Parenting A Pet
Vatsala Srivastava, student, pursuing masters in mass communication, has a lot to say about her dear pet...
It was during my summer break when I, for the very first time, met a being that was ‘pawsome’. It was the 12th of May, 2013, an extremely mundane Sunday when my father brought a little not-a-person to our house. When my father walked into the house, what I saw was an adorable little pup who looked like a cotton ball with streaks of black on its ears and back. Not being more than two months old, she was not any bigger than my palm, had eyes like tiny beads and tiny paws. Since she was so young, her paws and nose had a little stroke of pink. She looked like a ‘Tuffy’, so that’s what we named her. In her first few hours with me, I knew she would be the most notorious kid I had to ever deal with and I would love her. Eventually time passed and Tuffy made sure everyone who met her loved her and adored her.
The thing they say about Lhasa Apsos is, “when a Lhasa Apso looks in the mirror, he sees a lion.” and Tuffy makes it believable. Despite being small and short in stature, she makes sure no dog, no matter how huge, comes in her way when she is out on a walk. Looking at a dog that tiny, barking at the other much bigger and scarier dogs and them actually making them leave is a comical sight. If someone were to ask me what Tuffy likes to do, besides eating up insoles of my shoes and tugging at my clothes when she wants me to move, I would say she loves to look out of the window of a moving car, with the air hitting her face and her hair flowing - making sure to make every moment as filmy as possible. Also, when I say she loves it, I imply that she would scratch you and bark at you if you don’t roll down the windows.
Recently, she has gotten into a habit of chewing on her dental sticks twice in the day, the same way humans brush their teeth and every morning. When I wake up, I find the door of my room open, just enough for her to peek inside, and there she is, just looking at me eagerly, not barking, just looking and that is a signal for me to give it to her. Similarly, in the evening, once she is done with her dinner, she walks up straight to my room, even before I get to my room. People often say that dogs can be trained only when they are young but that doesn’t seem to be the case with Tuffy. Rather, she actually learnt so much more as she got older than she ever did as a kid. Maybe she has picked up human traits, who can tell!
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