CHENNAI: I have a four-month-old pet named Sniffy. She has helped change my attitude towards animals. Three years ago, I took a Saint Bernard puppy and named it Daizy. After she came home, I became an animal lover and started rescuing lost/abandoned street animals. As Daizy passed away four months ago, I adopted Sniffy. I found Sniffy running for shelter near my house when she was attacked by many other street dogs.
These days, I reach home and Sniffy greets me with her wagging tail and much licking. Whatever stress I had during the day vanishes at her ‘hello’. I give her a hug, a pat and talk to her for a while.
I love the way she greets my family every time she meet them. We do scold her when she gets into a bit of mischief but she never holds a grudge. The next moment we call her by her name and she comes running to us, with her wagging tail. Pets are comforting companions. They improve our quality of life and decrease our stress, depression and anxiety.
Usually Sniffy sleeps in my room and wakes me up when she wants she wants to pee. Few days ago, I wasn’t well. I don’t know what happened, she wasn’t eating properly and she started to wake my mum in the night instead. Every moment we spend with her is memorable.
Now, because of my pets, I am an active part of rescue team called ‘We Save Animals’. But the biggest challenge is to calm down my neighbours when my dog barks. My dog barks when she spots a cat, and that disturbs them. They ask us to tie our dog inside the house. They also say if I feed dogs near my house, they will attack people.
Neighbour challenge
The challenge is to calm my neighbours down. The fact is children attack dogs first by throwing stones or spraying water on them. Dogs chase them only after that, and dogs around my house have never bitten anyone.