Puppy Love- *Conditions Apply
May 10th, 2009 | by admin |
The five week old mutt tussles excitedly with the ragged blanket. As I look on, he throws himself into a one sided battle of tug of war. The threadbare cloth is his opponent and his comrade, the dumpster behind my house, his ‘glorious’ arena. The heap of garbage…his comfort, his refuge, his fate. I giggle as the innumerable droplets of foamy drool spewing in all directions seem to favour me as their target. His eyes, big and intelligent dart up for a split second… his focus on the task at hand remaining unmoved. I look upon his momentary glance at me as nothing short of serendipitous. Because it was those big intelligent eyes that caused my mind to plunge into a flurry of thoughts.
Possibly one of the most frequently viewed oxymorons today is that of the ‘breed conscious dog lover’. Every second person one encounters today claims to be a passionate dog lover. Yes, their love is boundless. Boundless within the impenetrable periphery of the well bred pedigrees. One can try to ease their own conscience by convincing themselves that these “good genes” are merely to ensure that their dog is healthy and happy. But who’s to say that the mongrel, so many delhiites refer to as the “stray dog” doesn’t make as healthy and happy a pet as a pure bred Labrador? Or that the five week old puppy that I watched sliding around in the dumpster couldn’t happily be lazing in a lush garden one summer morning even a decade from now?
The very extent of prejudice which is borne by man while deciding the fate of his ‘best friend’ is simply appalling. The evolution of the dog, it can be called? Quite the contrary actually. For the metamorphosis has seen the loyal ball of fur which we once loved unconditionally, become a mere status symbol. And that brings up another vital point. Not only do we dismiss half the canine population as not being “good enough” breeds, but we also judge the pedigrees by the amount we spent to buy them. Eons of activism, condemning human traffic as savage … and yet in this act of sheer hypocrisy we subject animals to the derogatory process of judging the value of their life, and putting a price on it. Not only have we plummeted headfirst to the Nadir of humanity, but we seem callously ignorant of this as well.
This is not to say that purebreds should be boycotted. For that is equally inhumane. Take the example of Robin Hood… He didn’t leave the rich homeless or any less loved. But he did ensure that the poor felt loved and sheltered. We must break away the barriers of rigidity that cause us to look upon two different, and yet exactly the same dogs in such starkly contrasting ways.
I walk to the dumpster and lit up the scruffy stray. His eyes, big and intelligent hold mine. A soft playful growl resonates from within his throat, as we venture into my house… into his new life. A decade later, he would still be there, stretching lazily in the garden. Happy, content, loved, having defied his “fate”…and all because of the serendipity of that one glance up.
Adopt a stray… save a life.
Ambika kaushik Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/pets-articles/puppy-love-conditions-apply-909051.html
age 17
