Parenting A Pet
Parenting pangs notwithstanding, Rahul Pakrasi and his wife Debjani look upon their golden-brown Labrador as their ‘third child’
Parenting is by no means an easy task. It requires a lot of endurance. But since we were already parents to two naughtiest-in-the-world type girls, it was a cakewalk, even though we probably did not anticipate that it would be more challenging raising our "third-born".
Yet, on a cold January night, we set out on a quest to get our kids a new best friend. The furry little one was named Chloe. She was a 27-day-old pure-bred golden brown Labrador pup. We were thrilled as well as anxious to have her at home. Though our parents are not much fond of dogs, yet, they gave in to the demands of their grandkids. So, our Pakrasi clan got richer by one more member.
Chloe, since her childhood, seemed to know only one thing in her life- food. Anything and everything she laid her eyes upon was food for her. Be it soft toys or shoes, slippers, plastic bottles and for that matter anything, even when she was fed every two hours as suggested by the vet. The funny thing was she had a unique affinity for human Cerelac. She couldn't digest the canine Cerelac, probably the only thing that didn't find a compatible place inside her burgeoning belly. As she grew in size, so did her teeth. And just like human babies, she too had some teething troubles. A copious dose of medicines and of course any hard thing to bite was prescribed for her. And yes, giving medicines to that fast and furious tiny tot reminded us of our two girls when they were toddlers.
Potty training was another big task. Here, we might take a little credit and feel proud of giving her proper training as 90% of the times she goes to the washroom to relieve herself. That's certainly a big relief. Now that she has grown up to be a wonderfully playful and loving girl (almost 13 months) we can proudly say that she's our darling one, who wakes up in the morning and scratches Maa, Papa and her sisters out of bed. When her mother is back from school (after teaching humans) Chloe wants mamma's full attention. She jumps upon her, licks her and tells her in her own adorable ways, how much she missed mamma.
(Rahul is a journalist while Debjani is vice-principle in a reputed school)
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