Not quite a Labrador thing!

His Royal Majesty- Caesar Simha!

Hi!

While I am very well aware that the site itself is called 'a-labrador-thing', it would be unfair of me if I do not write about another furball that has been central to my life for the last 3- 4 years now. This one is for the most elegantly gigantic pepper pot- Caesar Simha!

For those of us who like dogs (And even those of us that do not particularly like them...), it is easy to figure out which breeds are friendly and which are not to be trifled with. The GSDs, Dobermans, Rottweilers, even the Pomeranians are clearly breeds that we would give a wide berth to. Years ago, I had once seen his rolly polly dwarfed GSD and he looked sooooooo cute that I had instantly stopped to see if his master would let me pet him. The minute I approached his master, this guy's face turned into a mean snarl, teeth all barred and his body language scary enough for me to immediately back away, out of the range of his leash. While his master tried apologizing, I knew it was my stupid mistake to approach a breed like the German Shepherd with such carefree abandon. I have never done so again...

I had just started working when I first heard of Caesar. The friend who talked about him was terrified of dogs and described how every time she went to Caesar's palace (Hee hee hee, its not a spelling mistake, just an overdose of the Asterix comics... Anyways, its more like Sharath's place- who was her friend and colleague who is also now a very close friend of mine...), she could be found standing on the sofa and screaming for either Sharath or his mom to come save her. All this while, Caesar could be found standing near the sofa gazing up at my friend and wondering exactly why this particular lady always chose to 'stand' on the sofa when most of the other humans who visited his place would use the sofa to sit down! Well, the mysteries of life!

I couldn't wait to meet this big guy and one day, on a girls-day-of-fun we landed up close to Caesar's place and we decided to drop in and meet him! There were four of us and while one of us immediately look her 'regular' place on the sofa (Some things never quite do change...), I was suddenly hit by a vision of this monstrous looking BIG GSD who came tearing down the stairway to get a good look at his new guests. He did pause for a few moments at the base of the sofa to try and unravel the 'standing' mystery but then curiosity over the new people was too much to overcome and he quickly bounded over to us. Sharath kept trying to reassure us all that he was quite harmless and I tried to believe it as I put out a fist for him to sniff. He came forward and sniffed my fist and then let me pat his head. As I did so, I was able to overcome my fear and look past his majestic face to the tail that was wagging, all happy! It was easy from there on :) All the big guy wanted was to make new friends and get a tummy rub! Caesar's funda is quite clear- Sharath likes you, I like you :) So if you ever meet this guy, you know who you have to charm first!

I did not know Sharath all that well, but a combination of Caesar's charms and Sharath's warmth soon had me spending a lot of time with them both... There is always that one dog you meet that alters all your pre-conceived ideas about a certain breed. As far as GSDs are concerned, Caesar did that for me. I am not stupid to think that every GSD would welcome me the way this big guy did but I do know that once you are in their friend circle, they can be the sweetest and the most protective of breeds.

A few things about this guy that are super adorable are-

1. He loves playing with you

2. He loves getting pampered, probably more than playing...

3. He loves eating fruits, papayas are a favourite!

4. He takes special pleasure in terrorizing the street dogs (Only the guys!)

5. He has a healthy share of girl doggies vying for his attentions...

6. He has a steady girlfriend who camps outside his house and is his escort on all his walks :)

7. The only girl doggies he hates are GSDs :) Guys really are mad!

8. The sadist waits everyday, morning and evening, for Steffi, a neighbor girl GSD, to go on her walks and then barks his heart out and picks a fight with her almost daily...

9. He loves Steffi's family and she loves Sharath and his family but they are ready to tear out each others throats the minute they lay eyes on each other...

10. He (also) hates it when you blow in his face but is the first one to the garage doors when the car is being taken out...

11. He is soooooo big that he takes up the whole of the back seat of the car and Sharath has had me ride with Caesar in the back. I, of course, have gotten out covered in drool and stamped upon like I was an uncomfortable pillow that he was trying to even out. Caesar would even managed to turn away from his window and give me dirty looks every time he realized I was taking up a part of 'his' space...

