It's easy to fall in love with Juggie. A fur ball with gleaming eyes, he brims with happiness and excitement when he spots his wonder, Shaad. Covered in thick white fur with blemishes that makes you wonder about this past, the horrendous history he may have had before meeting his present owner is ‘Juggie’ the Lhasa Apso.
Juggie was a just another unlucky stray dog who was spotted by Shaad’s friends near the Iyanavaram water tank road.
“My friends found Juggie in a very bad condition and as they took a closer look they realised it was a cross breed of Lhasa Apso. They quickly took him and bathed him a couple of times and asked me if I wanted him. One looks at his face, and I agreed immediately,” said Shaad. "I was really surprised when I first met him as he was extremely friendly and well trained. Chances are that he might have been domesticated and left free or probably ran away from wherever he belonged to."
Shaad, a chartered accountancy student who recently finished his three-year apprenticeship, spends more on Juggie than he does on himself. Every visit to the vet costs Shaad around `1,000. He also spends around `6,000 to groom and feed Juggie.
A very street smart dog by nature, Juggie has had his share of fights with other stray dogs before he met Shaad. “We had to cut the knots in his hair and shave a bit. While doing so, we found bite marks all over his body. The doctor who treated him said that he might have died in a few days if we had not found him,” said Shaad.
Juggie suffered from scabies which is caused by highly contagious skin parasites and was treated in the Ark Veterinary Clinic in CIT Nagar. He also had a condition of Cryptorchidism in which one or both testicles fail to descend into its scrotum. He had to undergo a surgery "but he recovered in a span of three days" beams Shaad. The surgery cost him `2,000.
Initially apprehensive about having to adopt a stray dog, Shaad's mother was bowled over by Juggie's charm and made him a big part of the family.
Shaad and his friends are constantly involved in helping dogs by feeding them whenever possible. "Adopting a dog is huge responsibility and you can't back out of it. You wouldn't do it to your child, why do you want to do it to the dog? It is very important to know what the other members in the family feel about the decision. Without the full support and consent of the family it is not possible to adopt and raise a dog,” he said.