A Blue Evening made White

Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only defect, really.

                                                                                                                              Agnes Sligh Turnbull

So once again Alice proved to be a wonderful partner for the lonely me.

I was feeling very blue that day and felt very frustrated and irritated becasue of a couple of things that were happening one after the other; making me feel sitting in a roller coaster ride of emotions. I felt like crying and I did too. There were enough people around but you know sometimes it happens that even though you have people around you, you feel deserted. I would be lying if I said that I didn't miss my closest friends. One of those was Alice.

I desperately wanted to sit with her and share some of my feelings. The best part was she won't ask questions. So, after returning from office, I spent some time with Eesha and wanted to go to Alice but had some house chores to take care of.

So, I kept myself busy with the chores but I could hear Alice barking in the garage, then not sure why, though now I guess I do. I quickly went to her and told her "Wait Amma is coming shortly, we can chit chat a little". But she kept barking, barking and barking. That was annoying; not that I wont be able to sleep (who wanted to) but that if no one sleeps becasue of that noise, how will I come down and spend time with her.

When I was done with all work by 10:30PM, I turned off the lights and pretended to go to the bedroom becasue I didn't want anybody's presence when I was with Alice. Those were OUR special moments. Everyone went to their bedrooms and started getting ready to sleep. I pretended too. After Raj and Eesha slept, I came down and brought Alice in from garage and spent an hour with her, when I and she just sat beside each other. I patted her, said thanks, sorry, I love you and all that I was feeling. I really think she was a good listener and I'm sure she understands. When she looks at me with so much attention, and gently licks my hands; then rubs her nose on my clothes, rests her head on my lap I never feel like saying "NO".  For we all know now that we can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that.  She didn't get up till I got up from there.

I give her my time, space and love that I can spare and in return, she gives me her all. It’s the best deal I could have ever made. After an hour I left her back in the garage and and we both were as calm as never. She did not bark I did not cry. So it made me feel as if she knew what I was going through and was equally eager to calm me down.

I never felt like this with my older Dog Laika becasue I was a kid so she was more like a toy for me but now I am grown up with lot more responsibilities and having a Dog really helps to reduce stress.

The Bad period

With eye upraised his master's look to scan,
The joy, the solace, and the aid of man:
The rich man's guardian and the poor man's friend,
The only creature faithful to the end.
                                                                 George Crabbe 

Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to the "Not so good" part of having a FEMALE dog. So, like every female, dogs also have to go through heat cycles. The good thing is they have to go through this every 6-9 months and not every month but then it goes on and on for 21 days and not 3-4 days. This is going on for last 1 week and we are forced to keep her in garage but that explains a lot of her stomach upset part as well. It is pretty common to have a digestion problem during the heat cycle and that holds good for anyone who can reproduce. 

There are ways to have them spayed so that they don't have to go through that at all. Our neighbors had adopted their dog and adopted dogs are fixed by default. But we had purchased Alice and didn't want to spay her. It basically involves removing her Uterus so that she doesn't have to go through all this which also means that she can never give birth and I was very much against this. I didn't want to take away her right of being a Mother and after becoming a mother myself, I really wanted her to feel the same for her babies. I do agree that involves a lot of pain, uncomfort for her as well as us but in the end it's all worth it. The feeling when you have a baby is incredible. 

For the last 3 years I have been pushing hard to not have her spayed. I am not sure if I can do that anymore. I really become very emotional when I imagine her not being able to have kids and Raj understands that but unfortunately there is a huge difference between understanding and agreeing so he wants to have her spayed after this season of her heat cycle. At the same time I do agree that she will be much more comfortable by not having to go through this torture now and then given that she doesn't know what it is all about but then who knows she might have her own ways to gain that knowledge.

As of now we are extremely busy with Eesha's Birthday preparations and are giving little attention to Alice since she stays most of the time in garage. I ideally would like to breed her with a pure German Shepard and have her produce lovely and affectionate doggies just like her but I am not opening my mouth about this right now :) I  might need to study more about "How to convince your spouse for breeding your Dog" kind of book to do that.

Don't be disheartened by seeing all bad thing for last 2 posts. It's all  part and parcel of the game. At the end of the day she is still worth it. Someone who belives in just giving and not taking.