12. He eats his food the minute you tell him that Steffi's going to eat it otherwise...

13. When Sharath got married to Ashwini, Caesar spent a better part of three months following her around the house making sure she did not try to steal anything :) Sharath still gets kicks out of telling that story :) :) :)

14. He still hasn't figured out why a certain friend of mine used the sofa the way she did ;) And yes, she is still terrified of him but is safely tucked away in a different place right now!

15. He managed to startle Arvind with his size but he, quite oblivious to Arvind's undecided opinion of him, followed him around, quite happy to have a new person around that both Sharath and Ashwini seemed to like :)

Caesar is the only dog after Dukie who is family. He treats me like I belong and I am only too happy to return the favor. I hope the gentle giant (Make no mistake! He terrifies people outside of his circle...) is missing me right now quite as much as I am missing him.

I love you baby...

Dukie Bulletin Board- 4

Don't go by that angelic face!

"Labradors are lousy watchdogs. They usually bark when there is a stranger about, but it is an expression of unmitigated joy at the chance to meet somebody new, not a warning." ~Norman Strung

One of the most common traits that endears a lab to people is the joy that they display when they see you headed in their direction. Dukie is no exception. The only problem we had that was he would show the same love towards everyone, even if they were someone we particularly did not like. Well, you may call us immature but I sure didn't like it when this idiot rushed over and immediately started asking to be pampered from this person who I did not quite get along with. Or the fact that here you are trying to throw attitude and play it cool with someone you have only just met and your dog is already lying on the floor (In some cases, the middle of the road) and wagging his tail top speed and begging the other person to rub his tummy... Well, but that is also a quality you fall in love with, from the first moment, so you can hardly complain.

There have been times when Duke is yelling at someone standing just outside the gate and while the person is terrified, we know from Dukie's tone, that it is actually because he cant wait for the person to step in and pet him. If you own a lab, you know just what I mean. If you don't own one, you now know...

A friend of mine, who was also my roommate then, had come back from college one day and couldn't stop laughing. The reason was quite simple really. Her two wheeler had broken down that day and while she was getting it fixed, she noticed a 'Beware of dog' sign at a big, solid gate of a house that stood next to the puncture shop. She would not have given it a second glance if she had not noticed the stout cream colored furry tail sticking out from under the gate. Just wanting to make sure that she had guessed correctly, she whistled and the cream tail wagged with a speed only a retriever could manage... She was in splits imagining what on earth had made the owner put a 'Beware of dog' sign for a happy jolly Labrador! I mean, the lab utterly and completely humiliated any meaning or warning that the sign is meant to convey!

Dukie was a typical lab and while slowly he developed certain individualistic characteristics, he was always happy, energetic, hungry (even just after a big meal), naughty and a sweet baby. But we also had our bad days with him. He is also one of the most stubborn dogs I have ever met. If he has decided on something, he will do it anyways, whether you like it or no, so you might as well resign yourself to his intentions. The only person for whom he considers changing his mind is mamma.

So while he has brought us a lot of joy, he has also brought on a lot of exasperation and exhaustion for us. Most of this involved food or an attractive girl doggy that this Romeo of ours lost his heart to...

Some of the incidents, punishment or no punishment, that made this fur-ball more 'human' and cuter to us are:

1. No punishment required- Well, I have titled it so because you will realize how he got what he deserved and Papa couldn't bring himself to discipline him after that... We were in Delhi at the time and he had fallen head over heels for a street doggie while on his evening walks. The doggie would walk a few steps behind us and Dukie was always upset about us making him walk in the wrong direction :) We tried chasing her away but she doggedly (pun intended!) trailed us. One day, he found an opportunity to escape from home and took it quite happily. He found the girl doggie in no time but she was quite a charmer and kept this guy on his toes as she trotted off on the road. Our hero kept following her, well past our home area and onto the other side of a park that lay a little further away from our home. We were chasing him, screaming for him to stop, and he religiously ignored us.

But unknown to him, two stray male dogs had crept up behind him and were getting into a menacing attack position. By then the girl doggie had given him the slip and while this idiot tried to figure out where she had vanished off to, the two strays attacked him, one butt each :) He got bitten on his fat butt and didnt quite know which dog to attack first, let alone, how to start attacking them. We were so scared and immediately rushed to help this pig.

