These fat sweet little puppies were born on 21st November and will be needing homes in a few weeks. Contact Shobha Krishna for details on 
shobha.bsg@gmail.com
Sunday, December 9, 2007
INDog-mix pups for adoption - Delhi
These fat sweet little puppies were born on 21st November and will be needing homes in a few weeks. Contact Shobha Krishna for details on shobha.bsg@gmail.com
Thursday, December 6, 2007
INDogs move to the US
Meet Rhada and Otis Brown and Mahendra Singh Snoopy (nicknamed Indi). All three were adopted by Lisa Perrine Brown while she was living in Mumbai two years ago, and they returned with her to the US. Lisa rescued and nursed Rhada when she was a tiny pup - both her hind legs were broken in a car accident. Otis was rescued from a mud puddle in which he had almost drowned. Both now live a wonderful life at her home in Michigan, going for long walks and running around her five-acre lawn. Indi leads an equally happy life with
Lisa's friends upstate.
I love the odd sight of our Mumbai dogs sitting in snow!
Above left: Otis
Left: Rhada in a snowjacket
Below: Indi
Below left: Indi and Rhada
Below right:
Indi
Bottom right: Otis
Books for dog-lovers
I don't know about you, but for me there is no bigger thrill than that of interacting with a different species (it's hard to remember this at times, but dogs are a different species)! Though we live in the same physical space as our pets, their world is in many ways a strange and unfamiliar one, and their perceptions and motives very different from what we imagine.
Dr Manik Godbole had this great idea of posting a list of books which would help us understand our dogs better. I added some of my favourites to the list. Topics covered include dog behaviour, health, and the dog-human bond. I hope you'll add your own favourites - either post your list as a comment or email me so I can put it as a separate post.
Manik recommends:
Games pets play by Bruce Fogle
I wish my dog would do that by David King (for training purposes)
Pets and their people (Ins and outs of pet owning) Bruce Fogle
Pet loss - a thoughtful guide for adults and children by Herbert A. Nicberg
If you are interested in scientific research in the field of people-pet relations there are these text books:
The pet connection - its influence on our health and quality of life - R. Anderson
Interrelations between people and pets - Charles Thomas
New perspectives on our lives with companion animals - A. Katcher and A. Beck
The mind - R.H. Smythe
All creatures great and small, and all the other famous books by Dr James Herriot
(If only they could talk, It shouldn't happen to a vet, Let sleeping vets lie, All things wise and wonderful, All things bright and beautiful)
I'd like to add:
The truth about dogs by Stephen Budiansky - a great introduction to recent research and discoveries about evolution, the dog genome, behaviour, and the dog-human relationship. I really like Budiansky's totally unsentimental, common-sense way of looking at dogs, but some people might find it unpalatable.
The Indian Dog by Major W.V. Soman. This is actually a classic, published in 1963, and only two copies remained with the publisher (Popular Prakashan) of which I now own one. There is a chapter on "The pariah and the mongrel" from which I am quoting here: "there is evidence to show that the Pariah pups caught and reared up, have proved to be the best house dogs and have not only protected the owner and his property but have gone out to protect the other village dogs."
The nature of animal healing by Martin Goldstein (a graduate of Cornell University who became one of the world's best-known holistic veterinarians). The theory that disease is simply the body's attempt to heal itself somehow makes a lot of sense to me - it reduces one's fear of illness and helps one cure it better.
Natural Health for Dogs & Cats by Richard H. Pitcairn and Susan Hubble Pitcairn - another must-read if you are interested in holistic healing.
Doglopaedia - A Complete Guide to Dog Care by J.M. Evans & Kay White. A mind-bogglingly useful introduction to this topic. I remember getting extra copies for WSD staff and volunteers. I don't know whether it is still available off-the-shelf. If interested, you can get it through Amazon.com. Check this link: http://www.amazon.com/Doglopaedia-Complete-Guide-Ringpress-Books/dp/1860540740
In tune with your dog - An owner's guide to training and improving behaviour by John Rogerson (a world-renowned authority on canine behaviour)
The Hidden Life of Dogs by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. The anthropologist author tries to answer a very simple question few dog lovers ever ask - "What do dogs want?" Her conclusions are often surprising.
