I have a Dachshund called Shampy living with me, I nurse two dogs in my housing complex as well. I cannot say that I have adopted them, but yes I have taken responsibility for their food, medical check-ups, and their rights especially when people get mean to them.
I have personally experienced how important it is to have a pet when things are not going your way, or you are going through a rough patch in life. It is not that our lives will not be miserable anymore, but the journey gets a bit smoother when we have them by our side.
For me, my fur baby is the best companion and an all-time favourite to sit and have a chat with! Many people find me crazy when I say these things but this is the truth of my life. I have always loved animals more than people. This opinion becomes stronger when I see people behaving like heartless monsters to these loving creatures. That aside, it is a proven fact that petting, scratching, cuddling a dog is very soothing to mind and heart and has the same effect as deep meditation. I find it almost as good for the soul as Prayer! Nevertheless, I am writing this because I would love to share my story about taking care of 6 pups living in my housing society since October 2019.
I live in a society where most people are allergic to dogs. They believe in praying to God but not in feeding hungry animals around them. Among such people, a dog had given birth to 6 pups. Mercifully, out of the six, only two pups were left while the rest four were adopted. They were hardly three months old when their mother died. My mom and I were worried about these small babies and started looking for suitable homes to get them adopted because we knew that people in my neighbourhood will not let them stay. Getting indie pups adopted is a difficult thing to do! Many people are interested to adopt only specific breeds as they don’t consider indie as a dog breed; for them, they are only street dogs. I made posts on Instagram and Facebook for dog adoption with photos. It used to be my everyday job to set reminders on social media. People used to comment asking, “If you have a specific dog breed for adoption, we would love to adopt them.” I was hopeless at one point. We have a small locality near our building where all labour workers, vegetable vendors, drivers, household helpers, and cooks stay. One day I saw a lady, not from very wealthy family, feeding milk and biscuits to the puppies. When I asked her what she does for a living, she replied, “I am a cook in this society, but I would love to adopt two pups”. At first, I was a bit concerned about it. She asked me to visit her place before giving her the puppies. When I saw her house and met her kids, I was assured that it will be a good decision sending off little ones with her. I visited her place every day for 10 days to make sure that puppies are happy and taken care of well. All these days, I fed them dinner as well. Once they got settled and were happy, then I was satisfied.
One more concern that people had before adopting the pups was if it’s a male or a female; colour of the pups also mattered to them. The people I am talking about are learned and educated people. They still had these reservations. I was left with 3 puppies – one was a brown coloured female and two puppies were black coloured males. I finally got a call for a black puppy through my social media posts. I visited the lady who wanted to adopt him; she was a widow and she wanted a dog as her companion. It took me 2 months for finding home for these puppies.
Finally, two puppies were left; no one wanted a female dog. I wanted to adopt both of them, but I was restricted because I already had a dog at home who was jealous of them. We decided on not getting them home but to take good care of them. I named the beautiful indie dogs Guddu and Julie. They love playing with kids in the society. I feed them lunch and dinner every day. I give them the same food that my fur baby eats at home. We got the dogs sterilized after they were of right age to be operated. We also take them for monthly injections to a dog hospital.
There are days when the society administration complains about keeping these dogs in the society compound and feeding them. Given that they are my responsibility, I handle all the stress that the society in general exerts to force these dogs out. Despite this constant fight, I think that this has been the best decision that I have made for them to let them stay with me as much as possible as my pet. This gives them the freedom to play and roam around wherever they like. They come home when it’s time to eat and bark while sitting in front of the gate of my home, almost calling us out to dinner. In these difficult times of COVID, we have never felt a need for anyone from outside to come and visit our home or go for an outing because we had our dogs with us. The responsibilities we shouldered allowed our days to pass quite easily. Good news at the end of this is that just a week back both of them were adopted by a loving family. The family stays in a nearby society. They are an old couple; they love feeding street dogs. They adopted the two cuties instantly they saw them. As it’s a saying “Dogs do speak but only to those who know how to listen”. It’s been a wonderful journey with them, and I am so glad that they got their own house to live in.
I wanted to be a veterinary doctor but because of some reasons I couldn’t. However, I want to run my own NGO for animals. I request all pet lovers to help indie dogs or the animals in need around you.
I request you to promote adoption. Even one person doing things for animals matters a lot. We have people working for human community but there are very less people who feel for Animals. Be one of them!
*Author is a Dental Radiologist. She has loved animals since her childhood and her dream is to open an NGO for them. She feels satisfied working for them.
