with a dog around with me..socialising wasnt going to be a big issue..haha..be it complains about his untimely bark or his poop infront of somebody's lawn..he surely made a mark of his presence soon and in turn mine too.
every eve i do take smokey on his regular walk which he cherishes like any other labrador would..one day while i was walking smokey i saw a golden lab,full grown about 2-3 yrs old playing with some kids in the park,bt mostly roaming on his own..which kindof dint give me any clue as to who's dog it might be..being on the odr side of the park fence with smokey,i just reached my hand thru the iron grills of the fence and patted him..living with a dog in my house sure made me a big dog lover,a love dat slowly was increasing and which now is kindof an obsession...anyway,its was just dat i patted the golden lab much to smokey's annoyance,as jealous as he alwez is...we carried on with our walk..
some days later i was returning from some shop nearby when i caught this dog wandering alone on the street..i went up to him and lovingly caressed him and noticed that he had some infection on his fur and his coat did not have patches of fur,tufts were missing here and there..i thought he has some infection perhaps..and i left home..
some days later again while i walked my dog out on the streets i found him wandering alone and i felt for once that perhaps due to his skin infection or some other reason he has been kicked out of his house by his owner,and maybe he has nowhere to go now..recognizing me he happily wagged his tail and came up to me,which i least wanted coz wad happened was kindof anticipated by me..smokey started barking at him trying to sniff him n get aquainted not letting him come close to me..i somehow managed to drag smokey away and leave the other lab behind and we left..i got worried that perhaps the skin infection on the other lab is contagious so on returning home i gave smokey a nice warm bath and cleaned him,to disinfect him as much as possible..
much concerned as i was for the lab dat he sure has been thrown out of his house i wanted to help him in whatever way possible.but on the contrary i cudnt adopt him and keep him in my house also before atleast getting him cheked by a vet atleast coz i was scared i might endanger smokey..so i tried calling up some dog welfare organisation,namely FRIENDICOES..the only one i could remember.
"hello,friendicoes??"
"ya,how may i help you sir?"answered a heavy voice on the other side of the phone,a man in his mid 40's i assume.
"sir i need to report about a full grown labrador which i fear has been thrown out of his house and left out on the streets.can you please help the dog and take him with you?i fear he has some skin infection as his coat has missing patches of fur here and there."i reported.
"ok which dog did u say it is?"
"a labrador sir."i answered.
"a labrador??abandoned?on the streets??but...labs dont have fur..what infection u talking about""was d surprised ans from the friendicoes guy..
"xcuse me..i have a lab in my house and i very well kno hw much fur a lab has..and d dog m talkin about has tufts of it missing off his coat..so please lift the dog and help him..i would have kept him at my place but i am scared that i may endanger my own dog.so m seeking urgent help from you"i shouted at d guys ignorance,or shud i say callousness..
"ok ok.ya dnt get him to ur place.u shudnt risk ur dog's health.but we cant fetch him now.we r short of people and ambulances as of now.we fetch dogs only at nite,ok.."he replied.
"i can catch him and keep him with me if u can come and pick him up in an hour or so..u just hafto come and get him.dats it."i replied,frantically asking him to help the dog.
"i am extremely sorry sir but i just cant do anything rt nw.leave your address and we'll pick him up in the night."
"thanx.please do help him out."i finally hung up sayn dat...and wishing thet d dog does find a better living dan on the streets.
Rains...came quite heavily dis yr in delhi...as it rained for days and days with streets and highways getting waterlogged and half the city submerged.our colony becomes a sinking ship in just half an hour's rain..with water upto the knees...so t'was quite somedays that i cudnt take smokey out for a walk.
one fine eve after d rains had stopped for about a day or two and with all d reserved energy smokey was throwing tantrums indoors i finally had to take him out for a much needed walk.we had just been walkin about ten to 15 mins wen i suddenly saw d golden lab sitting on the peripheral road all alone wet and drenched all dirty in rain and mud,which kinda made me sure that he hasnt been taken indoors for the past few days and has had to live out in the rains,wid street dogs eating god knows wad..i immediately took smokey home who lookes at me wid a puppy face tugging on his leash as to say,"walk over?so soon?cmon we just left 10mins ago.we dint even go to the park.my walk cant be over so soon..m in for more..please.."
i locked smokey home and called up a friend staying nearby to go see dis dog.we found him on the front porch of some house staring blankly into the horizon and i slowly went and loved him,rubbed his far..aaahh he loved to be rubbed..shudve looked at how happily he wagged his tail lookin at me gettin a nice neckrub..i asked him to follow me and lured him slowly towards a local grocery shop.where i asked people if dey knew who's the dig is and all..got no answers.i bought a packet of bread lest he's nt found ne food fr d past few days and fed him..one by one..by now i was certain he hadnt learnt any command or nething.coz neidr wud he listen to sit,stay,easy,heel nothing.nor wud he respond to any name i tried calling him..smokey?goofy?woofie?tommy?patrick?bozo? tried some more..no response at all....phew
finally i decided of calling him wuffie..
told a few uncles at the shop to please contact me if they find d owner of the dog..and slowly lured him along with me..towards my place.now what to do...big question..i had something in mind.had thot of tying him dwnstairs of my apartment and feed him thru the nite and next mrn wud take him to a vet and dn c wad shud be done to him..so i sent my friend to get some rope or something from home to make a leash out of it while we slowly walked to my place.on the road suddenly d dog started sniffing here and der and finally under a parked car..under which some street dogs had taken refuge from the regular downpour.and they barked back.i called him back bt he wnt listen.he sniffed further and the dogs inside barked ferociously back at him..maybe its the rule of the jungle,of animals,dunno this lab also had become a bit ferocious having stayed out in the streets with street dogs for some days now..he gt hyper and barked back at the dogs only to raise a fite..there were three of them against one..and 2 more ran in to join in the fite..
