On a sunny holiday, I was passing by a dense forest near the outskirts of city. It was a strange route but still quite crowded. As I walked a few meters, I saw a female dog sitting on two legs and rubbing the front ones together infront of a tourist.
The tourist gave her some food, but the strange thing was, instead of eating the food she ran away in the woods. I tried to go after her but was stopped by the crowded street when she disappeared among trees.
I decided to wait there for her to return. She did return after several minutes. She was looking around, probably trying to decide who would be kind enough to give her food.
I took it upon me and went to her, taking out some food from my backpack. She looked at my hand and instantly came towards me to meet me halfway. I gave her the food and she, again, ran in the woods ahead.
This time I followed her. I was lead to an open area in the woods where some puppies were playing around. I instantly knew that she was their mother and was collecting food to feed them.
I silently made a call to the rescuers. In the mean time, I didn’t wanted to leave them alone so I stayed there and inspected everything that I could.
They were living in a cave like structure in the ground, just like rabbits do. The puppies were afraid to come near me and went in the cave to hide themselves. There were five that were visible and I was able to count them. I had no idea if there were more.
After an hour, the rescuers arrived. I helped them put the puppies in cage to take them to the shelter. The mother was cooperative but the puppies tried running away. But with some efforts, all the puppies were taken to the shelter. I recounted them to be seven.
The next day, I decided to visit them in shelter. The rescuers told me that the mother was very protective of her children.
She didn’t eat anything until her children were full. She ate at the last, but if they gave her food before her kids, she would take it to them instead of eating. Maybe out of habit.
She still begegd to ask for the food like she did on the street in front of that tourist. The puppies were also not so friendly at first.
I return on the next day and they told me new things. They were fast eaters while mother was picky about her food. Also, I found out that the mother loved taking baths in hot water in tub.
On the following days, I wasn’t able to go visit them. But after a week when I went there, something unexpected happened. The puppies ran towards me and greeted me by licking my hands and face. They seemed to be extroverted and I didn’t had to ask the rescuers to figure that out.
They look a lot better and cheerful now. The mother seemed to be relax now that her keds were fed and cared for now. She seemed to be calm and lazy. No longer begging for food from the strangers. The shelter seemed to make them secure and happy, and promised them a foster family, later after years.
A mother is a mother, human or dog!
We usually talk of the greatness of a mother. Never thinking about herself for her children. A mother is great indeed.
Like in this incident, the mother dog did everything she could to feed her kids. The greatness of her love has no measures.
But even a mother sometimes need to have someone who cares about her. Someone who looks after her. And so, today I will ask you to give your mothers a happy holiday. Give her love and care for her.
And what I always say, take a stray dog in. Or least, take food to them everyday. All they will pay you with is kindness and love.