My dog was a teacher
When an animal teaches you so many things without saying anything
One and half years ago, our life was going normal. We were used to street dogs around us. We used to give them buns, food, etc. at the end of the day, and during the day we used to drive them away. No feelings attached to them.
One day my sister saw a scared dog sitting on our stairs. He was about five to six months old. His color was golden, his lips were golden, and most fascinating his eyes were also golden. He was white from the chest and bottom of his all four legs. My sister found him very cute so she started talking to us about him. We didn’t realize but from that point, we all became dog talkers and he was christened as “ Jonny Jonathan”. Now we had three dogs, namely, Laalu, Damru, and young boy Jonny. Laalu was the oldest and Jonny was the youngest.
After some time, not just we but all our neighbors were talking about dogs, like, your red dog did this, we saw him today at this place, last night he ran after my bike, where is that dog, his eyes are so fascinating, he was barking on my dog, etc.
And in our family, when we woke up, we used to be like, Oh! Jonny has made a new friend, see how he is looking today, he ate dung, he yawned in this way, he bathed in the river like this, he went for a walk with Mum and did these blunders, he defeated Damru today, he has become a good partner to father and so on. Our day used to start with the talks of dogs and it ended with the dogs.
Before the journey could end, Jonny taught me so many things and I am listing some of them here:
- Enjoy the care you are getting from others: When I write this thing as a point, I mean it. He was a dog who showed a sense of satisfaction and a feeling of gratefulness whenever he was given food, his head was touched with love. He enjoyed all the attention he got and it was felt like, he was always ready to get more. So for me, the learning is, be grateful for the people who care for you. Accept their love for you without any drama or throwing any tantrums.
2. Be ready to return the love: Oh God! The way he could make you happy, you can’t forget. He did not take time to make you feel as if he is all yours. You’ll sit beside him and he will be ready to put his head on your lap in such a lovely way that you’ll forget all your tensions. You are going somewhere and he will be right there to see you and say have a great day. There are many more.
The teaching behind this was, we can’t only expect to be loved but we need to learn how to impart love in return.
3. Be always ready to learn something new: After a few days when he opened up and started knowing us, he became like a child. Whatever new he was seeing he was looking and staring at it for a long time. He used to go near the things and if he could touch and grab them, he used to do so, and if not then he tried to buzz around it. Saw a new insect, let’s check it, saw a horse as a new animal, let’s go and see him by chasing him. Oh! That’s a new game. Let’s learn how to play it. Come on Damru, let’s learn new moves for a fight today.
He used to do the things regularly and used to master them like a pro. The amazing thing was, I never saw an expression of boredom on his face. He was always ready to repeat the task to become a veteran and show that, see, yesterday you were making fun of mine and today you need to bring something new for that fun. What an attitude he had!
4. Stay always active, alert, and energetic: Street dogs have their boundaries. After a few days, I think Damru and Laalu made him understand that this is our area and if you go out of this area, you will face trouble. He got it. Now, he was the youngest and he was energetic too. You could always find him looking after his boundaries, staying awake while the other two were sleeping, immediately barking whenever seeing any stranger, properly checking out that who is the intruder, etc.
Moreover, bathing daily in the river, running and walking with us whenever getting the chance, playing with us and with these two. We thought as he will grow up he will automatically slow down, but to our wonder, he always became more energetic, more joyful, and happier.
Which taught me that they are we who set limits for us, otherwise we can do anything. There is no limit.
5. Be friends first: Jonny loved to explore new places. Whenever he went with us, we saw that it was his habit to not become aggressive first. He always tried to become a friend whether the dog in front of him was a pup, an adult, a female, or a stronger dog. He used to go to them, talk to them in their language and somehow make them his friends. But sometimes it came to war as well.
Now you’ll say that it’s the basic dog’s behavior, all dogs do this when they are out of their boundaries. But he used to treat the other dogs like this when the other dogs used to come to his boundary unless Laalu and Damru did not start barking.
This taught me that we don’t need to think that everyone who comes to us is bad. Firstly, know them and then learn how we should be with them. We don’t need to be bad unnecessarily.
6. Be courageous: Be courageous to fulfill your dreams and to take the risks on the way to fulfill them. I think seeing new places and roaming around was his goal. No doubt, he did everything to go around. Whenever he used to see us going anywhere, there was not a single day he was not with us. He used to cross his boundaries, he fought and escaped from gangs of dogs, but he never looked back( like Laalu and Damru who used to get back after seeing the dogs of that particular area coming to them). When we got busy, he used to go with other people who used to leave him halfway and don’t know what he used to do to come back home safely. Sometimes he used to go alone and come back after three to four days. We used to hear from others that today your dog was here and today he was there.
We enjoyed his every act. Even his this courage because we knew that he loved it and we were seeing such dog for the first time who was being so courageous to fulfill his dreams.
But this courageousness came with a great cost. He suddenly started being lazy, he stopped eating meals, he stopped playing, his breaths became heavy. We called out doctors, then they found that he was suffering from canine distemper. This disease is incurable so nothing could be done.
Many people can say that dogs are like this but for us, he was the only one. He was a dog thinking about whom can make us smile anytime. If you have also a loving pet, please make sure to immunize him as per the instructions given by the veterinary.
But anyways this was the story of dearest Jonny and what he taught me. I hope you liked this article. If you also have a pet, especially a street love then please share with us what he or she taught you.
Thank you:)
