The Indian Dog's Day out!

Open Breed Event, National College Grounds, Basavangudi

TGIDPA was invited to hold a stall at the Annual Dog Show 2012-13, National College grounds, Basavangudi on the 29th July,2012. At the stall, we had 4 indian pups and 1 abandoned old pom, the very beautiful Pushpa, for adoption. To represent the Indian dog, we brought along Manu, the gentle giant, who is also blind owing to a territorial fight before he was rescued. When we got there, we had no plans of registering him for the show, as we had to manage so many things. But after we saw that there was no Indian dog registered for the show even though it was an open breed event, we decided that Manu simply had to participate.

Our Stall

So out we went into the ring, among mastiffs, collies, retrievers & so on, and stood our ground with The Indian Dog. People clapped & cheered the loudest for Manu who won the 3rd prize in the biggest dog category. We took him for a second round for the Junior Handler Category with our youngest volunteer 15 year old Rushith Reddy. It was an overwhelming, victorious moment for all of us there, to see him stand tall with all the other breeds, win a prize, walk back to the stall & go to sleep. :)

Im as good as the rest, Maybe better too. :) 

Manu, the Winner!

Our stall generated a lot of interest as we were the only stall that had pups. A lot of people dropped in and asked "which breed?" to which the answer was "Indian" to which the response was a bewildered look. Some of them asked if they were for sale, and we answered, no, they are not for sale, they are up for adoption to which again there was a bewildered look. We had information on 7 reasons why you should adopt an Indian dog that we compiled from Rajashree Khalap's Indog Project. A lot of people expressed interest and requested for a copy which we promptly gave. We also had a huge banner that shouted "Don't Shop. Adopt!"

We also had a bunch of boys advise us about getting 'nice' breeds next time. But to counter all that we had a lovely response from the crowd, the organisers, the judges & the chief guests. The Indian Dog was mentioned time & again by the hosts of the event.
2 pups got adopted into loving homes, one by the chief guest herself, Mrs Sheela Yogeshwar, an ardent animal lover who also has a score of Indian dogs as companion pets.

Amrut, dog behaviorist & trainer and a judge at the event, a very fine gentleman, who helped us rehabilitate Germy, was also there helping the Indian Dog get its due. We, the entire TGIDPA team thank him for his support wholeheartedly.

We believe that we made an impact by not shying away from participating with our Indian dogs in an open breed event and we stuck to our motto - "Don't Shop! Adopt!"

A good job done! 

A journey to freedom!

The German Shepherd , unwanted & abandoned for being aggressive at the shelter locked up in a kennel 24/7.

On his way out inside the net to a faraway unknown place.

Handle with Care? yeah right!

With Dogguru Amrut in his farm!

Was this the same guy who we were all afraid to touch.

This guy who was abandoned by his owners was locked up in a kennel 24/7. Everybody was afraid of him & he, of everybody. He was fed but did not get the other things that a dog requires to survive.
BBMP officials had asked the NGO to put it down & had started pressurising them. So the NGO requested TGIDPA volunteers to help them sort it out.

A first hand account from Jaysal Jagadish who had taken this up with so much commitment
.
After repeated request from us to take up the case of the German Shepherd which was about to be put down by Sarvodaya
on the pressure from BBMP officials we have successfully saved his life.
It was really great of Amrut to take this up personally and making sure the dog is not put down.
Sarvodaya provided 3 catchers and 1 driver with who i went along to Amruts Farm / School
The dog was very aggressive when he was got to the farm in a dog catching net. Amrut was immediately
 alarmed to see the dog in a net and asked the Sarvodaya workers to tie a chain and remove him out of the net.
As the catchers were afraid of the dog Amrut and his team took over and got the dog out of the net and immediately
the dog became friendly and started wagging its tail and went along with Amrut and his team for a walk. Later he was fed
and his training started immediately.

He will be well taken care of both health wise and behavior wise as he has been traumatized at the shelter without a walk or
proper food for nearly 2 and half months.

We thank Amrut the Dog guru for his responsiveness and taking up responsibility of the German shepherd who will spend the rest of his life at his Farm or if he finds a good home will get adopted.
Best of luck to him and a big thanks to Amrut.

After seeing him, I really wonder, is it the dog that needs training or are we humans really the ones who could do with some training!

P.S - He was neutered at the request of Dogguru Amrut & was not subjected to any training methods that included aggression or punishments!   He is in a happier place for sure!

We thank Dog guru Amrut for showing interest & helping us rehabilitate him! He busted some myths about dog training & trainers.It just took him a few minutes to sort us out!

A Big thank you to Jaysal Jagadish for being so committed to every single dog that he encounters. It's from him that I have learnt that every dog counts! :)

The sheer normalcy of being animal friendly.

Have you ever felt that you are singled out in some way for being this oddball wacko animal friendly person? Have you been questioned  about why you cant do something for poor little kids instead?  Do you see people make faces or say eeeeeeeeeew when that little friendly dog by the canteen ambles up to you & you respond with a gentle pat on his head?
Some of my colleagues think I am a little eccentric/ abnormal.
A typical conversation
" So what did you do over the weekend?"
" Nothing much, I went to the shelter, spent some time, took some of them for a walk, fed all of them some treats. That's about it"
Even before I reach mid sentence, I see the expression changing, They stop listening.

" okay, whatever, go to a disc man, go have some fun"

A week passes by

"So what did u do over the weekend"
" Nothing much"
Another scene:
Me looking at my monitor, doing some random thing,

" What are you doing? Some dog thing? You & your dogs!"

me continuing to do whatever it was I was doing.

How I miss friends I've made who love animals just like me in times like these.
Sample conversation:
"What did you do over the weekend?"
"went to the shelter."
"Damn, I missed it this week."

I dont spend time with animals because I want to feel Ive done some great job or to prove that Im mother Teresa.
It just makes me feel good. I have fun over the weekends just being around them. I also have my share of some normal socializing, but it's never as much fun as being with dogs & animal lovers.
We all speak the same language & we dont make faces at each other. How normal I feel. :)

Someday when I decide it's time to stop being around abnormal people, I'll quit my job. :)
till then I'll say

It's a dog thing! You won't get it!