Capture the wild beast

Mine has been a dog-family forever.  I cannot remember any time when my family has had less than two dogs in our home in Kerala.  Actually, in Kerala it is not a big deal to have bigger pets like dogs, since almost nobody (at least in the countryside) is restricted by space.

So, we kids grew up with a lot of pets.  There used to be a time when we had chicken, ducks, guinea hens, a goat, 4 dogs, a cat, a monkey and some fish in the pond at home.  People would actually bring their kids over to our house in order to show them the animals.  It used to be fun; hard work, but fun nevertheless.

Now, I am living in the city.  My house is barely big enough (by Kerala standards!) for a family to live comfortably.  Not that it is bad; but having lived in Kerala, the limitations are more striking here.  And it is due to this restriction in space that we are not able to have a dog here...which is a major bummer.  We just love dogs.  Not that we are anti-cat people...not at all...but we are dog-people first!  My wife and I look at people with dogs in the city with envious eyes and keep thinking, "Our time will come."

Last summer, a family moved into the house opposite to ours...and what do we see?  The family has a very cuddly Labrador!  And when I mean cuddly, I mean cuddly.  The dog (Ruby) is quite plum...and very affectionate.  We keep seeing her playing with the members of her family and stuff.  Even I have encountered her a couple of times on the road and have exchanged hands with her. :)

Yesterday was Jennifer's turn.  We had just left our house to go on a walk, when I saw Ruby outside her gate.  I walked towards her and patted her.  Jenny was on my arm.  When I bent down to stroke Ruby's head, Jenny just grabbed the dog's snout with her hands and patted it herself!  I was amazed. Where did this girl get the courage to do so?  Wasn't she afraid to see such a big wild beast in front of her?  Apparently not.  And it also seemed that Ruby was more interested in Jenny than in me, considering how the dog was then trying to jump up and lick Jenny!

It was a beautiful encounter.  Man and beast sharing a fond moment together!  I am happy that Jenny is not scared of dogs.  I cannot wait for us to go to Kerala for a vacation and to see how she responds to more dogs, cats, hens and the like.  Will she be equally curious and easy-going with them or will she be scared?  I am sure it would make an interesting topic to write on some other time.