Dukie Bulletin Board- 1

The Hero Himself!

"My dog's not spoiled ... I'm just well trained !"

This one's for Duke, the 'forever baby' we brought home in 1999. Life was never to be the same... I have mentioned my furry baby in my previous posts but I always felt I was cheating him out of the coverage he deserves... He needs his own space (On my blog, I mean!) and I'll give him that now...

Duke, registered as Duke Havaldar, was brought into our family when we were all grown up and pa couldnt resist it anymore... Ma liked dogs but that was about it. Sandy (My cousin who stayed with us through his school), Nammu and I did not know too many dogs ourselves but our love for dogs was generated through all the doggie stories ma and pa told us... The major stars were:

1. Jimmy- He was my ajji's (Granny) dog, a lovely Alsatian that I had played with as a kid. He was the first one to receive us each time we went to Hubli for our summer vacations... A patient, lovable and beautiful dog... He was also the first dog to bite me. I received seven injections but I thank god that my mind did not develop any phobia due to that incident... I was at fault, I had fallen over him while he was sleeping...

2. Snoopy- The yellow lab of one of my dad's friends that had stayed with ma and pa when I was a baby. He was left with my parents for a month while uncle and aunty went for a yearly holiday and when dad met him almost ten years after that first time he stayed with them, he was the first to the door and gave pa a welcome that made up one of our best 'dog story'.

3. Kitty- She was, I think, a collie... She was small though... A beautiful, long coated girl dog who we doggie- sat while her family went for their vacation. Even after her family came back, she would head for our place after her evening walk causing her owners to stop all her visits to our place. We were upset by their behavior but now that we have this pig of our own, we know how bad you feel when your dog has an attachment for someone outside of your family.

4. Papa's sheep dog- This one was our favourite due to the fact that this was pa's very own dog he had as a kid...

We were so ready for our own doggie... We always knew it would be a yellow lab because pa was quite sure of that. I was in my 12th standard, Nammu was in her 8th and Sandy was in primary school when we had this Air Force mela where we had a breeder participate as well. Vinod Uncle. He told pa that one of his lab's had littered and that he would bring over a couple of dogs for us to choose from.

As promised Vinod Uncle came on a Sunday with this small cardboard box and he put his hand into it and brought out two SUPER CUTE lab pups, a black one and a yellow one. They were both placed on the carpet for us to inspect and play with. It was love at first sight... Nah, not Dukie, we fell for his darker brother :) Duke was a sorry excuse for a lab, a puny little stupid thing that just lay there on the carpet and slept through most of everything... His brother was super enthu and so happy-go-lucky! he played with us, he chewed on stuff, he peed around the room, he pulled at Duke's ears while that idiot slept through even that, he sniffed at everything he could get his cute little nose to, mmmmm, we knew which one we really wanted and pa also seemed confused. Sure, he had always wanted a yellow lab but the black one was just adorable. Pa took a deep breath and took one of the biggest risks he ever has, he picked Dukie :) Some dreams are too strong to let go off... The cream pig won due to only the colour of his coat and no quality of his own... We were happy both ways, we got our very own puppy :) Sure, he looked boring and dull but then he was one of the last of the litter and was weak and was barely a week old and it was unfair to judge him that early... He was taken back to be brought home officially when he was a little older. We should've taken him in a month after that but a week later he was back home, for good...

Yippe! We were a doggie family now! It felt like we were finally a family... Dukie started giving us memories and stories from the day he came into our house. We were in a temporary accommodation in the Air Force base of Coimbatore when he joined us. it was a hall and a bed room. Nammu, Sandy and I had taken to sleeping inside the room while ma and pa took the carpeted hall as pa's back hurt on anything soft. Duke took to sleeping in the hall with ma and pa. He had a corner with warm clothes spread out for him but he chose to go for nightly excursions once the lights were out.

