I have this thing for names that start with the letter 'Z'. If I had a choice to name myself, I would probably go with Zoey or on similar lines. I also have this thing for dogs. Who doesn't have a thing for dogs? Dogs are the only species that have this unbreakable bond with humans. They are not here for our whole lives, but once you have the beautiful experience of loving and living with your own dog, you know your life feels whole.
Most movies that have dogs in them instantly attract my attention, but Marley & Me, damn, that movie made me cry like a baby for hours. One of my favourite quotes from that movie:
“A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water logged stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?”
― John Grogan, Marley & Me
There isn't one thing that I wouldn't agree with in that quote. We humans are scared. We can't trust our species completely, ever. No matter how "madly" you are in love with a person, be it your partner, parent or child; we never give our complete trust to them. We are a little short circuited in our brains that way. We are scared of being disappointed or of being a disappointment, and hence we just don't trust, because that is just so much more easier. But you see, loving your dog, is a whole another level of trust that you start to feel. There is this really cheesy saying about how the eyes are the gateway to the soul or something, I still do find it really cheesy, but I guess it works for dog-human eye contact. Everyday when I come home from college, my dog greets me by frantically (in a good way) jumping on me and I have to eventually pet him. There is this look in his eye. I know it is not his puppy dog face because dog owners just do know those kind of things, but it is this look which just has pure unconditional love in it. He looks up at me with his beady hazel-brown-black-ish eyes, and I picture a whole universe in them, and I am fine. Things are just fine. Life is sorted.
Okay, I am getting overly philosophical about it, but that's what my dog does to me.
At the age of 5 I made my dad stop the car during a moving-house road-trip from Mumbai to this small town called Hashimara in West Bengal, which is a journey of about about 2400 kms. Before I go onto why I made my dad stop the car (No, it was not for a pee break, I wouldn't give that much build up for that, or maybe I would, hehe), I am an Air Force brat, my dad worked for the Indian Air Force for a long time. I have changed over 6 schools and lived in most parts of India (how much I brag), so yes, we used to move from one place to another by taking that once in 2 years over 2000 kms road-trip and it was always a lot of fun. So back to why I made my dad stop. I saw a puppy stranded on the side of the road, and like a brave naive kid, I went and picked him up and played with him for a long time. We fed him, and then it was time to leave. That was the worst feeling ever. But it was also the best feeling ever too. Because I knew it meant so much to me to be able to spend that little time with that tiny puppy. That puppy was a fortunate stroke of Serendipity. By the way, Serendipity is my favourite word.
It made me love dogs for the rest of my life. Every year from that incident, my Secret Christmas Wish List Card to Father Christmas would be about how I want a dog, or rather how I NEED a dog. I was very angry at my parents for never getting me one for a very long time, and I almost gave up when I was about 17 years old. It was like everyone was sent on this planet for a purpose, and my purpose was to love my dog. I can't really fulfill the purpose without having a dog of my own.
Years of waiting, and 1 Engineering semester later, 25th of December 2013, My Mom walks in with this brown ball of life in her arms, and I am fine. No, I am not just fine, I am FAAAIINNNEEE. Life is wonderful.
That my friends, was the BEST day of my life.
So my doggy, is an English Cocker Spaniel, is the most hyper thing in the whole wide world, barks at the milkman every single day, loves people and is my everything.
Like I said, I have this thing for names that start with Z, we therefore named him Zohan. No, my dogs name is not inspired by the horny Adam Sandler from 'You don't mess with the Zohan'.
Zohan in arabic means, a gift from god, and well he definitely is a gift from god.
We eventually realized that shorter names are easier to train dogs, my Mom eventually started calling him Zo-bee, and now he answers to that and a lot of other names and sounds.
