Are you a Primitive Dog fan?: October 2014

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Shalini and Somu: settled in

Nicole sent these recent photos of Shalini and Somu, now well settled into their new life.

Shalini has started walks in the woods, often without leash, and behaves very nicely! Somu suffered ill-treatment as a pup and is a much more nervous dog, but Nicole is working on making him calmer.

Shalini even did some sleuth work recently!

'Shalini helped today to find an escaped Collie, who ran into an electric cow fence and then ran away in panic,' Nicole writes.

'I took her along for the search and we knew the forest where the dog was last seen. At a junction I asked her "where is the dog" and she smelled and looked up the hill. It turned out that the missing dog indeed went that way and they found him an hour later.'

Enjoy their latest photos:

Shalini: classic INDog

Out walking

In the woods

Getting some rest

Somu, beautiful INDog-mix

'But it's only 11...too early to get up on a sunday!'

Photos: Nicole Poyyayil
Switzerland

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Chocos and the girls

An update on the beautiful INDog family in Palakkad: Chocos and her daughters Vanilla and Jelly. Their sister Cheese was adopted by Amritha Krishnan.

Click here for more photos of the family.

Chocos - love her expression!

Chocos and her daughters on a chilly morning

Sleeping beauty

The 'spotted a cat' expression

Sunbathing

Chocos looks good even covered in mud. Climbing on to walls and high places is a typical INDog trait, seen in other pariah
breeds as well.

Vanilla and Jelly enjoying a lazy day on the roof

Chocos: signature goofy grin

Chocos: No pillow can replace good old mud

Photos: Vandana SB
Palakkad
Kerala

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Friday, October 17, 2014

Spark Plug, four years later

Those who have followed this blog from the start will remember INDog-mix Spark Plug, who lives with my friend Aarti Phatarphekar. Click here and here for his earlier posts.

Sparky is now nine and a half years old (yes, time flies!) Aarti sent in these beautiful pictures and story.

Sparky was adopted by us when he was barely three weeks old, rescued by airline crew at Mumbai airport after his mother and siblings were run over. He was malnourished, scared and weak and the first couple of weeks we were not sure he would make it.

Today he is nine and a half years old and the apple of our eyes. He is a brother for my daughter and we cannot imagine a day without his presence.

To say he is weird is an understatement. We must have gone wrong as parents somewhere, because he is so difficult to handle physically. We cannot muzzle him, we cannot tie him up for more than a few minutes, we can't get him to stop snapping if we touch him with our feet even accidentally, we cannot get him to take medicines. Baths are an ordeal, brushing him is out of the question, and he hates other dogs even more than he hates firecrackers! And the list goes on...

My biggest nightmare is that he falls ill and I have to carry him to the vet!

We tried to get him a companion three years ago when we adopted a female Spitz pup for my
parents. We thought close encounters with her would get him to accept another dog in his life. But to this day he hates her, growls at her when she teases him (which she does to perfection), and is madly jealous if one of us were to pet her while he is in the room.

Sparky's 'friend' whom he hates!

He does not like to be petted except when he wants to be. He does not like to eat snacks either!

But he loves school bus time, and is at his best when my daughter is ready to go down to the bus stop. He climbs on to the balcony and barks till she gets on the bus! He loves going for car rides and barks at every dog he sees, almost breaking the windows. He adores climbing into the bed with us every morning, when he knows we are awake, and not a moment before.

My mother calls him khadus (grumpy) because he is always looking for a reason to snap at guests. When he senses that a person is not fond of dogs, he will deliberately plonk himself at that person's feet, and then snap if they move or touch him in any way. On the other hand he allows people he loves to handle him in any way - cuddle, roll over, anything.

He is very suspicious of every unusual move we make towards him, so it's really tough to apply
medicines or remove a tick!

I see God in him and wouldn't change him for anything in the world!

Story: Aarti Phatarphekar
Photos: Prasanna Karmakar, Aarti Phatarphekar
Hyderabad

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Rocky Singh

Amrendra Singh's beautiful INDog-mix Rocky has featured in our Facebook page many times. This is his first appearance on the blog! Amrendra sent in his story and his family took these lovely photos.

Rocky the Great (as we call him) joined my family, an intense animal-loving group of people, at Khajuraho as a puppy. He was rescued in a very distressed condition. His family were living in filth in a place where carcasses of animals were thrown.

Baby Rocky

Now he is with my parents in Varanasi after spending a year with me in Khajuraho.

It's a big mystery whether Rocky adopted my family or we adopted him!

He is always playful but street-smart. My mother has pampered him. Everyone in the family adjusts their behaviour according to his mood, and he displays an attitude of 'couldn't care less' most of the time. After all he is the darling of not only my family but the entire neighbourhood! Surprisingly many of my neighbours adore him.