Journey of loving and living with dogs
Dogs are claimed to be the man’s best friend alongside books. And after fostering 2 sweet dogs for a month, I don’t have the slightest doubt about it. My wife and I always dreamt of having dogs as part of our family. Long before we were married, we used to talk about these canines: how they uplift the home environment, and thanks to social media, we could firsthand witness all of that through the posts and stories shared by strangers and yet feel all the joy, ecstasy lived by them.
Given that I had been volunteering at a rescue organization for almost a year: walking the dogs, meeting with other volunteers, learning a lot about dogs, their behavior, and their actions, it became imperative to take this journey ahead by officially bringing these angels home after marriage. We had been working with a Papillion duo of brother-sister named Jack & Coco, taking them for walks, a couple of times each week and since they were small dogs who had already grown to their full potential, we were feeling comfortable to welcome them into our lives a bit more permanently.
But talking about facts: we were a complete novice around dogs. We never had any pets in our homes while growing up. Instead, we always heard about dogs as animals who bit people depending on their mood! We rarely heard of or knew anyone from our close families, having a pet at their home. Moreover, taking them for a walk seemed like a cake walkwhen compared to learning to live with them, in your home, 24/7! But anyway, we decided to go ahead with fostering one of them and see how that goes.
But fate had some different plans for us….as we ended up fostering both Jack and Coco, given that they were collected by rescue together and had an attachment with one another. Since they were small dogs, we thought it would be alright.
“When someday you have kids of your own, only then you would understand, what it’s like to have kids!”
We became dog parents
We welcomed them with excitement, love, and to be frank with a sense of nervousness. We didn’t know what the basics of dog training and care were, so saying that we were starting from basics, would be an inappropriate statement. But basically, our actions in beginning were actually a response to their actions: okay, they peed here; they are not eating properly; they are jumping onto the bed at night alongside us; they are barking at people while walking..so figuring out what we should do, along the way! Keeping that aside, we poured all our love onto them, carrying them around like babies, treating them with treats, which eventually taught us the lesson of showing restraint down the line as it may have spoiled them a bit when it came to their food choices and moody behaviors. But it was all worth it.
Self-reflection and acknowledging change
You know how all moms are! Excessively protective, fearful, and careful about their kids all the time. So, whenever I question or confront her such behavior, her reply always is, “When someday you have kids of your own, then you would understand, what it’s like to have kids!” Even though Jack & Coco were not kids, living with them, was like our first contact with the parental world!
They were the center of attention for the whole time they were with us: spotting to identify when they were about to use carpet as their relieving ground or when they were trying to tell us something.
Our observation skills were through-the-roof or you could say that we were utilizing them actively to their fullest after a long time. We started taking note of every minute detail around them: Oh! They don’t eat immediately after you give them food; they go to the kitchen after every walk to cool down; they fight with each other after waking up; they don’t like when you go too close to their faces; Jack always thinks whatever her sister Coco has is better and many such nuanced observations.
To every person we talked to, we talked about them and we talked about dogs in general. This moment presented us with a sense of irony and deja-vu as it made us feel like some parents talking in the park to other parents about kids & life thereafter, and how as bachelors we used to feel left out, as we couldn’t really relate to that unexplored part of or life.
There were days when we, particularly our patience was tested. Their running around the house, fighting and playing with each other; excessive barking on every person encountered; their peeing/pooping without any warning; trying to understand what they were trying to say/do, it was all too much some days! You would then try to somehow make yourself feel better by scolding the dog only to realize that they are not humans and they won’t exactly get the transcript of what you said but to our surprise, it was like they got the gist of it. “Okay, we would not run around like crazy anymore and would go sit quietly on our bed”.Ultimately, my wife was able to teach them a couple of tricks and commands, progressing all the way from trial and error to reward and reinforcement! It was indeed a fun and joyous sight to watch them “sit”, “roll”, “high 5”, “get down” and marvel at the possibility of even being able to teach them these!
End of our journey with them
Their presence which lasted for 4 weeks with us, seemed both like a long and not-so-long duration at the same time. During this time we went through several phases and registered a huge shift in underlying emotions, beginning with the phase of:
Overflowing Love, lasted for 4–5 days, where we just loved, hugged, and showered treats food upon them, rejoicing in the company of our canines; followed by the
Tough Love and confusion, which again lasted for 4–5 days, where they started throwing tantrums around food and began rejecting their food, thereby pushing us to adopt this external toughness of not melting in front of their puppy eyes and allowing them to adjust to their meals and timings. It was then followed by
Abundant joy, where they restored to their natural state of fun, play, and cuddles and we achieved a state of normalcy in terms of the food, habits, and understanding of their actions. The final phase was indeed
Realization, which we didn’t hope would realize so early. We found out that in spite of how the situation seems so much in control and comfortable, that might not be the case actually. Having achieved comfort and command with them, within the boundaries of the home was just the initial challenge in the long game. We still had to prepare them for the encounters in the world outside. Since they were not with us, since their birth, we don’t have much information about their past, how they were brought up, what difficulties they have endured, what it is they might be afraid of, and how these things affect their behavior in the outside world which included consistent aggressive barking at other pets and people!
Therefore, we came to a conclusion that at this particular point in their life, they need a little more focused training, attention, and patience, which we may not be able to provide them, owing to the lack of experience in the behavior training of dogs. But this experience has definitely transformed and enhanced our entire perspective about dogs and has provided us with the firsthand experience of envisioning a life with them. It brought us closer to the life we always dreamt of and hopefully, in the near future, we would walk to the end mile with them.
Cheers and spread love!
