An Accident Of Nature....

"A really companionable and indispensable dog is an accident of nature. You can't get it by breeding for it, and you can't buy it with money. It just happens along." - E B White.

  This quote is so true, when I think of Tasha. Really she is our priced possession and whosoever has taken her away from us has caused great pain and hurt to all of us. Tasha is equally loved by family and friends and WE all curse him from the bottom of our heart. 

May the fleas of a thousand dogs infest your armpits!

Though Tasha entered our life by accident, she completely overpowered our hearts by her unconditional love strictly as the quote says, “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” ― Josh Billings.

After the initial brief encounter outside the gate of Sasha and Tasha; Sasha entered our house compound and both Tasha and Sasha were left off leash. Looking at Sasha's unruly behaviour, Tasha became timid and was hiding behind us. We all enjoyed her behaviour, she was terrified of her life seeing this durga avatar of her own mother.

Getting home Sasha was a family decision and hence she was welcomed home with lot of joy. However, seeing Sasha's mental and physical health, I was worried about handling her and to maintain peace within our house, as my daughters Boards were more important to me.

Tasha taking shelter in between us after seeing the wild side of Sasha photo clicked on 25.1.2013.

 

Tasha running helter skelter, photo clicked on 25.1.2013

Sasha in turn was clumsy, lost and angered by the state of affairs. She barked relentlessly and misbehaved completely. Andrea had a ruler in her hand and kept giving stern warnings to her to behave well. I merely was dumb struck and just did not know how to react to get control of the situation.

It was lunch time when Andrea & Sasha arrived, so I got busy to serve food first to the dogs and then to all of us. Sasha was not let in and kept tied in the garage.  

By the way, I had got drilled 2 separate steal loops for Sasha, one in the garage and the other one on the opposite side of the house. We tried tying her on the other end, but she would jump and threaten to bite the passer by from the annexed house, so tying her in the garage was a better option.

Sasha barked continuously until our ear drums gave way. I took the food bowl towards her, but just could not place it near her. Andrea had to do this.

I thought Sasha was more angered as she was left alone outside the house tied in the garage and requested Andrea to get her in, but how? She would simply pounce on anyone and bite. So though we got her in, we just tied her, to one of the window grill.

It was evening and my husband came home. He had all the reports of the day, at hand and had now also seen Sasha. He disapproved the idea of Sasha kept aloof and not allowed to roam freely in the house, so she was untied, but then came the muzzle on her mouth. Which again he insisted to remove. His logic was that, she must be treated with confidence and allowed to mingle freely to gain her trust and friendship. We followed his instructions, but I believe both the dogs needed their space before they could get comfortable with each other and also we humans too, wanted some time to trust her, to let loose.

So our journey of owning 2 GSDs started with all the teething problems which were larger than life image, but we being utterly hopeful thought time will bring the situation under control and it will be all fun parenting the two female GSDs.

Dated: 14th Nov 2013.

A dog reflects the family life.

         Andrea decided to board a sleeper coach. She called confirming the same and also warned about the disturbance in our routine, especially with Manali's board exams fast approaching. She also offered to get Sasha in the month of May and added she will never be able to forgive herself, if Manali would be disturbed due to her stay and also getting Sasha with her. We both (my husband and me), were quiet confident about handling another dog and were blissfully unaware of the impending danger. We thought, she is unnecessarily being polite and portraying a scary picture in our minds and we took the risk thinking, it is just January now and that we would adjust our life style handling both the dogs much sooner and overruled all her suggestions and told her to come in January itself.
        Andrea was relieved probably and decided to board the afternoon sleeper coach from Borivali on the 24th Jan 2013 after finishing her morning College lectures. As planned she was at the designated bus stop with Sasha and even purchased a ticket for Sasha. She booked two adjoined berths, so both would be comfortable.
        She boarded the bus and called me confirming it. After a few minutes she was interrupted by someone and she told me she would call me later. Then almost for an hour or so, I did not hear from her. I got worried, wondering if is not allowed to board.
       As anticipated, the bus operator denied her entry with her dog Sasha, but with the tickets in hand and Andrea's patience to convince them, she was allowed to board finally and their journey to Bangalore started.

 

Clicked in the bus on 24/01/2013

Clicked in the bus on 24/01/2013

Clicked in the bus on 24/01/2013

          Borivali to Bangalore is almost 24 hours of journey. I did not here anything from Andrea until she almost reached Bangalore. She was to call me, informing which stop she would get down. Finally, I called her and she informed me to come to Anandrao Circle and that the bus would reach their in just half an hour their. I got panicked and drove a little fast to reach in time. And I actually did. After 5-10 mins of wait, I saw a red coloured bus as Andrea had described and knew it was this.
         The bus passed ahead of me and  started following it, just a few metres ahead it came to a halt. I could see Andrea getting down from the bus with Sasha. Sasha was too confused seeing so many people around and was profusely barking. She even tried to snap at some passerby. Andrea was finding it difficult to control her. I couldn't get down of the car and hence informed a group of boys standing near the car to call the lady with the dog. And then came both in the car, relieved to catch them in time and get them in car.
          First time, I saw Sasha. She looked very skinny, worked up and irritated. She has a scarf tied on her mouth and a plastic muzzle over it. I greeted both of them, Sasha tried to snap at me too. I took it lightly. Both were on the back seat and I was driving. Andrea called to inform her mom and her brother about her safe journey and having reached Bangalore. She told me about her journey experience and with the ongoing conversation we finally reached home.
           Manali was at home and I called her before reaching home, to get Tasha out of the house, so that Sasha and Tasha meet on the road i.e on a neutral ground. She did accordingly and as expected Tasha started barking, smelling a dog and later facing each other got much louder.
           Andrea was tired and being week and could not control her and had no patience to hold her firmly on leash. She just wanted to leave Sasha loose and hence put her inside the compound. And thus the introduction of the 2 dogs was extremely brief and abrupt.

          
            Seeing Sasha so closely for the first time, I feared and realized its going to be tough and also remembered a quote read sometime back, which goes as follows; 

“A dog reflects the family life. Whoever saw a frisky dog in a gloomy family, or a sad dog in a happy one? Snarling people have snarling dogs, dangerous people have dangerous ones.”
Quoted by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes

Absolutely not knowing then, it would lead to such a disaster in days to come.
           
 To be continued.......