A recent Sunday morning saw 65 dogs hit the streets around Kwality More. All of them were pets who walked with their “parents”, but the walk was to raise awareness and spread compassion for street dogs.
The dog-a-thon was hosted by the new pet shop in Salt Lake - Heads Up For Tails (Huft). There were loveable Labradors, snappy Pomeranians and the rare Husky and Pitbull too. The walk began from the store and took a left from CAP Camp Island towards the canal. They were led by staff holding up banners in front and ribbons on the side to keep them from spilling onto the rest of the road. Nonetheless traffic slowed down around them and curious passengers got a great look.
Gayatri Kailash’s Labrador Vishu had come in walking shoes. “I’ve been training him to use shoes for two months now. I can’t bear to see him walk on the hot street bare feet,” said the lady who had come from Kasba.
If you thought Kasba was far from Kwality More, wait till you hear where Adrija Chakravarti had come from. “Joka,” said the lady walking with her “Indie” Lily. “We left home at 5am for this and even though I couldn’t sleep in on a Sunday morning, it doesn’t matter. Life is dogs!”
The only mishap was when a German Shepherd Dog (GSD) bit another pet parent. “There was this lady walking with three GSDs and a Lab and couldn’t control them. Her doc bit a man but we had first aid and a doctor on standby to help,” said store manager Dibyendu Ghosh.
Ghosh added that the dog-a-thon was taking place simultaneously across 17 stores in 17 states. “Elsewhere it is our flagship store hosting the event. In Calcutta we chose out Salt Lake branch as it is new and we wanted to familiarise people with it,” he said.
Ajanta Paul had come from Howrah, also with her Indie Jasmine, and was busy distributing hand-outs to others. “We are fostering Jasmine and are looking for a good home for her. She’s our sixth foster child,” said the lady who has two more Labradors at home. “We didn’t get the Labs as the attention usually shifts to them otherwise. We need to highlight Jasmine.”
While Paul is obviously a proponent of adopting street dogs, she pointed at the practice of people shaming those who kept pedigrees. “They try to guilt trip you for not adopting an Indie instead. But all kinds of dogs are loveable and people should have the freedom to nest whoever they wish,” she said.
Lots of walkers said they feed street dogs around their homes. “But instead of giving them home-cooked food, we recommend dog lovers to pick up our in-house product, Feed a Dog,” said Ghosh, the manager. “This is specially formulated for street dogs, keeping in mind how hardy they are. Its composition is slightly different from products catered to different breeds and at Rs 899 for 5kg, it is cheaper than other products, some of which sell at Rs 1,500. We also sell beds for street dogs at Rs 499.”
The Rs 500 registration fee of the walk went for the welfare of street dogs too.