These dump yard darlings don’t need a pedigree
Cookie became the ninth dog in the brigade of roadside darlings who slipped into our household, sliding under the iron gate of our house on a cold winter night.
As I offered Cookie some bread and milk, the malnourished look quickly transformed into one of divine contentment, much like that of a long lost child who has finally found his mother. And his tail instantly broke into a lyric of love, happiness, and gratitude. For the ardent dog lover in me, there is no such thing as “one too many” when it comes to welcoming stray dogs as members of the family. Later, he was sent to our farmhouse to stay, mingle and play with “seniors” already there.
“Not another dog,” said a friend. “I couldn’t have let him go,” I said. “But he is a stray dog, god knows what diseases they carry, and he is so ugly. Why don’t you get a good dog as a pet,” she suggested. But my liking for people and dogs is not based on their race.
While pure-bred canines are considered the best for being raised as pets, the strays are often subject to insensitivity. If dogs insisted on allowing only well-bred humans to be their masters, there would hardly be a house with a pet.
In my stray battalion, every dog looks like the robust inheritor of mother earth and not just a poor cousin of pedigree dogs. Before my friend could start reeling out her long list of differences between cute furry pure breeds and these street fighters, the stout little Jingles came wagging his tail towards us. My friend was surprised when I poured some tea into his bowl.
The dogs are used to farm workers sharing their meals with them, and tea is no exception. Sharing meals with dogs at the farm was a lesson in humility for my sophisticated friend. Homespun love, not exotic food, is the staple diet of adopted stray dogs.
People keep pets for company and protection of their premises. I don’t see these dump yard darlings failing at either of the two.
The age old fascination with pedigree is only promoting consanguinity among dogs of the same breed.
Hung up on pedigree, my friend was kind enough to even offer me one of her own. I thanked her, saying, “I can’t afford to promote genetic manipulations for my selfish interest. With dogs, one can do only as dogs do: love unconditionally. And breed or no breed, a dog will chew your shoes, nibble at your purse, tear away anything in wool, hide your socks, and yet make you forget all this when you arrive home after a long day. So what does breed mean anyway?”
We humans find nothing wrong with discriminating among ourselves on the basis of colour, caste, and race.
We can at least spare the pets this evil. As for dogs and breeds, every dog is too well bred to be communal in his choice of masters. Or else, a dog would reject you, unless you happened to belong to a caste or community of his choice. We should be grateful that dogs don’t practice apartheid.
STRAYS ARE OFTEN SUBJECT TO INSENSITIVITY. IF DOGS INSISTED ON ALLOWING ONLY WELLBRED HUMANS TO BE THEIR MASTERS, THERE WOULD HARDLY BE A HOUSE WITH A PET