Goldi

This handsome INDog-mix belongs to Birgit Drawe and her family. He was adopted in Tamil Nadu and now lives with them in Spain. Birgit sent me his story:

For the past two years I've been the happy owner of Goldi.

Goldi was one of seven puppies born at a church in Kottivakam/Chennai. One day my neighbours decided to take him to their place in Akkarai.

When they realized the dog was damaging shoes and stealing food, they chased him out of the compound. Happily our caretaker's dog befriended Goldi when he was lonely, sitting by the side of the road.

Step by step Goldi entered our hearts. Now a life without him is unthinkable.

Last year our company shifted us to Spain. I was not sure whether he would adjust to his new life, but he managed perfectly.

In Spain you find dogs with features similar to Goldi. They are called Podencos.

Often people tell us how beautiful Goldi looks, and they ask us whether he is a Podenco or an Australian Dingo.

Then I tell them very proudly, no he is a natural dog from Tamil Nadu.

Photos and text: Birgit Drawe
Spain

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Bhuku

I've been admiring Bhuku for a long time on our Facebook page. She's a beautiful Kolkata INDog owned by Arup Chatterjee and his family. Lots of funny expressions and of course those gorgeous INDog ears! I asked Arup for some more photos of her. And here they are, along with her adoption story: 



My wife and son rescued a street puppy that someone left in front of our gate. She was extremely ill. Almost paralyzed and could not stand up or even raise her head to eat any food. We started treating her. After seven days she could stand up a little. And with continued treatment she is fit and fine.

She is extremely naughty and playful. She runs with such speed it always amazes us (we didn't think she'd ever be able to even stand!) Loves to eat and play.

The way she greets me when I return home from work fills my heart with joy. She is like the daughter to us that we never had.

We named her 'Bhuku' - seems strange? The reason is when she was small she used to bark with that sound, 'bhuk bhuk' - so the name!















































































































































Photos and text: Arup Chatterjee
Kolkata

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Koel's family

In the winter of 2010-11 Koel Chatterji rescued seven beautiful INDog pups in Kolkata. 
Here is their story:

"It was the morning after Christmas, 2010. I woke up to my aunt Moon Moon's call: she lives a few houses away from me. A bitch called Leju had given birth to a litter of six pups on the ground floor of a house that was under renovation. My aunt had named her Leju because of her incessant tail wagging - lej means 'tail' in Bengali.

Leju hadn't been doing too well and my aunt wanted me to check on her. I found the dog roaming around restlessly, unable to sit for more than a few minutes at a stretch. In spite of the obvious pain and discomfort she was in she kept going to nurse her pups. My friend Indranil, who currently has 15 INDogs at his home, arrived and managed to catch Leju, while I bundled up the pups, three boys and three girls, in an old bedsheet much like Santa's sack of gifts! And then I brought them home.



We started Leju on IV fluids. She calmed down considerably once she was settled under my staircase with her pups next to her. Later that evening, while I was putting up some makeshift curtains to cordon off the area, Leju passed away in her sleep. I turned around to find her lifeless body, with the pups, blissfully unaware of the world, sleeping all huddled up together near her tummy.

We brought out my daughter's discarded playpen, layered it with newspapers and blankets and put all the pups in it. 

The next few weeks passed by in a blur of feeds, pee, poop and cleaning! Since the pups had been born in a construction site, I gave them all Bengali names for construction materials. They were named Shurki (powdered brick), Bali (sand), Eety (from eet = brick), Kurni (trowel), Kodaal (hoe) and Paatkel (broken bricks).  

I put little cloth ties around their necks, with name tags made of paper wrapped in scotch tape. I kept these on for about a week. In this one week Bali managed to remove his tie at least a hundred times; thankfully he was the only brown pup in the litter so he was easily identifiable. My cousin brought in another pup from the street in January, to add to the set. He couldn't find her mother anywhere. I named her Kaankor (stone chips). 

We lost Eety a few days after Kaankor joined the brood. She stopped feeding one morning and passed away the same night. 

Kurni and Bali

Paatkel

Bali chewing on the news...

Paatkel trying to get Chocolate the black lab to play. Chocolate is my older dog.

My daughter with Kaankor just before her adoption...sad to part with her, but she's very happy with her new family

Bali and Kaankor were adopted by the families of two men who work in our company. Kaankor was the first to be adopted, because the other five were shunning her and ganging up on her. I have often wondered whether that was because they knew her to be an 'outsider' even at that early age. Her adoptive family renamed her Kaankon (bangle). I get regular updates on Bali and Kaankor, and see them once in a while. Kaankor came to stay with us for a few days when her family went on a holiday last year - it was wonderful! 

Kodaal was adopted by a rickshaw-puller, who later gave him away to a relative from a nearby town (without informing us) because his landlord wouldn't allow a pet; we haven't seen him since."

Shurki, Kurni and Paatkel were kept by Koel. Here they are, all grown up!

Shurki

Kurni

Paatkel

 

Paatkel with his 'nanny' and biggest fan, Ritu

Kurni, Shurki

Paatkel

Koel has three more dogs, INDog-mixes Golu, Molu and Jeroo. Coming up soon in another post!

Photos and story: Koel Chatterji
Kolkata

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