Adopting a Dog is Not Hard Work

There is an old quote Owning a dog is hard work. Every parent, at one point or the other has said this phrase to their child. I haven't heard this quote; not from my parents at least. Well, we chose to adopt. That is probably why I never heard this one :) Here is our story....

24th April 2012 :
A friend (Aditi Nair from Pet Owners and Animal Lovers) requested us to foster Zoey, a spitz puppy, for the weekend as her owners were going out of town. I was so excited, at last it was time to convince our parents for a dog. We went with Dave aunty to bring her home. Everyone was so delighted to see Zoey.

26th April 2012 : 

The weekend flew by and the day arrived for Zoey to return to her owners as they were back home. We were filled with sadness, and returned her with a heavy heart.

27th April 2012 : 

Loneliness  - I don't have a better word to describe how I felt once she was gone.. Our home felt empty and gloomy, as silent as a grave. That is when I realized, this might be an appropriate time to push for the goal of my life - A PET IN OUR HOME. :D

30th April 2012 : 

Aditi called and informed me that there is a Bull Terrier up for adoption as the owners were having some personal problems. It felt like GOD had finally answered my prayers! But still, she said as a first time pet owner, this breed would be very difficult to handle.

For the next ten days, there was no action as the owners were out of town and the dog was fostered by a friend of the owners. Those ten days were filled with anxiety and anticipation. I called up Aditi many times to know about the Bull Terrier and other dogs up for adoption. There wasn't a dog up for adoption at that time, so it was destiny that the Bull Terrier was meant to be ours. :)

12th May 2012 : 

Uff! Finally the wait was over. Aditi called me and said the owners are back and passed their number on to me. Without wasting another minute, I called the owner to fix an appointment to meet their dog. I was filled to the brim with excitement and joy that I couldn’t focus at work. My sister Aisshwaria and I went to get him home, but all this without our parents' knowing! We didn’t inform them that we were off to see a dog. :P

I have heard many talk about Love at first sight, but I had never experienced it..not until the time I met PUNCH! The doors opened, and there was my gladiator, PUNCH, standing and wagging his tail as fast as a rattlesnake shakes his rattle. He was so excited to see us. There he stood, with his egg-shaped head..and his almond shaped eyes gleamed as he saw us. Instantly, he pounced on my sister and me, and started teething my hand - he had already familiarized us. I wanted to take him home the same day but the owner wanted to wait for her son because he was out of town. So we decided to come back the next day for the first pet of our own.

13th May 2012 : 

Sleep was an asset. The excitement didn’t allow me to sleep the night before. The owners wanted us to come back in the evening at around 7PM. Time was ticking at snail speed! At last, the much awaited hour was here. Again, my sister and I were at their doorstep. The owner's son gave us some information about his feeding habits. We reached home and as expected,  both mom and dad were shocked to see us with PUNCH. They were so shocked. My sister and I went to the pet shop nearby to buy some stuff for him. Collar, Leash, Ball, (which is always his favorite) Chewing ring, Bowl (for his food and water) to start off with.

It took just 2 days for my parents to love him. Peeing and pooping is always an issue for a dog at its new place, so it didn't worry me as I knew that once he would adjust, there would be no problem. My only concern was his food habits as we are pure vegetarians and Punch was used to a diet of pure non vegetarian food. But he adjusted himself so well to our food habits. He never misses a meal to date! I had just one thing on my mind - to keep him healthy and muscular, as the specialty of this breed is their muscles, strength and stamina.

Dr. Hemant Thange helped us with his food habits. Started ofF with curd in the morning, rice or roti with vegetables for lunch, biscuits in the evening and again rice or roti in the night. He loves rotis with shrikhand or curd. Vanilla ice cream is something for which he will go to any extreme!

Exercise is needed, irrespective of what breed you have. So we started to take him 5 to 6 times downstairs so that he can get familiar with the building surroundings and building dogs. There are many strays in my building and we do take care of them from time to time. So we wanted him to get friendly with all of them to avoid fights and any issues in the future. It is always good to familiarize your pet with the other animals in the area that you stay in. It is always good to maintain a friendly environment among all the different animals.
As of now,we take him down three times a day.
His day begins at 5.30 am for a long walk of 45 mins. Mom and Dad have made it a habit to take him for his morning walk. In the evening, I take him to play fetch which is his favorite game. If there was to be a caption for Punch, it would be Usain Bolt runs because I'm the one chasing him. This sentence is so apt for him, as he never gets tired of running, chasing, playing or fetching. His energy and stamina are tremendous! The same caption was used for him in the PAL calendar as well!
A team playing against Real Madrid and Barcelona should have PUNCH as their Defender, he is sure to stop Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi respectively from scoring goals!