He loves boiled chicken. He will run in his sleep and find you if you say the word 'leash'. He hates it when people are scared of him and hence barks. He can't walk in one straight line, zig-zag is his favourite pattern. He is so stubborn that he will lie flat on the ground and refuse to move if he doesn't want to move. He loves fighting with my sister. He will roll all over my feet when I come back home. He manages to knot his hair into big bunches (I need to cut them off). He requires about 10, 100 meter sprints around the house after a bath to warm himself up. He loves sleeping with all four limbs out, in his famous cockroach pose. He loves sleeping in general. He loves cheese. He hates being combed. He is extremely possessive about his toys and his leash. If you ask him to fetch the ball, he will run to it, carry it in his mouth, run towards you and then run away from you, he will NEVER drop the ball. If he has done something naughty and you scream at him from the other room, he will still know you're scolding him and hence will stop and look down with an "oh-shit!" look.
He is THE cutest thing ever and he turns 1 today.
YAY! :)
Somethings you should know if you just got a dog, or are planning on getting one.
Things that Zobee taught me about owning a dog:
* Start the Potty Training by the 3rd month, we started way too late, and now it is so difficult. Because we were moving houses, we just put newspapers in one bathroom and now that's where he poops and pees. Still, train your dog early.
* DO NOT give them chocolate or raisins. Raisins and Grapes are extremely poisonous for dogs, certain breeds can die instantly. Salt is also bad for them. These are probably the kind of things that the vet will tell you anyway.
*Don't give your puppy more than one chicken leg to eat, In excitement they will chew,crush and swallow the whole bone, but at about 3 a.m. there will also be undigested chicken leg puke.
*Dog Food is the best food, packed with nutrients. Coat supplements, Liver health tonics are all cool too. Most of them stink like hell, so be prepared.
*If you don't know what Ticks are they are these beetle-ish looking insects black in colour with I think 6-ish legs and are found usually near the neck region. If you ever find them, go to your vet, figure out the anti-tick medicine. If you find a tick which has grown pretty huge with a white ball kind of structure surrounding it, your dog will most likely get the tick fever. Go to the vet as soon as possible.
* If your dogs snout swells up because a bee bit him, do not freak out, one injection and it will all be fine.
These are some things that I did not know until I actually got Zohan.
So, this was a tiny blog-post for my tiny baby dog, who is THE best dog in the whole wide world.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOHAN :)
As an ending note, I completely agree with Rita Rudner.
"I wonder if other dogs think Poodles are members of a weird religious cult".
Tribute blog-posts are quite a thing this November.
Woof.
Fin.
Most movies that have dogs in them instantly attract my attention, but Marley & Me, damn, that movie made me cry like a baby for hours. One of my favourite quotes from that movie:
“A dog has no use for fancy cars, big homes, or designer clothes. A water logged stick will do just fine. A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, clever or dull, smart or dumb. Give him your heart and he'll give you his. How many people can you say that about? How many people can make you feel rare and pure and special? How many people can make you feel extraordinary?”
― John Grogan, Marley & Me
There isn't one thing that I wouldn't agree with in that quote. We humans are scared. We can't trust our species completely, ever. No matter how "madly" you are in love with a person, be it your partner, parent or child; we never give our complete trust to them. We are a little short circuited in our brains that way. We are scared of being disappointed or of being a disappointment, and hence we just don't trust, because that is just so much more easier. But you see, loving your dog, is a whole another level of trust that you start to feel. There is this really cheesy saying about how the eyes are the gateway to the soul or something, I still do find it really cheesy, but I guess it works for dog-human eye contact. Everyday when I come home from college, my dog greets me by frantically (in a good way) jumping on me and I have to eventually pet him. There is this look in his eye. I know it is not his puppy dog face because dog owners just do know those kind of things, but it is this look which just has pure unconditional love in it. He looks up at me with his beady hazel-brown-black-ish eyes, and I picture a whole universe in them, and I am fine. Things are just fine. Life is sorted.
Okay, I am getting overly philosophical about it, but that's what my dog does to me.
At the age of 5 I made my dad stop the car during a moving-house road-trip from Mumbai to this small town called Hashimara in West Bengal, which is a journey of about about 2400 kms. Before I go onto why I made my dad stop the car (No, it was not for a pee break, I wouldn't give that much build up for that, or maybe I would, hehe), I am an Air Force brat, my dad worked for the Indian Air Force for a long time. I have changed over 6 schools and lived in most parts of India (how much I brag), so yes, we used to move from one place to another by taking that once in 2 years over 2000 kms road-trip and it was always a lot of fun. So back to why I made my dad stop. I saw a puppy stranded on the side of the road, and like a brave naive kid, I went and picked him up and played with him for a long time. We fed him, and then it was time to leave. That was the worst feeling ever. But it was also the best feeling ever too. Because I knew it meant so much to me to be able to spend that little time with that tiny puppy. That puppy was a fortunate stroke of Serendipity. By the way, Serendipity is my favourite word.