Papa had followed in 'Dukie's car' and when he saw what was happening, we bundled Duke up and put him into the car and went straight to the vet's.

I have not seen Duke look so embarrassed ever :) He kept quiet like a good boy through out and refused to look at any of us :) An injection and a verbal-telling-down later, he quietly got back into the car and drove home meekly with us!

2. Maybe Mr. Bhanot could've helped here- This one was in Delhi too. We were on the first floor which had a big attached terrace garden which opened out from the kitchen. Dukie was very happy with this area that he had declared his own and would sit there for hours, looking out at the road and barking at everyone passing by on the street below. One such sunny day, he was sitting with his face out the grills when suddenly the branches of the tree that grew alongside our terrace started shaking very violently. It took this idiot a couple of minutes to pull free his head from the grill and then make his way towards the branches. He stood there looking up at the branches when suddenly a few langoors jumped onto the terrace wall and started screeching.

Dukie was wild with excitement! He kept barking like mad, and mamma, watching all this from the kitchen, froze as she knew that langoors can be rabid and vicious. She tried calling him in but he wouldn't budge. He just stood there barking. I guess after a while, the langoors just got plain bored and decided to do some time pass, they took turns in coming up from behind Duke, pulling his tail and running away screeching! Hee hee hee, this pig was actually being harassed by monkeys and had no clue of how to get them to stop! The monkeys made laughing sounds as they pulled his tail and then took refuge in the tree branches! It took ma and a long stick to drive them away before we could pull in our stupid dog. All Dukie did, when his tail was being pulled, was whine :)

After that incident, whenever we heard or saw monkeys approaching, one of us would run to the terrace to bring Dukie in :) So much for dogs protecting humans, what a joke...

3. Do you believe in God? Duke definitely does- Dukie was barely a few weeks old when he quickly realized that sitting in the pooja room with papa on Sundays was a good thing. It wasn't the idol, the peace or even papa's chanting that kept him rooted in his place. It was the discovery that if he sat still through the half an hour, he would be rewarded with a plate full of yummy sweets (Known as prasad to us lesser mortals) and if he were lucky, a piece of fresh coconut as well...

So they (Pa and Dukie) both could be found every Sunday morning in the pooja room, both praying, one chanting, one praying silently for food while he waited.

Dukie's love for all things coconut has always fascinated us. We never quite understood why our mad dog loves fresh coconut so much. But one thing we understood quite clearly was that we were never to leave Dukie alone in a room full of coconuts.

He was barely a year old when we had gone calling on on our neighbors, wishing them a happy Deepavali. We had finished our Lakshmi pooja, had our dinner and had burst all the cracker stock that we had. Dukie was left at home, quite obviously, and we when we returned, barely a couple of hours later, mister was nowhere to be found. He had simply vanished and not until we looked into the pooja room did we know where we would find him. The temptation of seeing four or five coconuts kept in the pooja room had proved too much for him. When we spotted the missing coconuts, we went straight to ma and pa's room and knelt down and there he was. The thief was hiding under their bed and spread out in front of him were cleanly eaten eight or ten coconut halves. The minute he saw us he knew he was in trouble, so he stuck around in his bunker a little longer. When he knew the storm had abated, he made a soundless appearance and pretended nothing had happened :)

Again he wasn't punished because he had major tummy upsets for a few days after that. But we sure learned to lock up the pooja room when we went out :)

People say one learns from one's own mistakes. But quite obviously it does not apply to the dog species! Dukie has fallen for many other 'not-suitable' girl doggies, tried to steal many a coconut again, tried attacking monkeys again (Of course, the coward just used to bark from behind the netted kitchen door, same bravery he shows with cattle...) and has done many more silly things...

But one thing, luckily, he hasn't done yet, is help a thief rob our house! You know the thing is, I don't think it is due to some 'watchdog' quality of his. It is perhaps only because he never quite found the chance to do that! Touchwood. I mean, all it would take is one lousy biscuit and he's all yours!

Talk of living to eat! He'll redefine everything you know about that!

Well, until later!

Megha

Dukie Bulletin Board- 3

All set for a ride!

