Canines in my life

We always had dogs at home. I remember a German Shepherd called Hubshy when we were at the Sagar University campus where my father was teaching. I remember him as my father's dog and the way he responded to my father's whistle. He once raided the chicken coop kept by one Dr Das and probably ate a few. My father probably got too tired of the complaints and took him away in his car to abandon him somewhere far away in Sagar. He came back after a few days !

Then there was another GSD called Tinka a female who came to our home in Sagar from our Rajendra Mamaji whose frequent army transfers were not conducive to keeping a highly strung GSD. So Tinka came to us and even moved with us to Jodhpur where my father took up a Professorship. Tinka was a gentle one and later in her life developed a painful rheumatic arthritis and had to be put to sleep to end her misery.

Then came Sooty a stupid black spaniel. Very silly dog after the GSDs we had earlier. She came as a result of my insistence despite my father's resistance. Sooty ran away and disappeared. 

My brother, Anu, got an Apso , black little guy who was quite a personality. His name was Phizo. A mate came for Phizo and was called Mizi! I think my brother took great care of the duo. Phizo died of rabies and I dont remember what happened to Mizi. I was away at college then, in hostel.

When I got married and moved to Lucknow. Oy, a german spitz came home one day to the utter surprize and joy of my wife, Surabhi. she is a dog lover too and Oy proved to be a great companion. He travelled with us from Lucknow to Chandigarh to Delhi and back to Chandigarh.

Our friends, the Lyalls (Bird and Mau) had a Golden retriever/Cocker spaniel mix called Scooby and when they were moving to Nairobi Scooby came to live with us in Chandigarh. 

Scooby and Oy, both males made a fragile peace with each other. Oy was the Grand Old Male and assumed senior alpha male stature, dominating Scooby in many ways. Scooby always has the underdog view of life!

A couple of years later we got Hedwig ( named by our daughter, Neehar who was reading HarryPotter those days), a pedigreed GSD from Anoopda, Leenadi and Abhishek who were breeding GSDs at Pantnagar.

Hedwig is an extremely well behaved, intelligent and great looking GSD. She went with us to Sangla valley when she was a puppy and has been on numerous trips with us. Oy was 14 when he passed away at Kaudiala where we had gone on a whitewater rafting camp. We bid a tearful farewell to him there at the banks of the Ganga.

Hedwig became a mother and lost all but one of her first litter. The survivor was named Sirius ( Harry Potter again!). 

So now we have a threesome- Scooby, Hedwig and Sirius.