It made me love dogs for the rest of my life. Every year from that incident, my Secret Christmas Wish List Card to Father Christmas would be about how I want a dog, or rather how I NEED a dog. I was very angry at my parents for never getting me one for a very long time, and I almost gave up when I was about 17 years old. It was like everyone was sent on this planet for a purpose, and my purpose was to love my dog. I can't really fulfill the purpose without having a dog of my own.
Years of waiting, and 1 Engineering semester later, 25th of December 2013, My Mom walks in with this brown ball of life in her arms, and I am fine. No, I am not just fine, I am FAAAIINNNEEE. Life is wonderful.
That my friends, was the BEST day of my life.
So my doggy, is an English Cocker Spaniel, is the most hyper thing in the whole wide world, barks at the milkman every single day, loves people and is my everything.
Like I said, I have this thing for names that start with Z, we therefore named him Zohan. No, my dogs name is not inspired by the horny Adam Sandler from 'You don't mess with the Zohan'.
Zohan in arabic means, a gift from god, and well he definitely is a gift from god.
We eventually realized that shorter names are easier to train dogs, my Mom eventually started calling him Zo-bee, and now he answers to that and a lot of other names and sounds.
He loves boiled chicken. He will run in his sleep and find you if you say the word 'leash'. He hates it when people are scared of him and hence barks. He can't walk in one straight line, zig-zag is his favourite pattern. He is so stubborn that he will lie flat on the ground and refuse to move if he doesn't want to move. He loves fighting with my sister. He will roll all over my feet when I come back home. He manages to knot his hair into big bunches (I need to cut them off). He requires about 10, 100 meter sprints around the house after a bath to warm himself up. He loves sleeping with all four limbs out, in his famous cockroach pose. He loves sleeping in general. He loves cheese. He hates being combed. He is extremely possessive about his toys and his leash. If you ask him to fetch the ball, he will run to it, carry it in his mouth, run towards you and then run away from you, he will NEVER drop the ball. If he has done something naughty and you scream at him from the other room, he will still know you're scolding him and hence will stop and look down with an "oh-shit!" look.
He is THE cutest thing ever and he turns 1 today.
YAY! :)
Somethings you should know if you just got a dog, or are planning on getting one.
Things that Zobee taught me about owning a dog:
* Start the Potty Training by the 3rd month, we started way too late, and now it is so difficult. Because we were moving houses, we just put newspapers in one bathroom and now that's where he poops and pees. Still, train your dog early.
* DO NOT give them chocolate or raisins. Raisins and Grapes are extremely poisonous for dogs, certain breeds can die instantly. Salt is also bad for them. These are probably the kind of things that the vet will tell you anyway.
*Don't give your puppy more than one chicken leg to eat, In excitement they will chew,crush and swallow the whole bone, but at about 3 a.m. there will also be undigested chicken leg puke.
*Dog Food is the best food, packed with nutrients. Coat supplements, Liver health tonics are all cool too. Most of them stink like hell, so be prepared.
*If you don't know what Ticks are they are these beetle-ish looking insects black in colour with I think 6-ish legs and are found usually near the neck region. If you ever find them, go to your vet, figure out the anti-tick medicine. If you find a tick which has grown pretty huge with a white ball kind of structure surrounding it, your dog will most likely get the tick fever. Go to the vet as soon as possible.
* If your dogs snout swells up because a bee bit him, do not freak out, one injection and it will all be fine.
These are some things that I did not know until I actually got Zohan.
So, this was a tiny blog-post for my tiny baby dog, who is THE best dog in the whole wide world.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOHAN :)
As an ending note, I completely agree with Rita Rudner.
"I wonder if other dogs think Poodles are members of a weird religious cult".
Tribute blog-posts are quite a thing this November.
Woof.
Fin.
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