As an avid football fan, I love to watch football on TV. But in Punch's case, he loves to watch live football! Punch can sit at the window for hours together and watch the kids playing in the garden!

We use vessels to cook food, but my brother (PUNCH) uses them to show off his skating skills. He keeps his front paws on the vessel and will go around the whole house, banging into walls and furniture, but will not stop until he reverses the vessel. This is a really fun sight to watch, and makes everybody laugh!

Courage and strength are the two characteristics which a dog never lacks. I thought for an 8-month old dog it would be very less. PUNCH proved me wrong. I took him to his usual place to play fetch, but there were two packs of dogs fighting over a piece of land - normal territory fights. That is when my warrior ran off in between those 7 to 8 dogs. I must have skipped a heart beat when he went off in the direction of the fight. If it was a one on one fight, I was pretty sure he would have come out unscathed, but one against 7 to 8 is an impossible task (He is not RAJINIKANT after all). Still he stood his ground when one of the dogs came charging at him. Seeing a new dog being so brave, the others got the point very soon and stepped back. He made me realize one thing, courage and confidence is a huge part of life and we must all display it in every situation. 

Character of any living being cannot be determined by its looks. Because of his muscular looks, people feel that he may be ferocious. But, in reality he is very loving, comical and loyal. He is the best dog I have seen in my entire life!   

He never likes to be left alone. Even during the night, he likes somebody to sleep with him. Every now and then he gets up to make sure if someone is sleeping with him or not. 

He hates bathing. If he sees anyone taking his towel to the bathroom, he will go and sit under the dining table where it is difficult to bring him out from. He puts on his innocent face and giveS us a look with his puppy dog eyes. It is one of those moments when we have to muster all our strength and not melt. Be Strong, I say to myself and then pull him out for his bath. 

His Birthday was a special occasion for all of us. He was finally a year old and we wanted to celebrate it in the best way possible. We contemplated having a party and inviting other pet dogs and many such things. But then, when we thought about it, we realised that his best friends and the ones he met everyday were the ones who lived in our complex. So, we decided to do something for them on Punch's behalf. We celebrated his birthday by cutting a non chocolate cake (Doctor had advised us never to feed chocolate to him ever!)  and vaccinating all the dogs in our society against Rabies. This was one of the best ways to celebrate his birthday, we felt!

He has a long list of pet friends and followers as well. Tyson, Caspy, Pebbles, Peeper, Zoey, Snuffy, Daisy, Ginger, Buzo, Bamby, Dharam, Blacky, Par, Whitey  and the list goes on and on.

Our family of four (Mom, Dad, Sister and myself) always have 4 different opinions about any issue. But the arrival of Punch, the 5th member of the family, has somehow changed that. Now we all take decisions together and we stand together in each and every issue. He has united our family and brought about understanding among all of us. We now stand united as a family with our fifth member Punch being the glue of love between all of us.

He is a year and a half old, been with us for a year and has become mature enough to support our needs. In spite of that, I feel he is still a kid at heart.

I had goosebumps while writing this article thinking how things have changed this past year. Instead of saying "Dog has found his lucky home", I would say We have found our lucky dog. Even if I had adopted some other dog, I am confident he/she too would have been loving like PUNCH, but I think Punch was destined to come to our family and fill it with love. 

I would like to personally thank many people for supporting us throughout our journey with Punch, too many to name!
Still my family and I would like to thank Pet Owners and Animal Lovers for changing our lives by letting us adopt our handsome Punch.

The post is written by Avinash Raghunathan who is a member of Pet Owners and Animal Lovers. He and his sister Aisshwaria Raghunathan are rescuers and care takers of many stray animals. Avinash takes care of animals not just in his vicinity, but also in certain far away areas where he goes on a daily basis to ensure that they do not go hungry.