A new addition

Please welcome, Ritu, a new addition to our family of two.

She is a rescue dog. She wasn’t getting adopted in spite of being well-natured because she is three-pawed (had the front right paw removed after an accident, we heard). But when we were there to look at dogs, she got attached to us, especially me, and was instantly comfortable with us, so we decided to take her in. She is around 4 according to the rescue centre.

We brought her home last Saturday. It’s been a week of learning about each other and she is slowly settling into the new environment. She was very unsure for a few days but was happy to be here with us at least. She had very less food for the first three days (which my friend mentioned was normal) but slowly she is getting back to being herself (that is, being cheeky and naughty at times). Last Friday, Mr M told me that she found her voice and has started barking at a cat (a ginger one) that roams around our neighbourhood. Other than that she is very docile and quiet. She keeps to herself and sleeps a lot. We are still trying to find the right food for her. She is such a picky eater, we also checked with the shelter about their food choices and have tried to use the same, but every day is a struggle, maybe it is part of her settling-in process? She kind of gravitates to me for play (which is odd, because even though I am good with dogs, playing with them is not my forte 🙂 ) and gets very excited when I am back from the office (which is such a nice feeling 😉 ). Mr M is taking care of her most of the time and takes her out for walks ( I join them in the evenings). She is very scared of loud noises and gets very agitated if an autorickshaw is close by or if there is some sound of a firecracker or something similar somewhere. She doesn’t fancy car rides too much (except for very short distances). The two things that she absolutely loves are a) sleeping, and b) being petted. She knows how to nudge my hand to get me to pet her.

It’s been a busy few weeks, and last weekend and this weekend have been spent with Ritu getting to know her and giving her a chance to know us and our environment. Hopefully, she will enjoy her stay with us and we will be able to provide her with a good home. I am sure I will be posting about her progress here. Stay tuned 😉

Wordless Wednesday

My best friend for life

That cute little dog is Winston. During my visit to Ireland, I was honored to befriend this lovely dog who wouldn’t get away from me even for a few seconds. Of course I was spoiling him but scratching his neck and cooing nonsense to him. He was my friend’s niece’s dog. I had a blast with him.

Why this photograph of Winston and myself? That is in response to today’s prompt from Grace

Best Friends for Life – Do you own pets? If you could, which animal would you adopt?

I am a dog person. I used to have a dog during my post graduation days. He died of pneumonia. We were blessed to have him in our lives for two years. Everyone at my home was shattered. I still remember that night, the night he died. I have never seen my brother cry (at least not before us) but that day he couldn’t control himself. And my sister…. totally inconsolable. Since we had to change houses (rented ones) and the other places had a strict no pet policy, we did not have any more pets after him. But if I had to adopt an animal it would definitely be a dog for sure. And I would totally agree with  Mark Twain.

“The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven not man’s.”

Cuties

In Chikmagalur, when we were staying at the Eagle Eye Resort, we could see these two cute pups always roaming around the area especially in the mornings. When we returned from our morning trek, they were behind me and were hell bent on nibbling my shoes 🙂 And since I had my camera with me at that time, I couldn’t resist a click

WPC: Warmth

For this week’s photography challenge (which I think came a little bit early 🙂 ) : Warmth

Doesn’t this sunrise give you a warm feeling just by looking at it ?

Playing with each other, even if it is at the edge of a cliff, just to show off to us, strangers, out there.  I always feel warm (related to emotion of course) seeing this picture, taken in Matheran.

And now, to beat that cold and to keep me warm, I would take that hot brandy, thank you very much.