Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Very urgent: help Shakespeare find a home, his life depends on it!
Permanent home required to save life of this gorgeous dog in Ahmedabad. "Shakespeare" is a beautiful, spirited dog living on the IIM campus in Ahmedabad, India. We neutered him recently as part of a sterilization drive and his incision is healing (after he chewed some of the sutures out! The video was taken originally to document the healing of his incision. Sorry about the crotch shots!)
Although he is a friendly and active dog, Shakespeare has had some run-ins with security people on campus simply because he is what can be described as an overly-friendly dog. People were intimidated by this and responded with aggression. Now he is feeling threatened there. As a result, he is now engaging in defensive charging and barking at people he is afraid of or unfamiliar with. This is very scary for non-dog people and he cannot remain on campus. The situation is threatening to escalate as every time he does this, sweepers and security guards go after him.
We need to remove him from campus before someone gets hurt or he gets further abused. Tragically, Shakespeare may have to be euthanized if we cannot find a permanent, appropriate home for him. I love dogs like Shakespeare. He is a lovely, friendly, playful dog who would make a great and loyal companion for an individual or family who loves dogs. PLEASE HELP SAVE SHAKESPEARE! Please spread the word!
If you can offer a loving, permanent home to Shakespeare, please email me at lisaDOTwardenATgmailDOTcom
Lisa Warden
Ahmedabad
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The Indy and the cat, Part 6
Leela has featured in this series before, and so has Apollo the Red Persian (see The Indi and the cat Part 1, link below). The new cat-friend here is young Rishi and here is a really cute picture of all three of them in their pretty garden in Cape Town.
Furry purry Apollo is such a nice gentle creature it would be hard for anyone to dislike him, but then most dogs are governed by instinct in this area. It's possible for owners to socialize a young Indi to cats though. I've also observed that many city street dogs here tend to tolerate or at least ignore cats. When they become pets they don't pay much attention to the house cat though they may chase away feline intruders in their territory. Brownie, Lucy, Bandra and now Puppy have all entered my house as adults but none of them has attacked the cats (okay, Lucy did need a smack once, but only once, right in the beginning). Kimaya chases away a tom cat who often enters our garden, but she loves Tabbyrani and MiniPini. It's important for the owner to make it clear from the start that attacks on the house cat/s will NOT be tolerated. Rough "dog" games should never be allowed either, as they may end up killing the cat.
For earlier posts on Indis and cats, check these links:
The Indi and the cat, Part 1
The Indi and the cat, Part 2
The Indi and the cat, Part 3
The Indi and the cat, Part 4
The Indi and the cat, Part 5
Photo: Yvonne de Kock
Cape Town
Sea Dogs
Beautiful pictures of the beach where Leela and Rishi play every day. I had to include the last one of the stunning sunset. This is the kind of view that makes Cape Town one of the loveliest cities in the world! The gate in the foreground is used by Yvonne and the dogs to descend to the beach.
Earlier Rishi and Leela posts.
Photos: Yvonne de Kock
Cape Town
Rishi and Leela portraits
Kimaya's beautiful brother Rishi, with his sister-by-adoption Leela. Clicked by Susan, a friend of owner Yvonne.
These two are admired a lot for their good looks (are we surprised?).
I love these two pictures. Don't the dogs look like porcelain figurines?
Earlier posts on Rishi and Leela here. More coming up!
Photos: Susan/Yvonne de Kock
Cape Town
These two are admired a lot for their good looks (are we surprised?).
I love these two pictures. Don't the dogs look like porcelain figurines?
Earlier posts on Rishi and Leela here. More coming up!
Photos: Susan/Yvonne de Kock
Cape Town
Monday, April 5, 2010
Teaching a 13-year-old Puppy new tricks
Our new dog is 13 years old, and I've known her since before Lalee was born.
This is Puppy, a dear friend who has lived near our building gate all her life. She was named "Puppy" 13 years ago by her first owner, a taxi driver named Umashankar who used to park his cab on the road outside our place. In fact he also used to sleep on the pavement at the time he first brought Puppy and her sister to our street. Later he shifted to a house in a slum nearby but Puppy usually stayed back on the pavement. Her sister died in a car hit in her first year of life.
I had Puppy neutered in '97, or perhaps '98, I can't remember. She has always eaten excellent food as she was on the feeding list of two kind neighbours of mine (along with at least 20 other dogs in the area). Apart from which there were daily biscuit snacks from the staff at Patel Stores and the pan-bidi shop at the Veena Tower gate, and possibly handouts at Sunshine Snack Bar too.
Umashankar used to take her around in his cab sometimes, when he had passengers who didn't object to dogs. He and Puppy once dropped me to a theatre to watch a movie. Once he had to take something all the way to Alibag and Puppy accompanied him.
He died about two years ago, but since he didn't really stay with Puppy she didn't seem visibly affected by his exit from her life.
Lately Puppy has been losing her spark, her eyes have been growing dim and she was going increasingly deaf too. It was always a ritual for me to pat her on my return from my walks in the park nearby. But she had started sleeping really deeply and didn't seem to hear anything, me calling her name or anything else at all. The few times I touched her she would wake and leap up almost in panic, so I started just letting her sleep.
Well, in mid-February the inevitable happened: one of the ladies who fed her called me early in the morning and told me something was wrong with Puppy's hind leg. When I went downstairs I found Puppy sitting quietly with a "switched-off" expression, not crying or showing any pain but clearly in some kind of shock. She allowed me to touch her leg. There was an obvious nasty break at the hock and the paw was dangling lifelessly. This dog has an amazingly high pain threshold. I think she must have been sleeping under a taxi as always, and didn't hear the engine when it started. I can only be thankful it was her leg that broke and not her neck or back or head.
