One of my cousins who got married recently told my mother that it is better to adopt a dog than have a kid. My mother took offense to this. It was not because he compared a human child with a puppy but because he thought that it was easier to take care of a puppy.
When my mother was twelve, she looked after a few young puppies who lost their mom. She made a shelter for them in her house. She used to hand-feed them using cotton balls dipped in milk. Unfortunately, all of the puppies died within a month. But this is how her journey of a Dog-Mom began.
We never had a pet but she treats every street dog as her own. She has a way with the dogs. I have seen her talk to dogs. The dogs respond as if they understand everything. The dogs think of her as one of them now.
A clip from my favorite Instagram dog account- taimursandhuu
MUMMY’s Rescue Action Plan!
Dogs are stupid and they get in trouble. They get stuck in places, hit by vehicles, or hurt themselves while fighting with other dogs, and so forth.
The doggies in our street didn’t deal with these problems alone, my mother helped them. She had a solution for every problem. All they had to do was to cry or bark at our doorstep.
Bablu’s cry for help:
It’s not just the dogs, she has dealt with humans as well.
It was raining and Choti couldn’t find a safe place to give birth. (STREET DOG COMMANDMENT #1 Dogs need to find a safe place to give puppies. Newborn puppies have soft skin and they are to be saved from birds, insects, and other dogs). She eventually gave her puppies in our neighbor’s parking lot.
The family protested and told my mother that they’ll throw Choti and her puppies out. My mother told them that if a black dog gives puppies in the house, it brings prosperity to the family. And throwing them out might bring bad luck. The family got scared and took care of the puppies for the next few months.
Later on, my mother told me that this trick worked with dogs of all colors!
An Emotional Affair
Golu was rescued by my mother from a stranded house near our place. The weather was cold so my mother fed her milk and honey. Golu then started living near our doorstep.
Every day she would get into some trouble, and then ask for help. Somedays she would cry for no reason just to get my mother’s attention. She was still my mother’s favorite. She was too dependent on my mother and we knew that this was gonna be a problem.
When Golu was about to have puppies, she left her spot to find a safe place to give birth. She didn’t show up for some time and my mother got worried about her.
Golu showed up at our doorstep after a few days. She didn’t cry this time but waited outside our house. My mother brought food for her but she wasn’t interested in the food. She kept barking at my mother and was very excited.
Once she had my mother’s attention she started walking towards the end of our street. She would walk a few steps and then look back to make sure my mother was following her. She stopped at an under-constructed house and showed my mother her puppies. She proudly sat next to her puppies and wagged her tail, as if to show that she has made it on her own!
The selfless relationship
Golu saw my mother off every day when she left for work. Golu would then run to our terrace and stayed there until she lost sight of the car. My school was just a 10 min walk from my home and every day a few dogs accompanied me to drop me off.
A lot of dogs came to meet my mother for the last time before leaving the street. She somehow knew that she won’t see that dog again. (STREET DOG COMMANDMENT #2 When the dogs realizes that he is about to die, he leaves his tribe and moves somewhere else.)
When we were shifting to a new house some time ago, Golu and the gang protested against the people who were taking things out of our house. The dogs knew something was wrong.
Not so loyal?
I realized that one has to be strong-hearted to deal with dogs. If dogs are living on the street, most of them will inevitably get hit by vehicles and die.
My mother says that it is not right to be attached to street dogs. Dogs can’t live the way you want them to live. My mother once saw Golu kill Lallu’s puppies when Lallu was away. (STREET DOG COMMANDMENT #3 There are rivalries among dogs in the same tribe as well. A bitch thinks of other puppies in the street as a threat.)
Now my mother treated her like a child but she couldn’t be disappointed in her, because that’s just how dogs are.
Most humans have transactional relationships. You are part of it because you get something in return. One may argue that dogs love Humans because we give them food. But what do we get in this relationship? It might be the joy you get when a dog wags its tail or runs towards you. In some cases, it’s more than that
It takes a lot to win over a human’s heart. For dogs, it’s just a meal. It might be hard to raise a puppy but it doesn’t take much to feed the street dogs. And in case you don’t like dogs, I can use one of my mother’s tricks to change that !
-Puneet
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So beautiful <3
The basic qualification of your mother is Love