Tag Archives: puppy

50 Ways to Leave Your Puppy

IMG_3256

You surely have seen several ways to restrain a puppy.

But I’m sure you haven’t heard of this.

A puppy got dropped of at the shelter in the wee hours of the morning yesterday.

This rottweiler puppy had its legs duct taped together so it wouldn’t be able to get far away from the shelter till we found it in the morning.

Snip20150912_3

As we removed the duct tape off the puppy shivering because of the cold and out of fear, I realiszed that his hind leg was badly injured.

Then to underline the neglect this poor puppy must’ve faced- he tested positive for Parvovirus.

20150911_090743 (2)

We got him in an incubator and on fluids and although he did vomit and had diarrhea (he broke) he did OK through the day.

DSCF4429

DSCF4433

In the evening I agreed to drive him to Austin for Austin Pets live where they treat Parvo puppies exclusively. Their building is nothing short of a fortified fortress against contamination.

I wasn’t allowed to go in more than 5 feet from where I had parked my Z-4. The puppy was plucked from my arms by the waiting Vet-tech staff and I was back in my fancy car.

I had once promised to protect my car from soda and eatables. Nobody was allowed to eat inside my car and today I transported a sick puppy that had Parvo. The smell of Parvovirus is so nauseating that once you’ve smelled it; the very mention of the word Parvo brings that smell to mind.

Tonight the puppy is safe and the car I love has been violated.

50 ways to leave your love(r)-

All in a Day’s Work

Snip20150513_1 Snip20150513_6

How often do you have a day where the first call you get in the morning is that of an injured goose.

You google How to catch a goose?

Why of-course; Grab it by the neck.

You take a Goose back and bandage it’s wing. Then you wait for a rescue group to pick it up.

Snip20150513_4

Just when you’re feeling good about yourself, you get a call of a Puppy that’s been beaten by young boys.

You get there and the puppy is bleeding from his anus. You wrap him in a towel and pick him up. Concerned citizens are judging the kids for being cruel- but you know in your deepest worries that this puppy has Parvo…and he just blew up today.

Snip20150513_2

You are carrying him in your arms in the shelter and he lets out a stream of vomit from his mouth and a stream of blood from his rectum. Before you know it you are covered in blood and drool.

Snip20150513_3

You are now CONTAMINATED. You can’t be in the shelter because Parvo is lethal and spreads quickly. So you are ready to dash out the door. But wait… A vet tech grabs you by the arm. “You have to euthanize the puppy first.”

You freeze. “What? Me? but… but… Its a…I’ve never–”

They thrust a bottle of Euthasol in your hand and a few syringes and tranquilizer in your shirt pocket. All without touching the blood or vomit.

If you’ve never smelled PARVOVIRUS… you are a lucky human. Nothing smelly more deathly than that.

So with blood and grime and drool and vomit and some tears on your body… You pet the puppy’s head to give it love and then plunge the needle to kill it.

Snip20150513_7

Your heart is detached from your body. Your senses are drowning your adrenaline.

Then you drive off– scared to tackle the next day… but hopeful of saving one more goose– or a raccoon or a puppy or a turtle or a horse.

Game-Set-Match.

Snip20150513_8

Sophie’s Choice

IMG_5256

“Capture their spirit with your camera, Inder.” My Grandfather had a standard answer for why my pictures didn’t look as good as his, as he peered through his top drawer lens on his Rollie flex camera.

Thirty years later, here I am; prostrate in the grass of a Clear Lake, Texas home- waiting for the dog to show me her spirit. How do I capture her spirit , Grandpapa? The ten month old tan and white pit-bull lies on her back, limbs akimbo; silly as a tart, goofy as a ball of yarn. Her mud brown iris that encompasses her black pupil enlarges as she locks her gaze through the camera lens into my eyes.

IMG_5417IMG_5266

Wait a minute; that is her spirit; a goofball.

A few months ago Sophie lived by the railroad tracks and a church in the Wayside area of Houston, Texas. A shattered front leg caused her to limp up and down the tracks but when Joel: a local factory worker showed her some love –she warmed up to him right away.

Joel and his colleague Danny brought her food and water and one day they took Sophie to a local Vet’s office. Such is the level of Sophie’s trust for humans that she willingly jumped into their car. Struggling to make ends meet themselves, Joel and Danny did what they could to get Sophie the help she needed.

The Vet was certain that Sophie would’ve been raised to breed bait dogs or a puppy mill mama when she was old enough, so he spayed her right away. He thought, when she had broke her leg (abuse or accident), she was promptly abandoned; discarded like garbage. Now she needed surgery to be a 100% healthy again.

IMG_5298

But she already is a 100% dog and 200% a puppy. She’s playful, careless, energetic and often forgets that her leg hurts. After being rescued by S.A.V.E  rescue coalition, Angela placed her with a charming family of fosters. Here she thrives amongst two other dogs, two energetic young ladies and a loving couple. They frolic and play in the lawn all day- and when they are tired; they frolic some more. In a few short weeks she will get her surgery and fully recover from it.

IMG_5467

That is Sophie’s spirit. Despite having to endure pain and cruelty, abandonment and starvation- she hasn’t forgotten how to remain a silly-goofy-puppy.

She’s a hand-me-down dog. A Sophie who wasn’t given a choice but her choice is very clear. She chooses love over hatred, a string of a sweatshirt over a dog-fight.

IMG_5383 IMG_5337

Anyone who allow themselves to be touched by Sophie’s soul will be a part of her loving choice. The question is – Do you choose Sophie to give you a chance at her life?

IMG_5380