This is Puppy during her 52-day stay at the Bai Sakabai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals. She had to be kept on a short chain so she could rest the leg. I want to say here that the hospital looked after her extremely well. An old dog from our building compound (Timmy) had been admitted there at the same time for a maggot-infested wound, and she was equally well cared for.
Of course there was no question of putting Pup back on the street after that. Apart from wanting her to be safe I also adopted her for my own peace of mind: I'd have definitely ended up having a heart attack if I'd had to worry about her any more. She came from the Hospital straight to our house. At first we thought we'd keep her in Nagaon but that didn't seem a good idea.
So here she is in our Mumbai apartment, beautifully adjusted to home-living, and absolutely loving her first bed. Quite a change from sleeping on a bench or under taxis or in the gutter.
The first few days she looked rather confused all the time, except at meal times. Look at her expression in this photo below, I took it soon after her arrival here. She must have felt quite bewildered after 52 days in a hospital ward (obviously there were no walks in her condition).
Lalee is an old friend of hers but she and Bandra had some territory issues which seem to be getting sorted out now. Things were a bit chaotic at first because Kimaya is also in Mumbai this week, healing from a paw abscess. She was rather cheeky with Puppy but has been firmly put in her place. Puppy may be mild generally but she doesn't tolerate any kind of bullying and her teeth are still in excellent condition.
She has two extra dew claws on each hind paw, which means she's a 22-toed dog. There seems to be some significance attached to such dogs in some parts of India. Here in Maharashtra such dogs are believed to be sweet-natured and to bring luck to their owners. I'm told by a dog-lover from Tamil Nadu that there is a similar belief in that region.
I don't know whether she'll bring me any luck...or perhaps she already has, all these years, because I've been rather lucky really. But she's a peaceful and pleasant soul and we're very glad she's in a home at last, as she deserves to be. As all dogs deserve to be.
Mumbai
This is Puppy, a dear friend who has lived near our building gate all her life. She was named "Puppy" 13 years ago by her first owner, a taxi driver named Umashankar who used to park his cab on the road outside our place. In fact he also used to sleep on the pavement at the time he first brought Puppy and her sister to our street. Later he shifted to a house in a slum nearby but Puppy usually stayed back on the pavement. Her sister died in a car hit in her first year of life.
I had Puppy neutered in '97, or perhaps '98, I can't remember. She has always eaten excellent food as she was on the feeding list of two kind neighbours of mine (along with at least 20 other dogs in the area). Apart from which there were daily biscuit snacks from the staff at Patel Stores and the pan-bidi shop at the Veena Tower gate, and possibly handouts at Sunshine Snack Bar too.
Umashankar used to take her around in his cab sometimes, when he had passengers who didn't object to dogs. He and Puppy once dropped me to a theatre to watch a movie. Once he had to take something all the way to Alibag and Puppy accompanied him.
He died about two years ago, but since he didn't really stay with Puppy she didn't seem visibly affected by his exit from her life.
Lately Puppy has been losing her spark, her eyes have been growing dim and she was going increasingly deaf too. It was always a ritual for me to pat her on my return from my walks in the park nearby. But she had started sleeping really deeply and didn't seem to hear anything, me calling her name or anything else at all. The few times I touched her she would wake and leap up almost in panic, so I started just letting her sleep.
Well, in mid-February the inevitable happened: one of the ladies who fed her called me early in the morning and told me something was wrong with Puppy's hind leg. When I went downstairs I found Puppy sitting quietly with a "switched-off" expression, not crying or showing any pain but clearly in some kind of shock. She allowed me to touch her leg. There was an obvious nasty break at the hock and the paw was dangling lifelessly. This dog has an amazingly high pain threshold. I think she must have been sleeping under a taxi as always, and didn't hear the engine when it started. I can only be thankful it was her leg that broke and not her neck or back or head.
This is Puppy during her 52-day stay at the Bai Sakabai Dinshaw Petit Hospital for Animals. She had to be kept on a short chain so she could rest the leg. I want to say here that the hospital looked after her extremely well. An old dog from our building compound (Timmy) had been admitted there at the same time for a maggot-infested wound, and she was equally well cared for.
Of course there was no question of putting Pup back on the street after that. Apart from wanting her to be safe I also adopted her for my own peace of mind: I'd have definitely ended up having a heart attack if I'd had to worry about her any more. She came from the Hospital straight to our house. At first we thought we'd keep her in Nagaon but that didn't seem a good idea.
So here she is in our Mumbai apartment, beautifully adjusted to home-living, and absolutely loving her first bed. Quite a change from sleeping on a bench or under taxis or in the gutter.
The first few days she looked rather confused all the time, except at meal times. Look at her expression in this photo below, I took it soon after her arrival here. She must have felt quite bewildered after 52 days in a hospital ward (obviously there were no walks in her condition).
Lalee is an old friend of hers but she and Bandra had some territory issues which seem to be getting sorted out now. Things were a bit chaotic at first because Kimaya is also in Mumbai this week, healing from a paw abscess. She was rather cheeky with Puppy but has been firmly put in her place. Puppy may be mild generally but she doesn't tolerate any kind of bullying and her teeth are still in excellent condition.
She has two extra dew claws on each hind paw, which means she's a 22-toed dog. There seems to be some significance attached to such dogs in some parts of India. Here in Maharashtra such dogs are believed to be sweet-natured and to bring luck to their owners. I'm told by a dog-lover from Tamil Nadu that there is a similar belief in that region.
I don't know whether she'll bring me any luck...or perhaps she already has, all these years, because I've been rather lucky really. But she's a peaceful and pleasant soul and we're very glad she's in a home at last, as she deserves to be. As all dogs deserve to be.
Mumbai
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