For the Love of Dogs

I just returned from daily shopping accompanied by three dogs in my street , I wave hello at two other doggo friends at our neighbours place. I quickly make note no one is missing and no injury of any sorts.

I unlock my door and my girl greets me with her usual dance and barks.

I sometimes can’t believe the person I am today compared to the pure terror that would engulf me if I had to go to a house with a dog (and by some design all were Pomeranians that hate me). Dogs of course can smell fear and I was a easy target to strike fear.

I grew so much during corona times because I could finally see the love they shower over my fears. To the four legged friends in my life who became family - Thank you.

A little Backstory

I am from the southern parts of India and as Indians we have a complicated relationship with the street dogs. Comingrrom a family of dog lovers, I was told stories of how my grandmother took care of two German Shepards and how they loved her. The only reason my family never brought a dog into our house was me. “It’s either me or the dog”.

Being bitten by a dog means they inject you at 10 places around the navel.

My biggest fear as a kid was earning the wrath of street dogs and like any bigggest fear - they came true.

When I was just few inches taller than the dogs in my locality, I was chased by a pack of dogs while I was returning from dance class. All I did was say a “shooo” to a dog to make way. I ran into a water puddle because science helped me somehow. Dogs hate water.

I was lucky that people intervened to help me. I did tell a heroic version at school to admiration.

I also have vague memories of rabid dogs beaten to death near my house after he had bitten our milkman. There were rumours in my school that he was showing symptoms of becoming a dog himself (!).

You get the picture - it was either me or the dogs but never both.

The one person who smiled through all these showed me how to love dogs and all animals with all her heart was my sister.

I would watch in terror when she as a toddler would hug our grandmother’s dog. He had just barked me to the edge of sofa a second ago. He would continue to wag his tag and attempt to lick my sister’s cute face.

At our balcony, she would feed rice to the goats visiting our backyard. And would run away in tears when I was kind enough to remind her that they would be become someone’s mutton biryani tomorrow (I was indeed a cruel sister!)

She quit eating mutton that day.

Where the tides turned

My first encounter with a loving dog was at my aunt’s place in Chennai. There was a dog that would visit their home for food. I saw her looking at me with an expression , expression I was ignorant that dogs can show - of kindness and love. I was like - “What’s happening to the world?”

The entire family tried calling her with different nicknames “brownie” , “cookie” but she would answer to only the name I gave and only when I called her it - it was pinky (surprise!).

I would die of terror when I step out of the house and she would run at me wagging her tail to stand on my shoulders. I would be crying at the corner when dad would kindly feed her and shoo her away.

Years later, when I came to Bengaluru for work - the moment, I consider the most life changing would happen.

I was sitting by the window of the bus when I saw people pointing at a direction. When I turned, I saw a street dog, hit by a passing vehicle sitting there with a broken leg. Blood was whooping from her hind legs and she was shaking. She was barely 100m away from the bus and she looked at me. I don’t know animal language but that moment I knew she was asking me to help her.

I could run out of the bus at this very moment and stop an auto, call blue cross do something. Despite the fear that she will bite me, more than anything in the world I wanted to know how I can help.

All these thought process happened in a matter of 5 seconds and the bus moved. I did nothing.

I did absolutely nothing. I never forgave myself. That day I resolved myself to do whatever I can to overcome this fear once and for all and work to build a common sense to help a dog if I could.

I started with baby steps and somehow by universe’s trick my roomamate Shewtha was a huge animal lover. She advised me to save up the egg yolk I was planning to throw away from the boiled eggs (I ate the whites for proteins) and to feed it to the dogs in the street.

I took it as my first assignment. I would drop the egg yolks on a paper plate do a “tch,tch” sound to call the dog and run for my life.

I practiced feeding biscuits along with my colleagues to the dogs that would visit the bakery we went to for our tea breaks. Still I could not think of petting or even standing a little close to a dog.

”Puppy Love” In the Times Of Corona

Then came the pandemic and my sister was staying with me. You know the rest.

She would play with dogs and one day got tired of shielding me from the dogs that were trying to play with me. She told me this:

”Rashmi, dogs can either bite you, chase you or yes, worse kill you but that’s all they can do, unlike humans. You can trust a dog any day to not hurt you compared to a human”

While I was indeed taken back about her cynical views towards human, that day I gave up my reservations.

Two years later, I read a quote by Mark Twain that shared the same idea. I knew my sister was an old loving soul!

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man. - Mark Twain

Things kept changing when her favourite dog Bala gave birth to 6 pups near our PG accommodation. We started feeding milk and biscuits. As they grew up, we resorted to pedigree and chicken rice. We would face a lot of struggle - from our pg caretakers who tried to trap the dogs inside a tunnel, to fnancing the daily food requirements with one salary - we managed them all.

My friends were kind enough to donate money and we used them to feed these guys and other dogs in our area. At some point in August 2020, we were feeding close to 30 dogs. We learnt to manage time, I learnt to cook, we learnt to network with other activists and we learnt to watch for any sitns of illness and take them to vet as needed.

I would enter the tunnel where these guys resided (it was infested with cockroaches to say the least) to bring out a puppy who refused to step out because she was almost killed by a passing motorcycle. My sister and me would chase these dogs like mad people once they reached 6 months and take them to clinic for neutering. I learnt to ask (or beg) for donations without any apprehensions because safety and well-being of the dogs trumped anything else. I also learnt that not all dogs are friendly and they need not to, just because you feed them.

I saw each dog we fed had a personality of their own.

People started recognizing us as dog feeders and we enrolled in People For Animals as volunteers to have major support. Now with shops opening and things returning back in our country, we have moved to feeding weekly twice but we continue to check for health and reaching out to organizations like PFA, our local animal hospital as and when needed.

And Today here are the Things I resolve to continue doing:

1. Get them Neutered

In a country with stray dogs population in millions and severe man-dog conflict, trying our best to avoid new pups from joining the crowd is the best thing to do. My focus would be on that

2. Stay Networked

We are just a drop in the ocean. There are thousands in Bangalore doing great work in saving street dogs and I will keep in touch with them and help each other as and when needed.

3. I will speak up against Animal Cruelty

It should come as no surprise but what’s shocking is the behaviour of dog owners themselves. They take big sticks and hit the dogs that follow their dog when they are walking. There are easier ways to chase away a dog without resorting to physical harm. I have noticed and spoken to owners who keep their dogs and cats (yes!) chained to their place. No matter if I knew them or not and no matter their response to me, it’s my responsibility to inform them of the consequences it will have to. The dog.

4.Ensuring their Safety

I will see to that dogs have radium bands on their necks as much as possible to avoid accidents with them crossing the roads. I read about an amazing initiative by a young man in Mumbai who works for Tata and resolve to follow his steps.

Final Thoughts

I am happy at the person I became and hoping to do my smallest effort in working towards the safety of dogs as much as I can!

Here’s me thanking these wonderful souls for loving me and showing me what unconditonal love looks like!

This is to the fear I glad I overcame and found love on the other side.

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