He would explore around and would try crossing hurdles- like the lower supporting rod on the table, or some show piece on display or even pa's neck. The funniest bits were where the stupid thing would get caught across the table rod and start whining for someone to go rescue him. Pa would nudge mamma and she be Dukie's knight in shining armor as she picked him up, rather unceremoniously, and dump him between herself and pa so he would not stray again. But our Don Quixote would be up in a minute and this time would be caught trying to cross pa's neck. His hind legs were weak and he would spend the night spread across pa's neck, two legs on either side and whining quietly. Pa never rescued him as I guess he enjoyed having a soft fur ball that was all snuggly...

He also showed criminal tendencies from day one... He would:

1. go into attack position, forelegs stretched flat in front of him, his butt raised high up and his tail wagging slightly and would leap on mamma. He was no more than three or four inches tall and would get lost in the folds of her saree and struggle to get out while ma did nothing to help him. That was his lesson one that mamma was not-to-be-messed-with :)

2.run away from home and go exploring. He only had to find the door opened a bit and he would make his escape. He would be found a couple of hours later, either loafing around the play ground outside our mess block or in the laundry with the dhobi bhaiya...

3. eye my beautiful African Grey Cockatiel birds. I had a pair and their cage was kept out side most time. This idiot had been observing the way we would open the latch and feed them and one fine day he just walked to their cage and opened the latch with his snout. One of the two birds flew out and we decided to give out the other one to a shelter as I believe they need mates and are not to be kept alone... We were to be found the whole of that day outside, Sandy, Nammu and I, looking up trees and whistling in the hope that the bird would return... We even took the cage with the other bird but it did us no good. Stupid Dukie, hmmpf...

4. steal any food he could find. His height was a blessing and we managed to keep him in check by just placing everything on high grounds...

He grew at an astonishing pace and he was soon into his teething stage... I dont know if it was just this idiot but he chose to chew on everything except his own chewy toys! We have lost count of the number of bathroom slippers, sandals, shoes, mugs, dustbins and anything remotely chewable that this guy destroyed... He was on a spree! He would keep at it, one after the other. I had read somewhere about this species of African ants that ate everything in their way and whole villages would evacuate if these ants were found headed their way. Duke kinda became like that for us. He would chew and destroy everything that lay in his path, our hands, fingers, legs included. Nammu, Sandy and I were never found without scratches or bruises in that phase of this idiot's life... He would just come and start chewing at our legs or hands if he did not have access to any other chewable stuff. He was our very own Hannibal Lecter... Only he was kind enough to not kill us as that would rob him of the many chances to chew us up in the future...

Two of the cutest incidents happened around this kid called Dhruv who would come over with his mom. Dhruv was barely 8 or 9 months old and was the first human baby that Duke had seen. One of Dukie's specialties was that he treated other dogs like, well, dogs. His peers were the humans. So, quite naturally, Dhruv became his play buddy while Dukie also experienced a new emotion around Dhruv. Jealousy. Duke would put up with Dhruv as long as they were playing together, the moment ma picked up Dhruv or talk to him, Duke would see red and bark and if that did not help, just plain sulk till ma pampered him too...

So this one time, Dhruv picked up Duke's stuffed toy (Duke's stuffed toy, yeah, right! That bloody thief. It was Nammu's until this guy lay claim on it...) and was trying to drag it along while he crawled... Duke knew he was not supposed to hurt Dhruv (Why was beyond him but he listened to mamma anyways...) so he watched for some time before quietly creeping up from behind Dhruv, he then grabbed the toy with his front teeth and then ran off at full speed to go into hiding while Dhruv howled at the sudden way in which he was robbed of 'his' toy :) Dukie knew he had done something wrong so he stayed under the bed until Dhruv and his mom left and after testing the waters by peeking from under the bed, he made an appearance...

The second time, Dhruv watched Dukie give a 'shake-hand' for some time after which his mom asked Dhruv to give her a shake- hand too. Dhruv promptly lifted his leg and put it in his mom's outstretched hand :)

Well, I gotta go now but there is more to come, loads of it! So stay tuned :)

Love you Duke!