A word of caution - books on pet care, holistic or conventional, often express extreme views on topics such as vaccination and diet. Personally I find it best to read everything I can and then make my own - moderate - decisions.
Happy reading!
Dr Manik Godbole had this great idea of posting a list of books which would help us understand our dogs better. I added some of my favourites to the list. Topics covered include dog behaviour, health, and the dog-human bond. I hope you'll add your own favourites - either post your list as a comment or email me so I can put it as a separate post.
Manik recommends:
Games pets play by Bruce Fogle
I wish my dog would do that by David King (for training purposes)
Pets and their people (Ins and outs of pet owning) Bruce Fogle
Pet loss - a thoughtful guide for adults and children by Herbert A. Nicberg
If you are interested in scientific research in the field of people-pet relations there are these text books:
The pet connection - its influence on our health and quality of life - R. Anderson
Interrelations between people and pets - Charles Thomas
New perspectives on our lives with companion animals - A. Katcher and A. Beck
The mind - R.H. Smythe
All creatures great and small, and all the other famous books by Dr James Herriot
(If only they could talk, It shouldn't happen to a vet, Let sleeping vets lie, All things wise and wonderful, All things bright and beautiful)
I'd like to add:
The truth about dogs by Stephen Budiansky - a great introduction to recent research and discoveries about evolution, the dog genome, behaviour, and the dog-human relationship. I really like Budiansky's totally unsentimental, common-sense way of looking at dogs, but some people might find it unpalatable.
The Indian Dog by Major W.V. Soman. This is actually a classic, published in 1963, and only two copies remained with the publisher (Popular Prakashan) of which I now own one. There is a chapter on "The pariah and the mongrel" from which I am quoting here: "there is evidence to show that the Pariah pups caught and reared up, have proved to be the best house dogs and have not only protected the owner and his property but have gone out to protect the other village dogs."
The nature of animal healing by Martin Goldstein (a graduate of Cornell University who became one of the world's best-known holistic veterinarians). The theory that disease is simply the body's attempt to heal itself somehow makes a lot of sense to me - it reduces one's fear of illness and helps one cure it better.
Natural Health for Dogs & Cats by Richard H. Pitcairn and Susan Hubble Pitcairn - another must-read if you are interested in holistic healing.
Doglopaedia - A Complete Guide to Dog Care by J.M. Evans & Kay White. A mind-bogglingly useful introduction to this topic. I remember getting extra copies for WSD staff and volunteers. I don't know whether it is still available off-the-shelf. If interested, you can get it through Amazon.com. Check this link: http://www.amazon.com/Doglopaedia-Complete-Guide-Ringpress-Books/dp/1860540740
In tune with your dog - An owner's guide to training and improving behaviour by John Rogerson (a world-renowned authority on canine behaviour)
The Hidden Life of Dogs by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. The anthropologist author tries to answer a very simple question few dog lovers ever ask - "What do dogs want?" Her conclusions are often surprising.
A word of caution - books on pet care, holistic or conventional, often express extreme views on topics such as vaccination and diet. Personally I find it best to read everything I can and then make my own - moderate - decisions.
Happy reading!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Life with Blacky
All the articles I have written till now are about Tommy, but my Blacky is an equally intelligent boy, and I would like to appreciate his acts too!
His memory is just great! I used to take him for night walks in the beginning earlier than Tommy, according to his timetable for answering nature’s calls. I would take him via the Reliance Energy office, then travel along the Service Road, and come back making a full circle. It takes about 15 minutes at most for brisk walkers like us. There is a lot of traffic till we reach the Service Road, so I had marked for myself junctions where I would ask him to “cross the road,” the newest command my dogs had learnt.
One night I forgot to cross the road at a junction fixed till date for crossing. Blacky just stood there, not moving an inch. I was stunned by his act. “Why are you not moving ahead Blacky?” I questioned him. After two minutes he showed his willingness to move, but not in the direction we were walking - he wanted to cross the road where we always used to!
Even now, he remembers the spot where he had squatted yesterday, and will take me to that spot for the next few days, till his spot gets changed.
Once long back, I decided to teach him a trick - finding his treat hidden under one of several boxes lying in a row. I arranged five plastic boxes on our terrace and made him sit. In the first two attempts I showed him where I was hiding the small treat, made him sniff the boxes one by one, made him sit at the right box, and then picked up the box and showed him the treat and praised him.
