PUPPY- THE NEW MEMBER OF YOUR FAMILY

Bringing him/her home-:
Careful consideration should be given to what breed of dog you wish to own before purchasing one. If several breeds are attractive to you and you are undecided, learn all you can about the characteristics of each breed before making your choice on one. The purchase of a puppy is a decision that never should be made impulsively. When choosing a puppy from the breeder the genetic background and early care provided to your pet by the breeder will be reflected in the dog’s future health and temperament. Even if you are planning to purchase a dog who will be only a family pet, it is essential, if the dog is to enjoy a trouble free future, that you assure yourself a healthy, properly raised puppy from sturdy well bred stock. If you are planning a show career for the dog, even more care must be exercised since more than health is involved. In choosing a puppy you are looking for a sturdy , active puppy with bright eyes and intelligent expression, friendly and alert. The coat should be clean and thick, with no sign of parasites. The premises on which he has been raised should look and smell clean and be tidy , making it obvious that the puppies and their surroundings are in capable and particular hands. The puppies should be eager to greet you with tails wagging. If they all consistently run away from a quite, friendly greeting, there is reason to suspect that they have not been properly socialized and they should be avoided. If your puppy is to be a pet only, I feel that the best age at which to start is before the onset of the eighth week. There is an enormous amount of truth in the statement that “bargain” puppies seldom turn out to be a bargain .In choosing pets both sexes make good pets. One important point to be noted are the registration papers to be provided by the breeder. When the puppy is brought home it is to be considered that the puppy has left it’s mother so naturally it will have a feeling of insecurity. To make him feel comfortable what you can do is provide in his bed a piece of his mother’s bed for the smell and also a time piece which will make him feel at home.

Registration and license -: License is mandatory to keep any dog. It is to be done at the borough head office of Municipal corporation by filling the form and paying a nominal license fees. Licensing is only given to those dogs who have completed the anti-rabies vaccine. The door of your house should bear the warning-Beware of dogs and when the dog is taken for a walk it should be chained. Registration is taken care by the Kennel Club of India for which it takes a registration fees and the annual subscription fees for the KCI gazette. Point to be noted here is litter registration and not single dog registration is allowed.

Things required -: The immediate necessities are a soft mat as a bed , comb / soft brush , talcum powder, toys to nibble , savlon, towel and required medicines.
In the next column I shall discuss about puppy care-food chart, medications, cleaning. Queries regarding pet care is invited. Due acknowledgements to Mr.Kishore Ganguli, Moitri Veterinary Clinic.

A WAY OF LIFE

Rabbits blinded to test cosmetics; pigs speared for pork; tigers hunted for trophies; snakes skinned alive for bags; butterflies poison-pinned for trinkets; dogs shot for no reason; goats sacrificed for religious rituals; birds caged for amusement; elephants murdered for ivory; monkeys mutilated for research………the list can wind unto many pages-a list which doesn’t anyway prove the supremacy of the human race nor does it indicate us being civilized.

Although turtles are protected under the wildlife laws, it being a traditional food in Bengal are illegally captured from the beaches especially when they come to lay their eggs transported to the cities & clandestinely sold.

The huge, flightless, magnificent ostrich, which happens to be the largest bird on earth, is being continuously “farmed” by the industrialized world. The slaughter age for these birds, which can live unto 70 years in the wild, is at most two years, at the end of which it is marched to the slaughter pen and gassed to death. Before slaughter, t is plucked naked to the last feather while fully conscious.

Aquaria are nothing but underwater jails. Never meant to be handled by human hands, fish often suffer from careless handling. Aside from the lack of freedom, captive aquatic creatures also suffer due to artificial lighting- at hours determined by visitors convenience-which upsets their bodily rhythms and cycles.

Being one of our close ancestors- doesnot spare the monkey from being a victim of the thoughtless march of our civilization .It is being used in space voyages, nuclear radiation, testing cosmetics, being injected with the HIV virus in medical labs, this animal constantly pays the price in gruesome ways.

Varkh-the silver or gold edible foil used as decoration is made by placing small thin strips of metal between pieces of intestine of cows bound together into a book and put into a loose calf-leather pouch. An Indian family consuming 100 kg of mithai with varkh for forty years consumes silver foil produced with the intestine of 3 cows!

The pig undergoes the barbaric treatment of having one person pull out the hair from its body while in a fully conscious state. The pig has to suffer this for making the brushes to paint our walls.

Man’s best friend is also not spared from such cruelties-every year exploding fire-crackers cause the death of hundreds of dogs.
This is a way of life-is it worth living?! There can be an alternative way of life by giving up consuming turtles; raise voice against slaughtering ostrich; not keeping aquariums; foregoing having mithai with varkh; using rollers instead of brushes; not petrifying dogs with firecrackers. As Mahatma Gandhi said,”the duty of not killing animals generally and therefore protecting them must be accepted as an indisputable fact”. Live and let live should be our way of life.

