No love... like a Dog's love!
There is truly no love greater than the one you get from your doggo!
There is love: boy meets girl, girl meets boy, they fall in love kind of love. A mother’s love, a father’s love. The love of a grandparent, a best friend, a cousin.
Then there is a dog’s love. And there is no love in the world quite like it.
Fifi
When I was maybe 7 or eight, my father got my brother a dog for his birthday. It was a surprise, they simply left the little ball of fur under our dinner table, and told us to look under. At first we thought it was literally a new ball and my brother tried to pull it out, till the little baby squirmed.
Of course they told us the dog was for both of us, despite my birthday having gone by two months earlier.
I didn’t care, I was in love.
We named him Fifi, he was a black and white Lhasa apso. I don’t think I had even heard or seen this breed before in my short life.
My brother, who was two years older than me, loved our dog as well. But he was at that age where his friends meant the world to him. He was also a very popular kid and was always out cycling, skating or video gaming with his friends.
Me? I was a terrible introvert. I had school friends who I loved and was a total nutter with, but when I was home, which was a lot, I was a closed shell.
So our dog became my best friend.
I would spend hours chatting with him, dancing for him, making him a part of every game I played in the house.
He was not a friendly dog, nope, quite the opposite. He hated people. All people, kids, grown ups, the maids, our friends, a courier person. He was not discriminating in his hate.
He has even bit two or three people in his life time.
His most annoying quality was when we had rats at home and my father would be trying to whack the rats with a thick stick, this silly boy would run straight into the line of attack. Thinking of course, that he would be the one killing the rat, but narrowly escaping death himself.
As he grew old, he grew much quieter. His barks were softer but he was grumpier as heck!
I remember when he was really old, one day he ended up leaving our house. Something he hadn’t done is nearly ten odd years, and we thought we had lost him. All of us running around the neighbourhood searching for him, but not finding him.
It was such a traumatic day, we knew he was too old to survive an attack from a street dog and the thought that his last moments would be without us, killed us all.
Luckily we did find him, brought him home. He was super unwell. So much so my father had to take the harsh decision to put him down. It was the only humane thing to do.
We all spent the night with him giving him as much love as we could muster as a family that was falling apart at its seams.
Fifi was the last thing that was holding us together.
I will always have memories of this dog giving me the ultimate love I have ever felt, the kind of quiet support and trust like no one else. I have whispered all my secrets to him, cried big fat tears into his small furry body. I have hugged him and felt safe at a time in my life when I had nothing to feel safe about.
For years I have missed him. I have thought of him and his sweet little face. His warm brown eyes that were forever covered by his fringe. I miss him even today.
Mylo
When I had my first miscarriage, my husband got me a pup. A cute little brown Labrador.
It’s funny because he thought I was shattered about the miscarriage and he got me the puppy to mend my broken heart.
I was upset, no doubt, but hmmmm I’m not sure anymore, but back then my rather practical brain chose to look at the situation simply as a natural thing to happen. I wasn’t truly, deeply devastated. I was simply sad.
I was very grateful for the pup though. Unfortunately we were staying with his folks in Jaipur, and his family isn’t very pet friendly. They have always had a watch dog but never a pet.
So this poor fellow wasn’t treated very well by everyone else. Fed left overs, made to sleep alone. As ok as I was with the miscarriage, I was not all there to really fight the way they kept pets.
A few months down the line I got pregnant. I never had the chance to really bond with my dog.
See, I have still not even told you his name. It was Mylo. He truly was a lovely dog. I was a terrible parent.
After having my son, my husband decided we were to go back to Bombay, so we packed our bags and left when my son was one. We decided to come back for the doggo once we were settled.
He died within a few months. It was terrible. They said he ate a lizard most likely and there was nothing they could do.
After that we swore never to get a dog. My husband wasn’t much of a pet person either and I couldn’t handle another pet passing away.
Albus
My son was 8 when he started talking about golden retrievers. He and I would watch adorable dog videos on Instagram endlessly. I must have a million saved videos by now.
My son is the sweetest though. He never outright demands for anything, he quietly says what he would like and then leaves it for us to make the final decision. Of course at first we were vehemently against it.
Both the husband and I.
Now what you need to know about the husband is he’s an ocd, neatness, cleanliness freak. Like he marks the top of his blanket so the head part doesn’t touch the feet part kind of ocd!!
But the other thing about him is, he is a big old softie and he will literally do any damn thing for his son, and me.
So before I was ok, he was convinced to get a dog.
And so we got the dumbest, cutest, fluffiest damn dog in the world. Albus.
For the first month my son was in shock. We were actually worried that we had made a big mistake, because this kid would hardly play with him. I was taken back to my brother hardly playing with Fifi and I freaked out.
What had we done?
And then came that love. That precious, pure, unadulterated doggo love.
It washed over my son like warm sunshine. I cannot tell you what a sight it is today, two years down the line to see them. Cuddles, hugging, rough housing. He speaks of him like they are brothers, he defends him like they are part of a pack.
He gives him more treats than he needs to, lays down on the floor with him scratching his belly, fights with him when he bullies my son to enter his room.
And the love he gets from Albus, the hugs and licks and jumps and that wagging tail, looks like he is going to take off!
I can’t believe sometimes that I fought getting a dog because I couldn’t bear the thought of loosing another pet, but the fact that I would have missed this love that these two share. That I was stealing my son of a childhood-teenage experience of having a best friend like he will never have.
It would have truly been the worst decision I had ever made. Thank God for my softie husband!
And can I just add that this dog has brought back in me a love I hadn’t felt in a while. He and I spend pretty much the whole day alone together, enjoying the ac like two spoilt brats. He comes shoving his big nose at my arm while I’m writing asking for love. He will bully me into taking him for walks, which is a great way to get me out of the house.
He is pure joy!