"Did you ever notice when you blow in a dog's face he gets mad at you? But when you take him in a car he sticks his head out the window." ~ Steve Bluestone

Duke has a few worldly possessions that he owns with a guarded attitude that no one has bothered disputing his claims... Listed in the order of his 'attachment' to them-

1. Our car, sorry, 'his' car (He first owned a black Fiat and is now the proud owner of a silver Santro)

2. His 'Alien' soft toy that papa brought him a few years back (It is yellow and blue with two antennae sticking out of its head)

3. Sandy. Yes, my cousin Sandy. I know we are talking material things but with Sandy, Duke quickly established a strong ownership that was similar to what he had done with our car

4. And any other thing that took his fancy...

Dukie was barely a few weeks old when we first tried taking him out on our scooter. It was almost disastrous... He wriggled and squealed and whined with terror so much that we forced to stop just a few yards from our home and take him back home... So, it was quite obvious that when we took him in our car the first time, we were taking no chances! Mom had him in her lap in the front passenger seat and had the window rolled up, with just a couple of inches open for some ventilation. And then, we discovered how a car window affects a dog! He wriggled and squealed and whined again but so he could stick his nose out the window! He soon had his head out the window and was looking out at the passing world with such a look of happiness and contentment that we couldn't stop laughing at him :)

From that day on, the black Fiat belonged to Dukie and Pa only 'maintained' it for him :) He would insist on being taken out for car rides, sometimes standing in front of the garage and barking until Pa took him for a ride. A few years later, when we sold the Fiat and bought a Santro, we were wondering how the missing Fiat would affect Dukie. But lo and behold! The Santro belonged to Duke within a few hours of it arriving home...

Dukie was now a year old and growing fast and flourishing. We were discovering a lot of things about him too. Two things we learned 'Not' to do around him was-

1. Scold Sandy- Ma and pa had a tough time in disciplining Sandy as Duke would just stand there and bark like mad in a menacing way if we so much as gave Sandy a dirty look... I told you, Sandy belonged to Duke...

2. Mouse hunt- The first time, we thought Duke would be useful so we let him remain in the room while we tried to catch the stray mouse that invaded our home. We realized that Duke would go berserk at the sight of ma (Pa is scared of mice, hee hee hee) standing with a broom in her hand and whacking behind boxes and would, instead of attacking the mouse, run and start attacking the broom. He would just look blankly like an idiot and would realize belatedly that the mouse had just run over his paws in its bid to get free. Yes, Dukie was that dumb when it came to catching any pests...

We soon started locking him out or in a spare room when we either attacked another pest or if ma and pa had to take Sandy to hand... Duke could be heard howling on top of his voice but he was at least safely out of the way! Safely for him, that is. Ma had once whacked him with the broom while mouse- hunting :) Na, she didn't mean to (She probably did!) but he had darted at the broom just when she was aiming for the mouse.

We were soon realizing that dogs were not quite the 'dumb and sweet' pets we had been expecting... Dukie changed quite a lot of our assumptions about dogs. He displayed such intelligence and individual character that we soon revised our outlook of him.

A few really cute instances for you. These are a few of our 'popular' Dukie stories-

1. The groundnut laddoos- Dukie loved, loves and will always love food. Of any sort! He had just been drooling over some groundnut laddoos when pa decided to give him one. Duke hogged nicely and after a few minutes realized that there was some stuck to the top of his mouth cavity. He tried all possible mean to get the stuck laddoo off the roof of his mouth and then he suddenly quieted as he probed around with his tongue. He realized that the laddoo was stuck somewhere 'up'. So he found a simple solution. He lifted his head up to the ceiling and then started licking the air over his head :) Only, all he found was air :) Pa had to help him scrape the laddoo off after that stint didn't work!

2. Ducking for dear life- Papa was posted to Delhi when Duke was a couple of years old and our house was on a hill top over looking the Indira Gandhi International airport. Most aircrafts landing passed us overhead and seemed very low. The first day, while on his evening walk, a plane was making its descent and passed low over the land. Dukie looked up, saw the aircraft over his head and to 'save' himself immediately sat down on all fours so the plane would not touch him :) He stayed in that position until the plane was safely on the runway!

