#unconditionalaffection

Stray Dogs- Ultimate companion for unlimited Love & Affection- My Adoption Story

Often, when we are looking for pets, we don’t mind spending large amounts on getting a pet of our choice. Though money can buy you pedigreed animals with rippling bodies and shiny fur, the love of a stray animal comes for free. 

It was, I remember, father’s day in the year 2007. 2-3 days prior to that Father’s day, me and my father were looking to buy a Labrador and in fact we had actually selected a sweet little pup as well. Since my mother and my sister, both were against keeping a pet dog at home due to their different respective reason, we still thought, once we get the adorable little pup home, and keep it on mom’s lap, her decision will change and then it will be easy to convince my sister. However, before getting the pup home and paying for the same, we had a lot of heated arguments between the family and finally my father decided to give into the demand of my mother and sister. I was heart-broken and just wanted to leave the house at that very moment, however one has to be practical in life and move on and leave some things to happen on their own when the time is right.

I continued with my daily routine, not talking much with my mother and sister, making sure that all the conversation between us is monosyllabic. We used to stay at Air force Station Thane, near Mumbai during that time. Little I knew by this time, my father had his eye on this stray dog who used to roam around in this Air force camp all by himself. Often, dogs roam around in group, but to my father’s surprise, this little handsome, cute fellow used to roam around all alone. He used to be scared of all the other dogs around him, rather, all other dogs used to bully him. This dog just could not mark his own territory. My father tried a lot to befriend him, for good 10 consecutive days, but this guy was so scared to come into human contact, may be due to his unfriendly experiences with other humans in the past.

But a day came when my father succeeded in befriending with him and gave him some Roti (Indian bread) to eat, and he took his first bite. The expression on his face after taking first bite was like as if he wanted to convey heartfelt thanks to my father. Slowly this dog got close to my father and started coming to our house veranda and courtyard and started sleeping there. One evening I came home from work, and was thrilled to find this little cute fellow sleeping on my living room carpet, all away to the glory. I just didn’t feel like waking him up and with teary eyes, asked dad, “who’s this and how is he allowed inside house in the presence of mom”. To which dad replied, “How does it matter?” Just tell me if you are happy and I straight away replied, “Yes I am”. To my happiness he said, now you can feed him every day and take care of him. Since then he has been with us.

But a real challenge for all of us came when my father retired and we had to leave that Airforce camp and shift to our new place in Mumbai. We were all confused as to, should we really/actually take him with us or just leave him there and ask someone else to take care of him on behalf of us. By this time I had already given him a name-HERO (Refer the picture). After a lot of family discussion we decided to become his foster parents and take him along with us. I still remember the happiness on his face when for the first time he sat in the car with us and he knew that now finally he has got parents and a home to himself. Since then HERO has been with us and he is still alive and kicking. Since then, we all have experienced his unconditional love for us, which a human doesn’t understand in his or her day to day life with other humans.

India has a huge share of these four- legged stray dogs, literally evident at almost every street corner. Some of these animals need acute medical care but many, in fact most of them, just need a home. So what is the pedigree problem? In India, pedigree breeding is growing at a rapid rate due to high demand. As some prospective pet-owners choose to pay thousands of rupees for a carefully bred and selected ‘pure-blood’ animal, and due to this, countless shelter animals are being overlooked. They do not realize that there are innumerable existing creatures already offering their everlasting affection, loyalty and company in exchange for a little shelter and love. If you are looking for a domestic pet, a watchdog or animal companionship, you must consider adopting an animal instead of buying.

Here are some points to ponder:

• Adopting has a significant cost advantage over buying from a breeder. • For first-time pet owners, adopting an adult dog saves time and effort on toilet training. • The love, companionship and loyalty (in case of dogs) one expects from a domestic pet remains unchanged irrespective of the dog’s breed, appearance or heritage. • The most important point that weighs in favour of adopting (versus buying) is simply that you will make a difference to this world.

People speak of doing good, helping society, making the world a better place to live, and raising responsible kids. Fair try. But very few families looking for a pet, think of opening their homes to abandoned animals as a way of demonstrating social responsibility. 

You can instil a sense of care and responsibility by sharing your home with a homeless animal. You can live and tell a real life story of generosity and love with/to your kids — a story in which your family will play the role of the rescuing hero, like we did for our very own HERO.

So, I urge you all really to look forward to adoption and become real life Heroes and in turn receive unconditional love, affection, loyalty and companionship. Become a hero now and adopt a homeless stray and bless him or her with a home and you will change homeless animal’s whole world.

With Love,  

A Dog Lover- KARAN SHARMA

NOTE: All pets are good for your health, but an adopted pet is good for your self-esteem.