Doggie Day Out

Day before yesterday, we decided to stay over at my parents' place for the weekend. Since the maid also had the weekend off, Nero came with us.

My parents' home has a huge garden surrounding three sides of the house. New smells, trees, lots of mud, grass, plants, and immediate access - oh my! Does Nero love it or what!! As soon as we parked the car, he shot out to greet my mom standing at the doorway. Mom loves him, but 30kgs of energy jumping at you can be a bit difficult to handle!! Once the family was greeted, he immediately raced to the back of the house to look for Jimmy - the stray adopted by Madhu, my parents' maid. Jimmy was nowhere in evidence, obviously off to do his doggie deeds, so Mr Nero condescended to play with us, running round in the mud, playing fetch, and eventually at the end of two days, losing his ball somewhere among the plants! Maybe mom will find it today!!

He spent a happy couple of days barking at visitors, playing in the garden and trying to play with Jimmy (who we kept chasing off due to his lack of vaccination, tick treatment, worm treatment et al). It also turns out, Nero has a tendency to try to mount Jimmy (yes they are both males, even if Nero is neutered!!). Umm...the implications of that seem a bit radical to digest..but we do plan to ask the vet on our next visit!

Apart from the usual, this stay was marked by an interesting incident. On Saturday night, I decided to accompany my dad to the market, and against better judgement, took Nero along for the walk. Why against better judgement - simply because NCR (thats the National Capital Region or Delhi and its surrounding cities) is a haven for stray dogs. There is no place that is not inhabited by them, especially market places. They exhibit pack mentality and can be very territorial. Normally, they do not attack pet dogs/ leashed dogs accompanied by humans, though a newcomer does rouse their collective hackles! This was the scenario we walked into with Nero.

It was an impressive display by the local dogs. There was a veritable relay system going on, from the moment we crossed a neighbourhood park, all the way to the market, a distance of about 700 meters. We stopped at 3 different shops at about 200 mts from the park, 500 mts from the park and at the marketplace. At the first stop, 2 brown dogs greeted us barking furiously, while one black dog lazily looked up from his repose. When we stood in one place (while dad did his shopping), they barked from a distance, observed us very closely and then when they assured themselves we were just sitting and no real threat, gave some more barks, then loped off. At the next stop, another dog (alsation mix stray this time) did the same, except his barking was fiercer, prolonged and echoed by more barks behind us. Lo behold, when we turned into the main market, we were confronted by not 1 or 2, but 4-5 dogs of various heritages, all looking mean and barking pointedly & furiously at us. We sent dad off, found a suitable corner near the entrance of the market and stood still over there. The dogs kept barking at us, actually fanned out in front of us at one stage. It was scary, even though you know usually the strays don't actually attack, and there were a lot of people around. Still, they looked unpredictable!! Meanwhile, our hero, Nero for once seemed to take heed. Normally, he tries to bark and leap at strays barking at him. This time I had him firmly under control (yes my arms/hands suffered) and kept telling him to stay in a low but insistent voice. Wonders, he had his hackles up, but apart from some low growling, he obeyed! The culmination of the stand off was the stray dogs peeing on some poor scooter which was parked a little way ahead of us, clearly marking their territory. It was amazing to see them mark it in turns. Who says dogs talk a different language...their communication was loud and clear to both of us!!

With all that display and caution, there actually turned out to be no trouble. All bark and no bite!! We relaxed and walked back home with dad...only for utter pandemonium to break loose...of all places about 50 meters from our house! There was a woman with a small black dog on a leash and a daschund running free walking along. Now, there definitely is some animosity between Nero and daschunds. He always goes mad when he sees the one in our complex, this one was no better. Nor was the daschund, who totally ignored the woman and barked madly at Nero. Holding on to Nero was literally like holding on to dear life...he was MAD! So was the daschund! And the daschund was free, though he didnt come near us. But he kept running around (mostly between us and the house). The woman called him a couple of times but walked off to the park which was nearby (and obviously her destination) leaving us to deal with the situation! Somehow, we got Nero home (without any physical contact between the dogs), but it was exhausting!!

When we reached home, my dad summed it all up - 'we found trouble as expected, but when it was totally unexpected!!'