Buddy and Snowy enriched their lives

Last year on a Sunday afternoon, I received a photograph of Goldie, a white colour, two-year-old Golden Retriever who was unfortunately up for adoption on a Facebook group. I thought to myself “why would anyone put up such a beautiful girl up for adoption.”
But I let this thought pass over, as I could not get myself to once again grieve the loss of a ‘ pet baby’ , after having lost our earlier Buddy, just a few months prior. After having seen Buddy suffer towards the last stages of his life, I could not muster the courage to undergo the same trauma with another pet. But like they say, “A soul pet never dies. They just change forms.”

Once again, Goldie’s photo was shared with me, so this time around, I convinced myself and then my husband Darshan to pay a visit to Goldie, just to see her once. Though I knew in my heart that we will have her sitting on the back seat of our car, on the way back home. So we drove to meet Goldie and her first family.

As soon as I saw her, I instantly loved her. She was sitting in a corner but as soon as I sat down and stretched my arms, she came forward so quickly that I just instantly looked to my husband and said to him “I want her.” She was at her best and played a lot with us, even went for a walk with us. Without a doubt, I knew I was taking her home, but then out of politeness we agreed to pick her up the next day.

The house had to be made pet friendly once again. So we got don to work and brought out the doggy carpets, bowls and food packets and loads of Goldie talks came back the smiles.

The next day, the car was out on the same road, this time with a bed sheet covering the back seat for Goldie. It hardly took us time to get her into the car. We drove back as a family of three, once again, back to a home which missed the paws and the barks and the pet pee smells. As soon as Goldie walked into our house, I told my husband that we need to call her Snowy, since she looked like a snow fur ball. This house from then on became Snowy’s home.

She is a doll and such a popular one. She is the star of the building too among all the pet boys. She is a popular girl. Now we are called as Snowy’s parents. Snowy is a bubbly energetic happy kid on the block. She not only keeps us entertained but also keeps us away from the gym as all our workout happens at home with her. The home is buzzing with energy, thanks to her.

Buddy and now Snowy have both transformed a person like me who shied away from touching any animal all my life. But then after Buddy came into our lives, I progressed from being a pet lover to someone working with animal organisations and even fostering strays and eventually creating and publishing a pet magazine called Furs, Fins and feathers. Now I introduce myself as Shivani, the pet parent.

I believe dogs are not there for our whole life, but they do make our lives complete. Everyone is taught that angels have wings, but the lucky ones find angels with four paws.