Feature

Of poodles, pampers and pain

Zannatul Lamea

WHEN I saw him for the first time, I couldn't take my eyes off him; he was cute and chubby, he was snuggling hard to get himself under a car and stay clinging there. That was it. I couldn't resist any longer, when I tried to drag him out from under the car, he scratched the car, the road, my hand and every other thing he could set his paws upon. Finally I managed to drag the little thing out, I placed him in a paper bag and sped off to my home. Yes he did every possible thing to get me on my nerves, not to mention he chewed off two of my SIM cards and devoured it successfully. And now? The cute little thing has become as big as a hound, howls fiercely and guards our home just like he does his bone. And that's the story of KIP my first pet.

Taking pets are not that easy, your parents will scream their head out when they hears so. To me, pets are lovely companion. They will be with you till death, literally. Where can you find such promising relationship? But pets are not to be taken for granted. Taking a pet is the first step towards taking responsibility. When you take a pet, you need to take a lot of responsibility that comes along with it, you need to give him a home with warmth and love and care- not just a wooden box house. You need to give him all kinds of comfort he needs. You have to give him a regular bath with shamoo, twice a week during summer and once in two weeks in winter, take him to the vet for vaccination and take care of ticks, fever, upset stomach, give vitamins, medicine for worms and so on.

Most importantly, pets are just like kids, they require ample time and attention from you. If you think that a puppy looks cute and take it home, rub his tummy once in a while and just let him stay in your house without taking care of him, don't go for a pet then. Pets are living things; they have emotions and needs just like we do. A baby pet requires a lot of love and care to be nurtured properly and develop into a full grown animal. And when you take a pet, you can't ignore his needs and let him stray around. But with the amount of love you get from your pet is worth taking all the responsibility. May it be a cute little Spitz, may it be a playful Lasa, may it be a big German Shepherd or a Cocker Spaniel, may it be a monkey, may it be a canary, may it be a goldfish whatever kind of pet you have- cherish it! Love it and it will love you back.

In Bangladesh, pets are regarded as stray animals- the kind of animals which has no home, no skin, and who you can kick around, cut off their tail, pour hot water, inflict serious pain and dump in a dustbin when dead. It's a common scene in Dhaka, you find a dog walking on your street, after sometime you find him chased by people, beaten up without any reason, pebbles being thrown at him and if the people have much time in their hand, they would take the effort to cut off his tail or shave off his coat. And people think its “Fun” ! Cutting the tail does not make a dog ferocious, on the contrary it leaves a big scar on its psychology. Dogs brush off fleas and flies from their back with the tail. It is an important part of its body. So, it is inhuman to cut off the tail. God has created it with the tail so who are we to cut the tail off?

On my last birthday, my closest friend gave me another puppy, knowing my unending love for puppies. When I first saw the little furball, I almost cried with excitement! I loved seeing this extremely cute little thing crawl on my lap and doze off. I love it when he would try hard to chase me but roll himself over instead, I love his corny whines whenever he sees me eating, I love to see him fight with me hard to scratch me and bite my fingers with his seemingly tiny teeth, I love every little details of him. Now that I am writing this article he is trying hard to get my attention and nodding his head with the thumping music coming from my sub-woofers. That's the story about Pip - my second pet. Okay he is whining again, time to take him out for a walk, adios!