The Empty Kennel

Our neighbor's dog was put to sleep yesterday. One injection, and the dog slowly slipped away into eternal unconsciousness and carted off to be disposed of by the licensed veterinarian. I do not exactly know what sickness the dog was suffering from, for sure not Covid19, but I there was the mention of some kind of cancer. Perhaps it was old age!

For quite some time the dog was incessantly moaning as if he was in a great pain. Also, there was some kind of an unpleasant smell emanating from the dog. They used some kinds of medical sprays to treat the dog’s skin and fur but it was not of much help. They even used phenol to sanitize its kennel and camouflage the bad odor but the effect of the chemical would last only for a short time. Whatever was the reason, it was quite an arduous task for me to carry out my routine gardening chores.

I am not sure if the process of euthanizing a dog is a painless process or not. According to veterinarian experts, it doesn't take long for them to gently slip away with minimal pain. It did look like the dog made a painless, peaceful exit. There was no whimper, no moaning, no twitching. Unfortunately, not many humans suffering from indescribable pain get such a privilege.

Today, when I stepped out to clean up the garden, I felt a kind of freshness in the air, something that I experienced after a very long time. It greatly lifted up my spirits. But when I looked at the empty kennel, with the door ajar, I felt a pang of sadness. 

I remembered, the dog was adopted some twelve odd years ago as a male puppy. We were told that he was a cross-breed of Alsatian and Bulldog breed. Looking at his size, I couldn’t believe that he was just a few months old puppy. 

Soon he grew up into a ferocious looking hound. He didn’t just run, but hopped and galloped like a wild horse. He would lift his fore paws and try to embrace or whatever that he was trying to do, but all that would happen was the person would be pushed flat on the ground. 

He reminded me of the Great Dane from the Marmaduke comic strip. When he barked, his bark could be heard in the whole colony. Everyone who happened to enter our colony never forgot him. He and his bark became our address whenever we contacted the electrician or the plumber or any service personnel. Whenever we tried to give them details of our location, they would say "oh, that house with the big dog!". 

Only a few family members of its owners could handle him. Not that others were scared of him but the sheer strength required to control him was quite daunting. 

I remember once when I alighted from an Auto (three wheeler taxi), as usual he started barking. His kennel was quite close to our building’s main gate. One look at the dog and the auto driver got scared out of his wits. He started pushing away his auto, and said in almost a whisper  "Sir please pay the fare quickly otherwise I might become the dog’s nashta (breakfast)!". That was really very funny, something I will never forget.

We felt quite safe and secure all these years with him prowling around our building compound in the night. He was a very useful watchdog and also quite loving. In the night, he would come and sit outside below the window of the room that had light. He knew someone was still awake. If he saw any of our children trying to go out of the gate, he would give a very peculiar sound, almost like a painful moaning kind of sound, perhaps an attempt to warn us.

It takes a lot of effort to take care of a dog of such a huge size. Giving him a bath was always a big spectacle. It needed couple of persons to take him out of his kennel and tie him up outside. The way he would splash the water away from his body was quite amusing. By the time his bath was over, everyone around would be drenched in water.

He is mostly shut in his kennel during the day time. He is let loose during the day occasionally for some time on Sundays and holidays. We had two metal gates installed in the compound to stop him from entering our part of the compound. It was done for a couple of reasons. 

When he was let free, it was quite difficult to contain him when we had visitors. In fact couple of our friends got bitten by him. Also, he became quite ferocious if he saw any cat. 

Once he chased after a cat  that had entered the building compound. Unfortunately that day I forgot to close the gate. The cat scampered across and got under our car. The dog went around the car trying to get at the cat. After scampering around under the car, the cat got under the bonnet of the car. 

The dog started to tear apart the car radiator and the fiberglass front fender of the car. We all screamed from inside the house trying to shoo him away but he wouldn’t stop. Finally, one of the family members dragged him away. By then he had caused enough damage to the car. Part of the front fender was torn and there were scratches all over the body of the car, scratches made by the dog in his attempt to get at the cat.

In all these years not once did I dare to pet him or step out when he was loose in the day time. I am basically not a pet person. I do not have any particular liking for dogs or cats. That doesn’t mean I hate animals. I do get upset and express my outrage known, especially on social media, whenever incidences of cruelty to animals were reported. 

Couple of years ago, a man in Southern India threw a six months old puppy from the college building’s roof terrace. He was a medical student. The worse part was, his act of cruelty was video graphed by the man’s friend and shared on social media. Luckily, the dog survived, lived and got adopted through the love and care of gentle hearts. Through mass outrage on social media, the culprits were booked by the police. But they were unjustly very lucky as they were let off with paying just a fine (Man hurls puppy from terrace).

In another incident, four other medical students, bound a baby monkey with telephone wires, tortured it in the most gruesome manner and then burnt the monkey alive. What was more disgusting was that the gruesome act was watched by group of students. When I read the news I felt nauseated, disgusted and angry. I wanted all the perpetrators to be locked up in jail and the key to be thrown away (Baby monkey tortured and burnt ).

I don't know if it is just a coincidence that in both the cases the crimes were perpetrated by medical students. I wonder, what made the medical students resort to such cruelty and brutality! Mental sickness is the only answer I can think of. Being in the medical field they were supposed to be kind and caring but perhaps somewhere down the line their minds got disconnected from their hearts.

I am not exactly a pet-person or particularly an animal lover. But I do have fascination for horses. Perhaps it is the effect of watching all those western cowboy movies. I love watching videos of horses galloping with their noses flaring, their mane flying in the wind, their muscles flexing and the rhythmic sound of their hoofs. It is exhilarating just to watch them galloping away. We had a big canvas painting in our living room of a group of horses in flight. It was like a centerpiece of the house. There is something quite majestic about horses!

Coming back to our neighbor's dog, we would certainly miss him and his bark. His bark was like a siren that alerted us of visitors at the gate. I don’t know what feelings our neighbors must be going through at the loss of their dog. 

It is said that some people find it very difficult to cope with the loss of their pet dog. Because people develop deep emotional attachment to their pets, sometimes the attachment may be more than with other humans. In the words of George Eliot, “Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms”. 

And dogs are considered man’s best friend because of their unconditional love and affection. But grieving cannot last forever. Life must go on. For, this is not the first time our neighbors had to lose a dog. It had happened before. Watching the dog being put away was almost like replaying a scene from the past. 

They may soon get another puppy, which would grow up into a ferocious watchdog. Until then I will certainly notice his absence every time go out to the garden and see that Empty Kennel.