Stories

The Story of Teeny : A Memorable Rescue and Adoption

On the 18th of August 2014, I noticed a very tiny injured pup in a small cage in the Deonar Puppy Pen. As we never keep such young ones at the Centre, I immediately extracted her and went to find out her details. She had been rescued by a young man a day earlier and brought to our Centre. He had found her lying on the road beside a dust-bin and had immediately picked her up and brought her to us. Being a newborn, her eyes were still shut. She had a small maggot wound under one front leg and her tiny back feet were deformed. On one foot she had no toes and had only two toes on the other.

I took her home to keep her in foster care and it was seven days later that Teeny opened her eyes. By calculating when newborn puppies open their eyes, Teeny was probably born on 15th August 2014. As puppies do very well if bottle fed, she was started on the best of puppy 'food' available and was soon drinking 50 ml at each feed as she slowly progressed to 80 and then 100 ml of special milk for pups.

From the start Teeny was enthusiastic about everything. First of all, it was her bottle of milk, then her toys, then her bath which she also enjoyed. We gave up feeling sad for her and her poor little feet as she soon proved that they didn't bother her in the least. As she put on steady weight and started moving around she became stronger and finally very swift moving. She simply loved her toys and would sleep with all of them in her day bed and then they had to be moved to her bedroom (a crate) in the night, with Teeny helping in the move.

Mid-September a small crisis arose. Our Managing Committee team had to go to Jaipur for a Conference and I had to find a foster for Teeny and a good one at that. I sent out a distress call and our supporters went to work. A call for help was sent out on Wassup and in one day a suitable foster was found. He was a young man attending college and quite willing to care for Teeny for about a week, his parents also were quite agreeable. Teeny of course, endeared herself to the entire family and when we returned and the young man brought her back to my home, the 'parting' was quite emotional for him. He had done a very good job, even with the bottle feeding and I was glad that Teeny had a chance to socialize with another family.

When Teeny was just about two months old, I had to leave for a trip abroad and another search was made for a foster home. This time our Priya Grover who sent out the message got almost an instant response from a good friend of hers who was willing to foster Teeny. There was a small problem of transport as she stayed very far away in Navi Mumbai. Here again, fortune smiled on Teeny. A very kind gentleman offered to collect her and take her to her foster home in his car - a very long way away!! Teeny was duly installed in her bright yellow mode of transport, especially used for doggy rescues, and taken to her new foster home. She simply blossomed there and spent much of her time racing about, playing with all her toys and being loved and made much of by the family. However, after having a lovely time of it for quite long, Teeny had to be brought to our Deonar Centre as the family had to leave the city for some time. As she was now healthy and strong and about four months old, we hoped she would not get sick among the hundreds of dogs housed there. She did suffer a little, but our Vets helped to bring her back to health and monitored her at all times.

We were always worried about Teeny. In India it is difficult to get mongrel pups adopted and Teeny had the added disadvantage of a deformity. But the impossible happened. Priya Grover, who handles our adoptions, managed to find a couple who were interested in adopting our Teeny! Very interested!! We were ecstatic and very hopeful that all would go well. Teeny was bathed and readied, and finally met the couple who had only seen her pictures on the Net before this. They fell in love at once and now Teeny is very much a beloved part of their household. In fact, they have sent us a message to print and it is all about our wonderful little Teeny.

According to Supriya and Geet, Teeny has a very calm nature, wise but very naughty and she just loves to go for walks. All the neighbourhood kids come and play with her - she loves getting attention. Teeny also loves to eat boiled vegetables! She has a good friend, a Labrador who lives nearby. When he goes for a walk, he calls at her door and vice versa. They then stand together for sometime, talking to each other and then go for their walk. Both meet every day without fail.

When Supriya and her husband Geet come home, Teeny jumps up and licks them in joy.  They then sit with her for a while. Teeny sleeps in between both of them on the bed and has her very own pillow! She is crazy about her toys - they are a must for Teeny. She is still a little shy about opening up to new people. For both Supriya and Geet, adopting Teeny has been a most wonderful experience. They love her so much, they think of her as their child.

As for all of us on the IDA India team, we couldn't be happier. Teeny has been a pure inspiration for us and has encouraged us to do even more by way of convincing people to adopt our truly wonderful Indian dogs.

Vivienne Choudhury
2nd March 2015