This is an ice-breaker after 6 months or so...haven't written blogs off-late. Now I get my inspiration: Dogs
Yes Dogs. In my view, Dogs are in my top 5 best things that can happen to us, in a list headed by Great Health, Parents, Friends and Education (& hence Job) . I was around 4 years old when my parents gifted me a wonderful book about Animals and that book had a section dedicated to dogs specifically. Section which covered about basics of Dog breeding and their origin. Sections with awesome pictures of German Shepherds and the Magnificent Bull-dogs and the ever loyal Labradors & Golden Retrievers. That 1 simple book has the left the most long-lasting impression of my childhood. That book was like a job to me! Every morning along with Marie biscuits with the best tea prepared by the most graceful lady who walked the face of this Earth, my mother. And then during those morning breakfast times, I always asked my mom and dad to get me a dog......and they would just keep quiet. They never said "No" strongly. They never made fun of me or scolded me. They just kept quiet. And allowed time to dilute my wishful-thinking.
As time passed by, books & TV documentaries about Nature, Earth and World of animals came as a value addition to our lives. My father would take me to early morning walks and the building dogs & other stray dogs would chase us and try to play mischief. It was fun and a little scary to play around with those dogs; chasing them around, to be chased around, climbing on the top of water tank reservoir and teasing dogs 'cos they couldn't climb up!! I have always wondered why dogs are their peak energy during early morning hours......My father had this soft corner towards dogs and he passed that trait onto me. But being a middle-class family living in a fairly small apartment was always a major deterrent for us to own a dog from a pure-bloodline-reputable breed. It's not that we didn't like our Building dogs or Stray dogs, it's just that all those dogs were are all cross breed of some kind and then there was the uncertainty of inherent diseases passed on from unknown dogs, which is frequent in stray dogs. We never took that risk and I always had the hope of owning one pure breed or a genuine breed taken from a professional breeder. My main inspiration to own a dog came from one of my close cousins of Southern India who owned a gorgeous German Shepherd called "Dyna". To me, German Shepherd (also known as Alsatian OR GSD) is the King of Dogs: Highly Intelligent, Protective, Fearless, Playful, Strong and always Alert. I have read and heard that Alsatians love their owners to death. I wanted a dog as good as German Shepherd, but I was always nervous of them because of the fearful reviews about GSDs.
But as more time passed by, needs and priorities always kept that one desire at the bottom of the page. The desire to own a dog never faded away, it was always there at the bottom of the page till now. A few of my school friends had dogs and always talked about them and I always shared discussions with them with utmost sincerity. I never lost a chance to discuss new things about Dogs and increase the breath of Knowledge in that domain. After all, Dog becomes a part of family once it joins one and it's worth thinking about it.
A phase of life came when Dogs weren't a part of discussion anymore and more so because of the busy life of my hometown, Bombay. Things like Education, Jobs, Career etc overwhelmed the childhood desire. But I knew it was just a matter of time which could range from 5 to 10 to 15 years to 20...before I could own a Dog. And now that time has come. I am planning to own a Dog that will be great friend and loyal companion. Especially, after you lose your loved ones, something like this becomes a thought worth giving a consideration.
German Shepherd is no more on the top of my favorite list mainly because of the inherent aggressiveness & danger that could be imposed to surrounding people. GSDs are very protective and territorial and don't generally have the temperament of a cool Labrador or Golden Retriever or a Boxer or a Swiss Mountain Dog. If at all I manage to own a GSD, it will be one of the mildest tempered ones, which will require a lot of research on Professional GSD breeders. But Labs , Golden Retrievers, Swiss Mountain Dogs (Swissy) are by thumb-rule considered to be very good people-dogs...Affectionate, Patient, Playful, Energetic, Obedient and Courage: you name them and these breeds have 'em !!
Someday I will be fortunate to own two dogs...may be a Lab or a GSD or a Swissy..only time will tell if this will be true or not :)
Dogs forever!!
