Narration by Amit Parmar (Vile Parle, Mumbai):
Lucky & Amit
I adopted Lucky, an Indian stray dog around 6.5 months ago, when he was a 3 month old pup. I adopted him from Malika in Dadar, with help of Charu Shah, who is a friend and works for animal welfare. From the beginning Lucky was an alert pup and a pampered one at that. He has always been very good with kids and everyday he plays with the kids in the building. When he goes out for his walks with me or any family member, he is very friendly with everyone on road and doesn’t bark or bite anyone. However if a stranger comes home, he becomes alert and barks a lot. Lucky’s vet who comes home for vaccinations suggested since Lucky is so alert and he will be a good watch-dog and advised us to keep him at an office or factory. However Lucky is a house member and we decided to our house is his house.
Lucky, called that because Amit is!
This real life incident occurred on 20 Feb 2011. It was a Sunday and the whole family had gone to attend a wedding, and I had gone out to get some work done. Only Lucky and my younger brother Piyush were at home, Piyush had stayed back because his exams were approaching.
It was about 3PM and Piyush feel asleep at the couch with Lucky on the couch as well. Piyush got up hearing a ‘hammering’ but thought nothing of it because some construction was on in the building next door, and went back to sleep. However he work up again to aggressive barking from the living room sound. Piyush was sleepy and thought someone was at the door and opened the entrance to the house – only to have Lucky run out and chase the man on the other side! This man had an accomplice waiting for him on a motorcycle outside, on which he jumped and they fled. Lucky chased them about 300mts (1000 ft) and managed to bite the stranger on his hand. On returning home Piyush found that the men were professional thieves – and they had managed to crack open both the locks and were about to enter the house when Lucky’s barks woke him up.
Those eyes can shine
Lucky has not been trained as a guard dog, but he has powerful instinct, which saved our house and probably my brother’s life too!
When I returned we went to the police station and registered a complaint. Two policemen came to inspect my house and they confirmed that someone had managed to break the locks and open the door. When the policemen came home, Lucky was a good boy, and greeted them warmly. One of the policemen offered to adopt Lucky from us, saying that he will take Lucky with him for patrolling at night, but again we had to refuse him. Lucky’s family – we can never let him go. At the age of 9.5 months (now he is 18 Months old), Lucky did all this by himself. He has become the hero of our house & community now!
InDogs are the best dogs, for size, maintainability and most of all their intelligence and adaptability. Bring one home. Chances are he’s a pup born on a street not far from you house!