3. Don't go pick on someone your size- Duke has always derived some sort of a sadistic pleasure out of barking at 'poor' street animals while sitting in 'his' car. He would yell and his body language would suggest that he would tear the other dog or animal (usually cattle) apart if only he were on the ground and not riding in his chariot. He was always particularly aggressive around cattle. He would bark at them even while on his evening walks. One day, he found a calf a little way away from a cow. And being the coward that he is, he decided to terrorize the calf. He pulled hard on the leash, got himself free and stood very close to the calf barking his head off. Before the cow could come to its rescue, the calf turned his back to Dukie and delivered a swift kick with its hind legs straight to Duke's jaw :) Lol! have we laughed about that incident or what? The coward has since then started barking at cattle from afar and never tugs hard enough on his leash to get free, just enough to show that he is not scared of taking on any other cow. We pretend to believe him :) Let him keep his dignity...

4. Jumping Jack- You would have, by now, realized what the car meant to Dukie, it was his prized possession. So what would happen when two of his interests, his car and his love of terrorizing hapless street animals, collided? We found out soon enough. We had just pulled out of our house when Duke spotted cattle near by. He was so super excited that after barking a couple of times, he just jumped from the backseat onto mamma's lap in the front passenger seat (That must've hurt her...) and then all dad saw was a blur of cream go by the steering wheel. It took us a few seconds to realize that the cream silhouette that had dashed past was actually Duke who had jumped out of the car- Back seat onto mamma's lap then out the drivers window! Wow, we were a few yards down the road when we stopped. Dukie had hit the road and after barking at the cattle again, realized that the car, HIS CAR, was no longer around. We sincerely believe his greedy heart must have skipped a couple of beats! As we watched, he came flying down the road, eager to get back into the car. Pa, just to teach the idiot a lesson, drove on a couple yards more before letting him back into the car... We were thankful that there was no traffic around when the stupid pig attempted the stunt... He has, since, never tried anything like that ever :)

5. Traffic Signal- This must be a common occurance with over- enthu and extra- friendly labs. Dukie had once scared the daylights out of a motorist when, at a traffic signal, he had reached out and licked (Read kissed) the elbow of this poor guy who almost died of a heart attack! We were majorly embarrassed but were saved any drama by the fact that the man was fond of animals and did not make an issue out of it. We have been very careful not to let Dukie try that again for the fear of causing an accident. I mean he would love to repeat it and may cause someone to react violently. I mean, I love dogs but would be rightly scared to have a monster size doggie reach out of his car window and lick my elbow!

Well, those were just 'some' of his antics, there are many many more! Stay tuned and you'll know just why we are all so obsessed with our butterball :)

I'll sign off for now, see you soon!

Cheers!

Megha

Dukie Bulletin Board- 2

Waiting for lunch!

"If you think dogs cant count, try putting three dog biscuits in your pocket and then giving Fido only two of them."~ Phil Pastoret

Hi! I'm back and so is Dukie... I left you rather abruptly at the end of my last article but being a homemaker is no easy job! I had forgotten a chore and had to rush to complete it before Arvind came home...

Well, lets pick up where we left, Dukie and Dhruvi. Two of the cutest babies, one four legged and the other two legged. They did give us a lot of laughs and it was nice to watch them together. As much as I would like to tell you about how they grew up together but that would hardly be the truth... Dukie started growing at a rate we really really wanted to alter. Pups are so cute, why the hurry to grow up??? And Dhruv's parents got transferred out around that time.

By now Dukie was now almost three months old and looked like an awkward teenager with his head to body proportions a little skewed. His head remained a little too big for his body until he got out of being a pup (Officially 18 months), so we had this slightly funny looking doggy who had a big head and plump, rounded smaller body, boy did he look sweet or what :)

His antics continued and kept us busy and flustered... He had already fallen in love with his adoptive mom and made up his mind to show his affections for her by using the age old technique of wooing any woman, getting her gifts :) The only problem was the type of gifts he picked up (Quite literally...). One day he brought her this really really long stick he had picked up on his evening walk. He had barely managed to hold onto it and then encountered a serious delivery problem when the stick would not get through the door. It was so long that it was getting caught at the door. And as Dukie was holding it in his jaws, it was parallel to the ground and was too long to go through the door width. He tried tilting his head in both directions but to no avail, the stick was too long for such manipulations as well. So this poor guy just sat down outside with the stick still in his mouth and waited for mamma to come out to greet him. Dont ask why none of us helped him, I mean, why would we help him bring a long stick into the house that he would use to then demolish our belongings with? Anyways, he waited patiently for ma to come too the door and when she did, he wagged his tail as fast as it could without falling off and laid the stick at her feet. She was less than thrilled with the gift but her maternal instinct did not let her ignore her son's efforts, so she patted him on the head and said 'good boy'. Bad move ma!