the ferocious barks and the sudden happenings sure scared me a li'l and i ran away and watched from a distance..throwing stones to scare em off bt to no help...as i helplessly saw the valour of this full grown about 30kg golden lab..he was fighting against 5 street dogs..punched one rt in the face..slapped another with his paw..fended the attack from the third to bite the fourth,only to be bitten and scratched by the fifth..finally he got scared and gave up..and ran out of the fite..and as i called his name..came to me seeking refuge..
i patted him..calmed him down a bit..loved him n spoke to him kneeling dwn beside him.."easy wuffie..its ok..dey r gone..easy.."
fed him the remaining bread pieces..made him jump to get the bread,played with him a li'l by the time my friend gt a nylon strap(which if i remember correct came with the new air conditioner just a few months back).and we tied him with it and the other end of the strap with a pipe and i just left to get some food for him from home wen he started barking at the top of his voice...
"dude,neeche wali aunty sure complain karegi kal.."dats wad my room mate sed once i entered my apartment..hah.
i sed i'll just feed him once and if he doesnt shut up even then will leave him in the nite and get him in d morn agn...
a li'l rice and dal dat i had made for smokey in the afternoon was left.i put dat in a bowl and went dwnstairs to feed woofie..only to find him just snap open the rope and vanish round the corner...i let him go and did not chase him..just praying for him to live d nite nicely...
i called up the FRIENDICOES people again for help..but i regret to say they dont at all care for the dogs..all they care for is money and sponsors..
"sorry sir ,we cant do anything unless someone sponsors us for the dog"dats wad dey sed to which i got furius and tried contactinh PFA peeple(people for animals,anothet ngo organisation for animal).i dint get thru as they had closed up for the nite.i had to wait for d next day...
next day early morn i woke up and went looking for woofie..walked the whole colony..the road i first found him.the park where he played..i took about four rounds of the colony every corner but dint find him...my heart sank..i doont kno wedr i started feeling for him as my own dog or not but not finding him dat day,i really felt disheartened and somewhere guilty...i had dis strange notion in mind dat since he had d leash i had put on him still on his neck he had been capture by someone...by some breeder,someone.anyone...i missed him..
everytime i went out dat day,d next day...i just kept lookin for him..took unnecessary rounds of the colony to get to meet him....
my friend tried to explain to me that maybe its good for him..someone has taken him up.atleast he has a good home now..he's not on the streets atleast.bt still i dint feel any better..maybe i somehow wanted him as mine..a friend to smokey..
slowly a week passed and i dint get a glimpse of woofie in all those 7 days...
suddenly one day i was walking smokey with my friend and as we approached the peripheral road to our colony,from afar i saw a golden lab near the gate..now there are several full grown labs in our colony,labs being the most friendly and common household pet dog..but still i wished it to be smokey..wanted it to be him...i told my friend to take hold of smokey's leash as i ran to see wedr its woofie or nt..as i approached i was certain it was woofie...
"woofie....woofie"i called..
he was sniffing something on the road..he looked up..saw me..n came running to me,,wagging his tail as happily as ever..as he reached me he jumped up on me..hugging me wid his front legs...and trust me wen i say i was happ to meet him again..he licked me,hugged me for sometime...and dn sniffed me all over trying to say dat he missed me too...haha
someone suddenly called out"goofy..goofy come here.."
i looked out and saw a lady,slightly plump standing by the gate wid a kid in her hand calling out for woofie..i took woofie to her and asked..
"is he urs??"""
"ya.."c sed
"how long has he been wid you?"i asked
"about a yr or so..'
"ru sure coz i just found him out on the streets a few days back wid street dogs.."
"ya he fled"..to which i raised an eyebrow coz as far as i knew no dog.least of all labs wud run away frm a house he has been stayn fr a yr..
"wads his name?i asked
"goofy"
"goofy goofy",i called out at d lab..but he wudnt listen.."he doesnt respond to his name?"
"he does,dunno y he aint responding nw.."c replied..
"where do ya stay?"i asked
"dat side..."
"which apartment?i stay at 121c.."
"ya i stay dat side"..c replied very reluctantly...
now i kind of gt it dat its not der dog but dey have flicked him finding him on the streets,,bt agn i was happy dat atleast he gt a home to live and be fed and cared properly..
so i left em and came back to smokey and walked him home..bt i wanted to kno where does c stay..so i hurriedly ran back to the periphery road only to find woofie walkin home..wid his so called owner behind...
woofie saw me and agn came running to greet me..and the lady came up and sed,please u leave,he ran away agn and i had to catch him wid a lot of effort..so please lemme take him home...i sed ok fine i was leaving only...i let em go and followed em keeping a safe distance..
woofie kept gettin my smell and turning back and tryn to come to me..haha
dat was nice to see dat he loved me..
finally the lady came to a junction of roads and stopped..wud not walk anymore so i had to move ahead to avoid further suspicion which i was sure c suspected me of following her..hah...i entered a park adjacent to the road infront of which c was standing and took a parralel road inside the park..but then there were some trees and i cudnt see her agn by the time i took a round and came back..bt i atleast had pinned her down to four blocks where c cud stay..
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