Chinky

Recent photos of Manik Godbole's Chinky! In the second one, she's with Manik's one-year old nephew Advait.

After unsuccessful attempts to find her a home, Manik decided to adopt this beautiful dog herself. Her wonderful erect ears have dropped after one of them was notched (ear-notching is routinely done by welfare organizations after neutering). But she's still a very good-looking dog!

On my last visit to her home, Manik pointed out that Chinky's coat is extremely smooth and short-haired; in fact the length of the hair is shorter than is normal for Indian Pariahs. I wonder whether this is a sign of hybridization, or whether such short coats do occur in INDogs sometimes. Something I have to look out for on my rural travels.

Click here for earlier posts on Manik's dogs.

A very sad piece of news is that her lovely Blacky passed away recently after a brave struggle with cancer. I'd met Blacky a few times, and I can imagine what a harrowing experience it was for the Godbole family and how much they feel his loss. It's good to look at his photos and remember what a fantastic life he had, full of love and fun and good friends. Things that all dogs deserve, but very few get.

Photos: Manik Godbole
Mumbai

Dora

Meet our new member Dora.

This smart, cute little INDog-mix is seven years old and lives in Mumbai with owners Arati and Prashant Nadkarni, and the family cat Billoo.

Prashant tells us Dora's unusual adoption story:

"Dora was being raised by our neighbor in Chennai. The neighbor was an old lady who suddenly fell sick and was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, due to which she did not recognize the dog she was raising. Since Dora was so friendly and had been kept for at least four years by her, I did not want her to end up on the streets, so I adopted her and brought her home to my Mumbai residence."

Soon after bringing her to Mumbai, the Nadkarnis adopted Billoo. Dora is devoted to Billoo, as you can see from the photos. She is a very affectionate dog and plays with all the children in their colony.

Prashant adds: "She has the uncanny ability to sense that we are coming home, so she starts to bark when we reach our building. Also she recognizes our ring tones and starts barking as soon as she hears them."

If you've been following this blog for some time, you will have noticed I am rather a "cat person" and I absolutely adore dogs who get on well with cats! For more dog + cat pictures, enter "The Indi and the Cat" in the search box on top left.

Photos: Prashant Nadkarni
Mumbai

Mumdi joins the Club

This is Mumdi, the newest member of the Club. He is ten years old and lives in Mumbai with Aditi Raut's family.

Mumdi was abandoned by someone near Aditi's house when he was about five months old. It was raining heavily and people were being cruel to him. A kind man saved his life and started keeping him as a semi-pet, but as his house was very small he couldn't keep Mumdi inside at night.

Meanwhile Aditi had been trying to persuade her mother to adopt the pup. After a year and a half her mother finally agreed. That's how Mumdi became a full-time pet dog.

His original saviour comes over to walk him every day, so this lucky dog is always surrounded by people who are crazy about him!

Mumbai

Photo: Aditi Raut

Sheaba

One day in July 2007, my wife Neha received a call from a friend, asking her if she would look after an injured puppy for a month till it recovered. Neha jumped at the chance as she had been wanting to adopt a pup for some time.

So we received Sheaba, injured and very weak particularly in her legs. Neha and I attended to her. She had scars and bruises, but her spirit was never down. She never barked, but she was always ready to play with me. Usually she was up to no good...she would drag down cloths, important papers and so on.

She was tiny then, just over 2 kilos in weight and barely as big as my foot, but she also had a sparkle in her eyes. And she certainly brought a sparkle into our lives!

Predictably, after we had completed one month with Sheaba there was no way my wife would part with her, and despite my anxiety about losing our freedom to travel and other things, I couldn't cause Neha any pain. So I relented and agreed to make Sheaba a permanent member of our family.

Sheaba loves to play on the beach unleashed and jump around in the water. She is extra friendly with strangers but somehow not very friendly with others of her breed.

Now she weighs more than eleven kilos and is my anchor and support in dark times in my life. I am really happy I decided to adopt her as part of our family.

Shreerang Athalye
Mumbai