‘It’s always an adventure when we go for walks together’

CHENNAI: With mixed breeds including an Indie and a Rotteweiler Lab, I have six dogs — Champak, Bella, Lassie, Leah, Brandy and Mia — in the age group of four to ten years. I adopted two from animal shelters and the other four come from the same family who have been with us through generations. We love going for walks together. It’s always an adventure, with the dogs reacting to other dogs and cats in the neighbourhood. They have their own unique behaviours and way of communicating with each other. For example, with a neighbour’s beagles, it’s always a friendly bark but with another Labrador in the neighbourhood, it’s a barking match.

I love the way they shower affection when I come back home from work. It makes me feel as if I have returned home after several months. But I get overwhelmed when all the dogs try to greet me at the same time and often end up jumping on top of each other, trying to get my attention at the same time.
I think pets are therapeutic. They help calm you  down and also make you a responsible person. They can sense a pet parent’s happiness or sadness immediately and are able to modify their behaviour accordingly. I think my pets have taught me patience. I have had dogs at home since my childhood. Compassion for all animals comes naturally out of respect for life.

The challenge in having pets lies in their early years. They learn about what’s acceptable and unacceptable; it is a trying time for them. It is no different from raising children. In later years, the challenge is bigger with illnesses that the pets suffer from. My best memories are of taking my dogs to a big pet pool and seeing them step nervously into the water for the first time. As realisation dawned that they could actually swim, it was amazing to see them jump into the pool, climb out and then jump again. It was hard to pull them away from the pool after that! The author is the general manager-delegate, Novotel and ibis Bengaluru Outer Ring Road