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.
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
Please do not use images or content from this site without permission and acknowledgment
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
Please do not use images or content from this site without permission and acknowledgment
1 comment:
very lovely dog & your experiances...god bless all of you....if i get i also thinking of adopting a pariah dog...already i have 2 mix breed goldie & ricky.. goldie(female) is 4 yr old & ricky(male) just 2 months old both r enemies...donno how to make them friend..let see
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