In a few days she started getting 'better' gifts... He once returned with something in his mouth that was quite small and he managed it to hide it between his jaws. He came running into the house and laid his gift at mamma's feet. We got to know of his 'offering' by the scream we heard! We all rushed to where mamma was and saw this dead, half rotten bird carcass that Dukie had picked up for her! Told you, bad move ma... Ma was too sickened to react and Dukie sat there with a hurt expression on his face, he did search a lot before closing on this particular gift. Well. no problems, he decided to get her another gift that he had not liked as much but then maybe ma would like that better. I mean, who really understood women, right? So Dukie goes back and returns with a dead frog :) Lol! Just a matter of perspective, I guess...

We started being more careful about leaving the door open so this idiot would not run away on excursions again, so the only outing he had were the pee and poop walks we took him on... And we had special instructions from ma not to let him out of sight or to let him do any 'shopping' for her :)

He was now put on a leash (You bet he did not like it, but it was more a necessity than a choice...) and he quickly learned how to overcome the restrictions imposed by a leash. Brute force. He would just pull us along wherever he wanted to go. He was strong and we would end up trailing him, our typical position- heels dug into the ground and from that point upwards, our body formed a backward slash, I mean we were constantly in this position \ as we tried to fight him pulling at the leash. And that was the position we were to be found in while walking him for the next few years...

Duke got bigger and we realized he knew no 'doggie tricks'. Well, he should at least know how to shake hands and sit and stuff right? So, we started on our next phase with him- Training. Easier said than done :/ He wasnt going to make this any easier for us, that he had decided on...

So we would sit for ages trying to teach him how to shake hands and he would just look the other way, not understanding why we were acting so silly, extending our hands and grabbing his foot and saying good boy and patting him each time we grabbed his foot. But we were family, so he just let us continue but did not bother participating.

Then papa came up with the idea of using treats (Biscuits and chew sticks) and now some piggy was all ears for what we had to say! He was most attentive and soon learned to sit, and give a right as well as a left hand shake. The only problem now was that he wouldnt do any of it until he knew he was getting a treat afterwards. If you tried a 'shakehand' empty handed, a dirty look, a growl (If you are persistent) and a bite (If you dont know to back down on a growl...) was all you received.

So we started on the stage two of his training. Getting him to do tricks without expecting treats. Well, you do know he's a lab, right? So you might as well know that we failed, quite miserably. The only times he would do tricks is if he felt like it or if ma asked him to. Otherwise the treats were his regular motivation... Pa did not give up and soon Duke started doing tricks for pa just so he would stop bothering him :)

He grew up, nice and strong and we were happy. He was not quite what we expected, but then who said life is fair right ;)

Soon, it was time for me to head to college and wait for vacation time to experience 'Dukie- madness' but I was always kept updated on his 'activities' regularly. This was when Dukie realized what the function of a telephone is. It was a device that ma and pa held against his ear and he got to hear some one baby talk him from the other end. Stupid but he managed to humor us all :) He patiently 'listened' as I went on 'talking to him' on the other end...

One continually worrying point for us was Dukie's peeing pattern. I mean, he was almost a year old and he still insisted on peeing like a girl doggy, with his hind legs all stretched out, he was supposed to have started lifting his hind leg when he was a few months old and here he was still behaving like he was a baby. We had just got sick of people asking us what 'her' name was... And then one day, he was at it again when he spotted a girl doggy walking his way and very slowly and almost artistically his hind leg went up, hallelujah!

The little joys of life ;)

Well, he was now a year old, 30 kgs, super energetic, spoilt and greedy piggy and seemed to be just half way through by the way he ate and destroyed things around him...