He is a quick learner. For the third and fourth attempt, I juggled the boxes and hid a treat in the last box in Blacky's absence. I brought him in when all was done and asked him to “search” for his treat. He sniffed the first box, moved ahead, then the second one and stopped there and sat! I was frustrated, “This is not done, Blacky,” I said. To show him that he was wrong, I picked up the box from the ground, and to my surprise the treat was lying there! It must have accidentally rolled in there. So Blacky was right!!
Manik Godbole
Mumbai
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Some Animal Chronicles - Fur, Paws, Claws and Other Accessories
Talking about the INDog, or the Great Indian Hound, I just have to share GAJA with everyone reading this. GAJA in Bengali is a homemade sweet. When a jute bag full of puppy arrived home from our ancestral village in 24 Parganas, Bengal, it was the most spontaneous name we could think of and so Gaja, even when he became the Great Hound of Short Street (Kolkata), lived with this name, and its mushy diminutive - Gojipie.
My father, way back in the '50s and '60s, was one of the earliest champions of the INDog - so Gaja was on his wish list, in spite of my mother's reservations about the whole thing.
The puppy Gaja looked like a bright little fox with his native born intelligence to match. Although he lived in the house, he needed to establish his territory regularly, and the stretch of Short Street - which is a very long street - was his to monitor. Those were the days when cities had community dogs quite naturally, and as children we played with these dogs without being afraid of being bitten or the thought of rabies even crossing our minds. And play with Gaja we did - our winter holidays spent much of the time in the sun-soaked courtyard of our rambling old house, my brother and I had Gaja harnessed to be sometimes Rudolf the Reindeer, sometimes Alexander’s favorite Bucephalus, at other times a canine Black Beauty. While our make-believe games went on for hours, Gaja was always patient and gentle - happy to be part of the team, with his jalebi-tail wagging in indulgence, and a smile always stretched across his brown and white muzzle. When we made tents and teepees out of old bed sheets, piling up potted plants to make believe a jungle, and disappeared inside in the hope we’d never be found, Gaja also gamely became our hunter dog. When rugs became boats, with stools and coffee tables piled up on either side, and our travels took us over the seas and far beyond, Gaja was our sea dog. Even if he did become bored all he did was put his face between his paws, heave a deep sigh of resignation and go to sleep.
When I see children playing these days, I seldom, if ever, see them playing games of imagination or in their games including animals or plants. If children would do that, then perhaps some of the irrational fears which our contemporary society has built up for the natural world would come to be reduced in greater understanding and empathy.
Supriya Dasgupta
My father, way back in the '50s and '60s, was one of the earliest champions of the INDog - so Gaja was on his wish list, in spite of my mother's reservations about the whole thing.
The puppy Gaja looked like a bright little fox with his native born intelligence to match. Although he lived in the house, he needed to establish his territory regularly, and the stretch of Short Street - which is a very long street - was his to monitor. Those were the days when cities had community dogs quite naturally, and as children we played with these dogs without being afraid of being bitten or the thought of rabies even crossing our minds. And play with Gaja we did - our winter holidays spent much of the time in the sun-soaked courtyard of our rambling old house, my brother and I had Gaja harnessed to be sometimes Rudolf the Reindeer, sometimes Alexander’s favorite Bucephalus, at other times a canine Black Beauty. While our make-believe games went on for hours, Gaja was always patient and gentle - happy to be part of the team, with his jalebi-tail wagging in indulgence, and a smile always stretched across his brown and white muzzle. When we made tents and teepees out of old bed sheets, piling up potted plants to make believe a jungle, and disappeared inside in the hope we’d never be found, Gaja also gamely became our hunter dog. When rugs became boats, with stools and coffee tables piled up on either side, and our travels took us over the seas and far beyond, Gaja was our sea dog. Even if he did become bored all he did was put his face between his paws, heave a deep sigh of resignation and go to sleep.
When I see children playing these days, I seldom, if ever, see them playing games of imagination or in their games including animals or plants. If children would do that, then perhaps some of the irrational fears which our contemporary society has built up for the natural world would come to be reduced in greater understanding and empathy.
Supriya Dasgupta
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