About Me

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Mumbai, India
I'm a landrace dog fancier. Founder of the INDog Project (www.indog.co.in) and the INDog Club. Before that, I worked with urban free-ranging dogs of Mumbai from 1993-2007. Also a spider enthusiast and amateur arachnologist.

This blog is for primitive dog enthusiasts. It is part of the INDog Project www.indog.co.in. Only INDogs (India's primitive indigenous village dogs) and INDog-mixes (Indies) are featured here. The two are NOT the same, do please read the text on the right to understand the difference. Our aim: to create awareness about the primitive landrace village dog of the Indian subcontinent. I sometimes feature other landrace breeds too. Also see padsociety.org

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Mia the Black beauty

Gorgeous, independent, super-intelligent Mia, described by her lucky owner Snigdha:



Our dog's name is Mia.

My husband Bapoorau and I adopted her from the SPCA in Visakhapatnam in June of 2010. She was born some time in May 2010 making her 18 months old right now. She was brought into the shelter along with her mom and three other siblings.

Her mom belonged to the watchman of an apartment building who pretty much disowned her when she had the (rather out of season) pups. I think people complained and then the SPCA was called in. Mia was the only pup to survive.

Her mom is still at the VSPCA.

The people at the VSPCA told us how happy they were that we were adopting her because they were sure that a black female dog would never get adopted.

Anyway, right now we live in Tamil Nadu, Mia thoroughly enjoying the 18 hour car ride from Visakhapatnam.




She's the first dog that I've ever had; growing up, my family were big cat-lovers. I always thought of dogs as rather silly, as I think a lot of cat-people do. But needless to say, she has now firmly found her way into my heart and I can't imagine life without her.

She was really the most adorable little puppy, very healthy and full of energy.



We had read somewhere that the secret to toilet-training a dog was to lavishly praise them when you caught them in the act. So whenever we would see Mia peeing we would tell her she was a very, very good girl. And because she so smart, any time she did anything naughty (eat books, hide cell phones, steal socks, attack house-plants) she would run straight to the garden and pee! It was impossible to yell at her, she got away with anything.



I love the fact that Mia doesn't really listen to me and has a big spirit all her own. She can be a noisy dog, with an intense dislike of our water delivery boy but she is mostly warm and affectionate. She loves to play her version of fetch which involves her prancing in front of you with a ball in her mouth but not letting you take it from her.





She is wonderfully behaved when we take her out to public places, to such an extent that I can hardly believe it's her.



I suppose like a lot of dogs, she loves to sleep on her back with her legs in the air, chase crows off the roof and eat corn off the cob.

She brings so much joy and wonder and laughter into our lives. I really don't know how anyone can live without a dog!











Photos and story: Snigdha Ehm and Bapoorau Chidambaram
Tamil Nadu


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11 comments:

What Remains Now said...

Mia is strikingly beautiful. Snigdha's story of her is amusing and so true of what many of us experience with our pets. I'm glad Mia found such a loving home that appreciates her so much.

Rajashree Khalap said...

I love the peeing tactic :-)

More lovely black INDogs in this blog - Emmanuelle Colorado's Rani and Randi Lildballe's Otto. Also Jaya who survived severe burns as a pup and is now homed in Canada. In Kolkata there are two black dogs with a bit of white on them: Jayasree Singh's Bakalu, and Samir and Papia Biswas's Pinglu.

Brooks said...

A wonderful story about an adorable doggy. I hope I get to meet Mia someday. I'm glad she's found such a loving home.

Sarah said...

wow .. stunning dog. truly.

s(m)al said...

She is gorgeous! And super smart -- that peeing move is sheer genius. Love her red collar.

Unknown said...

I like the idea of Mia's mum having out of season pups. I also like the fact that Mia is a girl dog. Girls are special. Could you tell us more about how she hide cell phones and attacked houseplants?

Paro Mata

kuzhali manickavel said...

mia is my favorite dog in the whole world, mainly because when she was a puplet, she kindly took time out of her busy schedule to pose with a copy of my book, which you can see here.

http://thirdworldghettovampire.blogspot.com/2010/07/khelona-johnny-johnny-joker-mastana.html

k

Rajashree Khalap said...

Oh what a doll she was! Must look for your book for my puppy too :-) :-) Currently we are chewing newspaper but our taste is evolving.

Filomena Francis said...

How can you not love a happily defiant, crow-chasing, corn-eating, ball-touting rebel of a dog who has unlocked the strategic potential of peeing?

She's super and I'm so glad she's found a home with a family that appreciates her unique gifts.

-Fifi.

Unknown said...

Wow, i was stunned when i saw Mia's picture that look like my dog, jessy. I found my dog in the jungle of Borneo. Black coat like Mia, white patch on her chest, 4 whitesocks, and a little white tip on her tail. Maybe they came from the same anchestor. Lots of people thought she's from Bali as many street dogs in Bali look like our dog.

Unknown said...

Mia looks like my dog Jessy, who comes from jungle of Borneo. Black coat,white patch on her chest, 4 whitesocks on her paws, a little white tip on her tail, ears erected. Lots of people mistakenly identify her as Balinese Dog as lots of street dogs in bali look like our dog. They probably have the same anchestor