His last leg of puppy-hood was marked by major-ly happy events and memories but there was one memory we all wish we could forget, it just hurts too much, even now... But you'll have to wait a while for me to get there...

I'll be back soon enough and will take you through the mad life this guy led and dragged us through too...

He has been a blessing and not one day goes by without at least one of the family thanking god for having brought this butterball into our lives...

More to come!

Dukie Bulletin Board- 1

The Hero Himself!

"My dog's not spoiled ... I'm just well trained !"

This one's for Duke, the 'forever baby' we brought home in 1999. Life was never to be the same... I have mentioned my furry baby in my previous posts but I always felt I was cheating him out of the coverage he deserves... He needs his own space (On my blog, I mean!) and I'll give him that now...

Duke, registered as Duke Havaldar, was brought into our family when we were all grown up and pa couldnt resist it anymore... Ma liked dogs but that was about it. Sandy (My cousin who stayed with us through his school), Nammu and I did not know too many dogs ourselves but our love for dogs was generated through all the doggie stories ma and pa told us... The major stars were:

1. Jimmy- He was my ajji's (Granny) dog, a lovely Alsatian that I had played with as a kid. He was the first one to receive us each time we went to Hubli for our summer vacations... A patient, lovable and beautiful dog... He was also the first dog to bite me. I received seven injections but I thank god that my mind did not develop any phobia due to that incident... I was at fault, I had fallen over him while he was sleeping...

2. Snoopy- The yellow lab of one of my dad's friends that had stayed with ma and pa when I was a baby. He was left with my parents for a month while uncle and aunty went for a yearly holiday and when dad met him almost ten years after that first time he stayed with them, he was the first to the door and gave pa a welcome that made up one of our best 'dog story'.

3. Kitty- She was, I think, a collie... She was small though... A beautiful, long coated girl dog who we doggie- sat while her family went for their vacation. Even after her family came back, she would head for our place after her evening walk causing her owners to stop all her visits to our place. We were upset by their behavior but now that we have this pig of our own, we know how bad you feel when your dog has an attachment for someone outside of your family.

4. Papa's sheep dog- This one was our favourite due to the fact that this was pa's very own dog he had as a kid...

We were so ready for our own doggie... We always knew it would be a yellow lab because pa was quite sure of that. I was in my 12th standard, Nammu was in her 8th and Sandy was in primary school when we had this Air Force mela where we had a breeder participate as well. Vinod Uncle. He told pa that one of his lab's had littered and that he would bring over a couple of dogs for us to choose from.

As promised Vinod Uncle came on a Sunday with this small cardboard box and he put his hand into it and brought out two SUPER CUTE lab pups, a black one and a yellow one. They were both placed on the carpet for us to inspect and play with. It was love at first sight... Nah, not Dukie, we fell for his darker brother :) Duke was a sorry excuse for a lab, a puny little stupid thing that just lay there on the carpet and slept through most of everything... His brother was super enthu and so happy-go-lucky! he played with us, he chewed on stuff, he peed around the room, he pulled at Duke's ears while that idiot slept through even that, he sniffed at everything he could get his cute little nose to, mmmmm, we knew which one we really wanted and pa also seemed confused. Sure, he had always wanted a yellow lab but the black one was just adorable. Pa took a deep breath and took one of the biggest risks he ever has, he picked Dukie :) Some dreams are too strong to let go off... The cream pig won due to only the colour of his coat and no quality of his own... We were happy both ways, we got our very own puppy :) Sure, he looked boring and dull but then he was one of the last of the litter and was weak and was barely a week old and it was unfair to judge him that early... He was taken back to be brought home officially when he was a little older. We should've taken him in a month after that but a week later he was back home, for good...

Yippe! We were a doggie family now! It felt like we were finally a family... Dukie started giving us memories and stories from the day he came into our house. We were in a temporary accommodation in the Air Force base of Coimbatore when he joined us. it was a hall and a bed room. Nammu, Sandy and I had taken to sleeping inside the room while ma and pa took the carpeted hall as pa's back hurt on anything soft. Duke took to sleeping in the hall with ma and pa. He had a corner with warm clothes spread out for him but he chose to go for nightly excursions once the lights were out.