..........dijo left

26th july'05 - a black monday

we could not save the saviour.
from morning he started vomiting, collapsed by mid-day and breathed his last exactly at 12 at night.
the scar he left can never fill up - an open wound that will remain till my end.

My life is scarred by 2 big wounds - ma & dijo. very little of me is left to offer to this world..................

dijo cried................for the first & last time..........

1st April....................Dijo's birthday.

My son was a full grown handsome Golden Retriever.

He had taught me the sense of responsibility & the truth that there is more to life than just "you". My parents were more relaxed & tension-free people.

We always celebrated his birthday in a grand way..............treating the neighborhood children, a cake was always for him.

The paradox was it fell on April's Fools Day! He actually could fool everyone with his innocant eyes & placid nature.

My mother was already getting sick by the day - doctors said hypertension, eskemia, every bit related to heart from the medical dictionary was quoted in her prescripton. She mostly got confined in the house but she being one of the most bravest woman always found the enthusiasm to travel & we went for short trips to Shantiniketan with Dijo ofcourse. Dijo was her greatest support since me & my father were mostly out for work all day around.
70
The year 1999, Dijo's 3rd birthday was celebrated by distributing sweets & the usual cake for him.

On 2nd October the same year, ma fell sick - seem to be a minor heart attack. On her way to the hospital, dijo for the first time in three years cried - ma never made the return journey home.

She passed away on 26th October 1999.

From 27th October, it was me, baba & dijo. I had to take up the baton from my mother while Dijo engaged baba & saved him from a breakdown. Five years followed after that in a rigma-roll teaching us in a hard way what life holds & the basic fact that "man's friend is indeed a dog". Our respect for man's best friend was cemented, wit0h no one(humans) around he stood their for us rock solid & three of us learned to overcome the grief & sorrow & take life as it came.

..........................................................................................welcome back!

I was told by the vet that dijo's diet would be cerelac & lactogen for at least 6months. Every 2hrs he has to be fed like he would have from his mother. I became his surrogate mother, giving him the regular feed, vitamins and sponge.

A wonderful experience of an un-wed mother!

The whole family bondage got rejuvinated and concentration shifted wholly to the kid!
My mother's pressure reduced - the success of pet therapy was evident from the very start. My activities became more constructive - spend my spare time with dijo and not the "idiot box".

I started reading about "caring for pups" and learnt the nuances.

There are few points one has to be careful before adapting a pet:

1. Choose a breed as per the size of your home - bigger the size of the dog, bigger the space they need to grow healthily because one thing is for sure - once a pup is not always a cuddly pup! The best family dogs are Retrievrs but they need some extra care.
2. In India, the climate being normally hot it is advisable to keep short coated dogs, long coated dogs like Lhasha, Golden Retriever need special treatment.
3. Do not chain pets as you wouldn't your child - they tend to grow aggressive and always let children play with pets at home - it is internationally proven to be the best way for a child to grow as a responsible & caring adult. It is also a proven fact that pets are the most successful alternative treatment for people with heart disease, cancer, depression.
4. Do not adapt pets if you feel that in the long run they are a burden - you cribb that you cant go out! Always have the future palnned when you paln to get pets. Once Dijo came in our family we made it a point not to leave him alone even for a day - that is not a sacrifice by compulsion but by choice which you need to measure with the happiness you get out of the pet.
5. Pets are not for fashion - they are living beings like us with a brain and wonderful heart which "gives more than it gets" - something we should learn from them.

With my strong convictions and belief, I developed and grew with Dijo. I could feel at every step that I was turning into a new person - more responsible, caring, sharing. It was no more "me" but "us".

........................................................................................................be with me.............

dijo

It was a sultry day. The date 13th May. The year 1996. A day in my life if measured in scale would record the highest excitement level - even after 10 years goosebuds appear thinking of that day.

The journey in the auto itself seemed long and winding. We reached our destination - mother, me, my friend and our guide. It was a modest looking house with a big garden.

There were three dogs who welcomed us - two Golden Retrievers and one GSD............and four pups!

My love for animals specially dogs was from a very early age. All these years I have been yearning for a companion - man's best friend! My prayers got answered only when I could convince my parents that I was responsible enough to take care of a "life" - that also when I was in college! Now I understand why parents can never grow off the thought of thinking that their child is always a child!

I succeded!!

di - diya

jo - joyeeta(my friend)

DIJO was born for me! A Golden Retriever pup!

Life's meaning always changes when you cease to live just for yourself (new mothers will second my thoughts) and live for someone else. A reckless becomes responsible, a careless becomes careful - no wonder parents always think of marriage when children go astray!!

...............................................................................................................come back next week......