I don’t remember my mum. I have faint memories of my brothers and sisters with whom I ran and tumbled and laughed and cried and fought and played. I do remember the stories Ma told us about doggie heaven where the doggie angel took good and obedient doggies. A heaven where there were plenty of cats for us to chase and lots of bones for us to chew.
One day when I was barely a month old, a man came. He took me away in a basket. I cried and cried for my mum and my brothers and sisters but I never saw them again. It took a long time but eventually I settled down in my new home but I missed my mother’s milk so much. The man’s family was kind enough I suppose but I never felt any love or affection from them. When guests came, I was displayed like a cute trophy but when they left I was again tied up to the verandah railings. Everybody in the family was busy with their own work, the children with their schools, papa with his business and missus with supervising the house help. As time passed, I grew bigger but my cuteness reduced and my human family gave me less and less time and affection.
When I was about a year old, I was skinny, all arms and legs and a head too big for my body. Even though I wanted to play, I think my family thought of me as ugly and kicked me away every time I tried to. One day, I was back in their car. I thought we were all going for a lovely family picnic where all of us would enjoy ourselves and my human family would love me as they used to do when I was little. But I was driven to a place across the river and pushed into a tiny cage. It was a stinking garbage dump of a place and there were many unfamiliar dogs around.
I hear people speaking – Rottweiler, GSD, Labrador -- but I had no idea what these words meant. I was fed rice gruel and sometimes I got chicken claws. I had to pee and poo inside the cage itself. My hair fell out and I got great big ugly and painful sores on my skin and feet.
Lucy’s paw blistered from standing in her own excrements for months
A scared Lucy in a surrender pose soon after coming to the Salt Lake house. Her mouth had lost all hair due to an infection.
If you think this was terrible, worse was in store for me. A few days later, I was tied to a wooden frame and a huge mean looking dog was let loose at me. I yelped and struggled for ages and finally the big brute gave up and walked away. I was untied and beaten mercilessly and pushed back into my cage.
They didn’t give me any food for many days as punishment for my “misbehaviour”. I was so miserable. I so wanted my mummy. I cried and cried but there was no mummy to comfort me. I wished the dog angel would come and take me with him to dog heaven. But I had been disobedient with my new owners – would I qualify for doggie heaven?
A few days later, as I lay faint with hunger and bruised by beatings, covered in my own excreta, a girl came to see me. I cringed in fear and bared my teeth hoping she would go away and not beat me. To my surprise, instead of looking at me with loathing and disgust, she whispered soft words to me, put her hand through the bars and let me sniff her. Slowly, talking softy all the time she petted me gently and stroked my face. It had been so long since anyone had shown me any affection; I really thought that the dog angel had finally come to lead me away to dog heaven. But I wondered why she was walking on two legs – wasn’t a doggie angel supposed to have four legs just like us?
Then she stood up and went away. I was devastated.
But the next day she came again. Angry words were exchanged with my master, a lot of shouting and waving of arms followed. But she was determined. She came to my cage, unlocked it and beckoning me she walked purposefully towards the gate. I didn’t need another invitation. Weak though I was, I bolted for the entrance with all the strength in my emaciated body and jumped into the back seat of her little car parked outside. She got in and we drove off.
This day changed my life forever. She took me to her home; I was given a good bath and a lovely meal full of meat and vegetables. Instead of another cage, she petted me and had me sit near her all the time.
We went to a doctor who treated and injected me with medicines. It hurt of course but I was so delirious with joy that I hardly felt the pin pricks. At her home, she pulled out wriggly horrible things from my skin. Maggie, maggo? Oh yes, maggots, I remember her saying.
I have been with her for four years now, and she and her family love and cherish me and I love them beyond woofs can utter. Every morning is a fresh discovery of my new heaven as I gently nudge them awake. In sleepy voices, they turn to me and say “gooooood morning Luchu!” and give me a tickle behind my ears and I give them a great big happy sloppy lick in return.
I am Lucy, a rescued St. Bernard, the luckiest dog in the world.
An open letter to wannabe dog parents
Anuradha Roy with Lucy at her FE Block home
The world is full of abandoned breed dogs. Puppies brought home when they are furry bundles of cuteness. But dogs are not toys to be used for a while and thrown on the trash heap when they grow up.
Dogs are living beings and God made them just as God made you, your family, your friends, your children and other humans on earth. It is unutterably cruel and tragic the way illegal breeding farms operate in our country, the trauma and anguish their mothers endure just so that puppies can be sold for astronomical amounts and displayed as status symbols. You, readers, are intelligent human beings, the ultimate achievement of God’s creation. Can ‘lesser’ animals not expect some God-like qualities of compassion and love and kindness from you?
If you really want a breed dog, get in touch with dog shelters and dog foster parents, they will be happy to give you a dog of your choice. Facebook is full of such posts. If not, there are innumerable ‘indie’ dogs roamng the streets where they get hit by cars or bitten by other dogs. Adopt one. Believe me, they are as loveable and intelligent as breed dogs and far more resistant to disease. But whatever you decide to do, please be kind to your pets. You, dear reader, were born human. Justify your status.
Anuradha Roy, FE Block