Puppy Diaries: The day pepper came into our lives

Because life isn’t complete without a dog 

Praveen and I share a lot of common interests, one of them being the love for dogs. We have always like since eternity wanted to adopt a dog and for reasons not known wanted to name it PEPPER.

So after a lot of thought on whether we were ready to take the responsibility of a pup and if we would be able to give it the time it deserves, we decided some months back that we would adopt one soon.

We were open to any breed probably little inclined to Indian breed dogs, as they are the ones less adopted. During our trek to the Himalayas, Praveen fell in love with Himalayan Bhutia dogs and wanted to bring one home. And because we couldn’t do that, he became more and more restless on the delay in finding our four-legged companion.

As this would be our first one, we wanted a friendly and easy to handle pup. So we zeroed on a Labrador. And the hunt for a pup began. We wanted to adopt and not buy from a breeder. After a lot of search we found a black lab (perfect for our dream dog ‘pepper’) but again there was a twist to the story. The black one was supposedly taken and there was a brown one only available. It was equally adorable, but I had already fallen in love with the black lab. Praveen liked both the pups and was okay with any color. With heavy heart I agreed for the chocolate brown one. But destiny had something else in mind.

The day we were supposed to bring Bruno (the name we thought for the brown pup) home, the guardian of the pups called and informed us that the brown pup is also taken. But (wait for it!) the black is available. I just couldn’t believe my luck and started jumping and hooraying all over. Without further delay we landed in their house to pick our pepper and there it was waiting for us with its arms stretched. One look at it and all I wanted was to hold it in my arms.

So, that’s how we found Pepper or rather Pepper found us. Bringing this little guy home was very easy. He was so quite and calm that I was worried about him. But once he entered his new home he ran to one corner and slept. After a lot of love and pampering he opened up. And there was no looking back. He started playing as if he knew us forever, jumping at and biting everything within his reach.

After the whole hullaboo of a new pup at home drained we became worried on what to feed him? How to train him? What to give? What not to give? About the vaccinations and zillion other things. But luckily my dad knew the veterinary doc at SPCA and referred us. Voila we were rescued!!

So the next day we took our pepper to the vet, got him checked, made his medical records file (Yep, you heard me right) A file containing all his details, dates for his next check-up, deworming and vaccines. Got a shampoo and some doggy biscuits for him. Learnt a lot about Dos and Don'ts about raising a dog. Believe me, there are loads of don't.

We are a little sorted with his diet and routine now. Will take some more time I guess. He is such a charming and obedient fellow that I just cant stop cuddling him. Will be making a carpet for him out of my old jeans (had saved them for some craftwork).

Will try to write posts on Pepper and his naughtiness every week. Watch out for Puppy Diaries!!