What Having a Pet Dog Looks Like
Someone walks into your house and finds a dog, stretching itself max, right in the middle of the living room. The person receives this sight with a shock. You tell the person not to worry. You don’t realize that this is not a common sight for most people. For you, though, it couldn’t get any more normal.
You’ll probably feel weird when YOU walk into someone’s living room and find a horse sitting there. That’s a bad analogy. But, I had to drive a point.
Having a dog around for years makes it an indispensable part of your routine, of your lifestyle, of the place that you (both) call home. You get so used to their presence; you forget that you are interacting with another species altogether. The emotional synchronization is such that barriers no longer exist.
There are distinct and exceptional phases that one goes through when having a dog as a pet, or for that matter, any other pet (though we should all agree that dogs are the best). But let’s focus on “man’s best friend” for now.
Phase 1:
The Arrival phase is marked when the small little pup is introduced into your life. If you’ve been waiting for this, your joy will know no bounds. You’ll finally see a dream come true; all those sacred and reserved emotions now coming to life. Some people, however, get rather pushed into this new relationship; their haunting memories of a street dog chasing them, return at the sight of this new arrival. But, sooner or later, these too get drowned in the sheer cuteness (well, they all look cute) and innocence of these small, little creatures. As a matter of fact, many a time, people in the house that rebel the most against having a pet dog (especially parents) may end up getting attached to it the most.
In any case, one ends up embracing the pup wholeheartedly, welcoming them into their new family. Yep, family.
What follows is “Mission Exploration.” The pup starts seeing and exploring the world (your house, that is) for the first time. Every object, every sound, every person will catch their attention, and they will run around smelling, peeing, and pooping everywhere, trying to make the territory familiar. Your desperate attempts to train them, feed them, and figure out what they like or dislike, will be a messy adventure. The pet would always want to run around you, even sleep beside (or on) you, and will never take no for an answer. You can never survive those soft, crying howls, no matter how emotionally strong you are. You forget what a good night’s sleep is because the pup will keep waking you up — for it’s either walky-walky time or pee-poopy time, or utterly to play with you in the middle of the night.
The initial phase is indeed a mix of happiness, frustration, peace, and chaos. And unknown to the hoomans, this is where the magic begins.
Phase 2:
The next phase of “Normalizing” is when the pup starts settling in and making sense of the surroundings. You will be amazed at how they react to some of your usual cues. Like when you put on your slippers and move a little towards the door, your dog will immediately start circling your feet, wagging its tail enthusiastically. Let them spot you carrying a bucket of water — they will stare at you in horror and hide beneath some bed to avoid bathing, the least favorite part of their routine. You sit to have your lunch or dinner, and the dog will come and settle right beside you — with an innocent puppy face — and make you feel guilty for not sharing the food, even if it had had its own meal a minute back!
On the good side, now you don’t have to predict their peeing and pooping timings; there is a mutually established schedule for everything. You’ll enjoy teaching them some tricks — “sit,” “bark,” “handshake!” It will fill your heart with pride when your dog finally learns to do them. Some dogs, though, have a knack for NOT displaying these skills the minute you decide to showcase them to your friends. I guess they enjoy seeing our embarrassed faces at such times.
On the terror side, you’ll never know WHEN your favorite shoe, your earphones, or the charging cables will end up chewed in front of you. The dog will run around the house with your stuff and play tug-of-war if it has to, but once it eyes something, it is done for good. Nonetheless, no matter how sorry the state of things becomes, one sight of the dog running up to you with its ears flapping and tail wagging, each day is a win — for both.
Phase 3:
The settling-in phase is followed by the most stable state of having a pet — “Adulting”. The dog’s curiosity — to explore new places, to run out of the house the first chance it gets, and then come back after brawling with other dogs, or its tendency to destroy every asset in the house — now reduces considerably. You, for that matter, are now an expert in handling your dog. You understand your pet in and out and can see through those demanding puppy faces. You throw a ball for it to fetch; they will just turn their heads the other way, for they can see through you too. You can easily identify signs when the dog is behaving abnormally, and know the drill for handling various such situations.
The “extra” activities that you do for your pet, now become just another part of your routine, and you won’t even realize it. You might relatively spend lesser time with your dog as you don’t necessarily have to run behind them all day. But those few minutes of stopping by and scratching their back, and doing some “dog talk,” are all profoundly fulfilling. Your dog, on the other hand, spends most of its time chilling around, casually participating in barking contests with nearby dogs, or occasionally chasing cats and flies, and dashing into walls while at it.
You go out of town for a couple of days, and your dog will create havoc for other members in the house. It is not unusual for a dog to show symptoms of sadness — like reduced eating and playing — when the one it associates with the most is not around. When you return, you may even find the dog being upset and annoyed at you (royally rejecting that biscuit you will offer). The next minute though, it will be jumping all over you, displaying the intense happiness it feels to have its favorite person back.
Any topic remotely related to dogs will now catch your attention. You’ll develop solidarity with other dog lovers in your life, even if they are random strangers. Someone has to just ask you, “Oh you have a dog, what’s their name?” and you’ll spend hours narrating them the incidents and idiosyncrasies of your dog, even if the listener really wanted to know just your dog’s name!
Phase 4:
Like every other species, your pet gradually heads into its old age.
This transition is tougher than even the initial chaotic phase — for where the arrival phase is physically demanding, this phase will hit you mentally and emotionally.
The symptoms get revealed in an incremental manner. Initially, it’s just the dog’s energy levels that show a deterioration. Gradually, it affects their appetite and movement as well. You will again have to go through a short cycle of adjusting the dog’s eating and walking habits. Like a satisfied soul, though, the dog will enjoy just resting and sleeping for most of its day. Some of their territorial barking contests and cat chasing might still happen — for there’s reserved energy for these activities in each phase of their life.
A thing that they probably do for the longest part of their lives is wagging their tail at the sight of you approaching. No matter how much pain and discomfort they are in, they will still greet you with love and joy. Their eyes will keep displaying signs of content and happiness, just because of being around the humans they love.
That is extraordinary. That is magical.
Having a dog in your life steers you through a wide range of emotions that you never knew even existed inside you. They will make you perform responsibilities that you didn’t know you could.
Taking care of an “animal”, prioritizing it over endless other things, and experiencing joy and love in their purest forms, is a form of relationship one can never experience anywhere else.
If you are reading this and you do own a pet, enjoy these amazing times and hug your dog on behalf of all of us. If you had one before, I am sure their golden memories will stay with you forever. If you never had one, and are still reading this, maybe it’s about time :)
“For whenever two roads will diverge in a wood, the dog will take the one that its hooman has taken…”
(Originally written for www.thelastpage.co.in)