He would explore around and would try crossing hurdles- like the lower supporting rod on the table, or some show piece on display or even pa's neck. The funniest bits were where the stupid thing would get caught across the table rod and start whining for someone to go rescue him. Pa would nudge mamma and she be Dukie's knight in shining armor as she picked him up, rather unceremoniously, and dump him between herself and pa so he would not stray again. But our Don Quixote would be up in a minute and this time would be caught trying to cross pa's neck. His hind legs were weak and he would spend the night spread across pa's neck, two legs on either side and whining quietly. Pa never rescued him as I guess he enjoyed having a soft fur ball that was all snuggly...

He also showed criminal tendencies from day one... He would:

1. go into attack position, forelegs stretched flat in front of him, his butt raised high up and his tail wagging slightly and would leap on mamma. He was no more than three or four inches tall and would get lost in the folds of her saree and struggle to get out while ma did nothing to help him. That was his lesson one that mamma was not-to-be-messed-with :)

2.run away from home and go exploring. He only had to find the door opened a bit and he would make his escape. He would be found a couple of hours later, either loafing around the play ground outside our mess block or in the laundry with the dhobi bhaiya...

3. eye my beautiful African Grey Cockatiel birds. I had a pair and their cage was kept out side most time. This idiot had been observing the way we would open the latch and feed them and one fine day he just walked to their cage and opened the latch with his snout. One of the two birds flew out and we decided to give out the other one to a shelter as I believe they need mates and are not to be kept alone... We were to be found the whole of that day outside, Sandy, Nammu and I, looking up trees and whistling in the hope that the bird would return... We even took the cage with the other bird but it did us no good. Stupid Dukie, hmmpf...

4. steal any food he could find. His height was a blessing and we managed to keep him in check by just placing everything on high grounds...

He grew at an astonishing pace and he was soon into his teething stage... I dont know if it was just this idiot but he chose to chew on everything except his own chewy toys! We have lost count of the number of bathroom slippers, sandals, shoes, mugs, dustbins and anything remotely chewable that this guy destroyed... He was on a spree! He would keep at it, one after the other. I had read somewhere about this species of African ants that ate everything in their way and whole villages would evacuate if these ants were found headed their way. Duke kinda became like that for us. He would chew and destroy everything that lay in his path, our hands, fingers, legs included. Nammu, Sandy and I were never found without scratches or bruises in that phase of this idiot's life... He would just come and start chewing at our legs or hands if he did not have access to any other chewable stuff. He was our very own Hannibal Lecter... Only he was kind enough to not kill us as that would rob him of the many chances to chew us up in the future...

Two of the cutest incidents happened around this kid called Dhruv who would come over with his mom. Dhruv was barely 8 or 9 months old and was the first human baby that Duke had seen. One of Dukie's specialties was that he treated other dogs like, well, dogs. His peers were the humans. So, quite naturally, Dhruv became his play buddy while Dukie also experienced a new emotion around Dhruv. Jealousy. Duke would put up with Dhruv as long as they were playing together, the moment ma picked up Dhruv or talk to him, Duke would see red and bark and if that did not help, just plain sulk till ma pampered him too...

So this one time, Dhruv picked up Duke's stuffed toy (Duke's stuffed toy, yeah, right! That bloody thief. It was Nammu's until this guy lay claim on it...) and was trying to drag it along while he crawled... Duke knew he was not supposed to hurt Dhruv (Why was beyond him but he listened to mamma anyways...) so he watched for some time before quietly creeping up from behind Dhruv, he then grabbed the toy with his front teeth and then ran off at full speed to go into hiding while Dhruv howled at the sudden way in which he was robbed of 'his' toy :) Dukie knew he had done something wrong so he stayed under the bed until Dhruv and his mom left and after testing the waters by peeking from under the bed, he made an appearance...

The second time, Dhruv watched Dukie give a 'shake-hand' for some time after which his mom asked Dhruv to give her a shake- hand too. Dhruv promptly lifted his leg and put it in his mom's outstretched hand :)

Well, I gotta go now but there is more to come, loads of it! So stay tuned :)

Love you Duke!