Animal Tales - 3 September 28 2013

Johnny joined our gang of dogs as the previous owner left him behind – he was a part of the ‘Package Deal - Take the farm and get one dog free!’.

Johnny Wafadaar

Surprisingly he took to us and our dogs immediately – none of the territorial nastiness that canines sometimes exhibit. He was utterly untrained and did not hesitate to help himself to any food kept on the coffee table if no one was watching. But he learnt very fast and soon became as disciplined as Misty and Phoenix. And he followed my instructions in Konkani much to the amazement of the locals with whom we had difficulty conversing in Kannada. “The dog can follow Konkani..” they would exclaim in Kannada.

One of our friends had a very lovely Mudhol hound who had just had a litter. When the daughters saw the little pups, they just could not resist and came back with one. They named her Zuki.      

Phoenix acted like a grumpy-grampa with the playful pup and Misty ignored her initially. Both were despondent after Snoopy’s disappearance and seemed to resent the pup. But Johnny tolerated her antics and they both became fast friends.        

Phoenix and Misty did come around eventually and accepted her and today all four of them frolic around and have fun.  

When a new member joins the gang, it is always the youngest one who is the friendliest with the new member, the older ones act like the big bosses and look down their nose at the newcomer. So it was when Posha joined the group.    

Zuki and Posha would play together and tumble around while the others generally ignored them.          

But it wasn’t long before Phoenix joined them and Posha although a bit wary of him, still enjoyed playing with him.