By Dr. Kuhu Roy
A stray dog turning blind on the roads is usually synonymous with a one way journey to a shelter for him/her. Why not a home? Blind dogs make wonderful companion animals. Kaanu, a rescued stray, with half lower jaw missing, has been an integral part of our home for more than two years now. Life is probably bliss for him as he sleeps for twenty three hours in a day. All the meals are on the bed. He goes for a 3am walk in the night but he does not need my assistance at all. He, like other blind dogs, is great at maths. For the one hour that he is up, he rolls around to play and then holds our hands and sings a beautiful song that together goes as a prayer from us for every senior dog and a blind dog to have a home, to be felt loved and wanted. Let us not turn a blind eye to them ever.
On the 30th of July, 2020, covering a half an hour journey sitting on my lap with utmost faith, he entered our home to a roaring welcome by the other resident canines of the house.
While we took Kaniya to be meek, his personality flowered with homecoming. Although he had a soft bed, he snatched Tweeky’s and even went to beat him black and blue once. I had to rush to rescue Tweeky from the one-eyed Kaniya.
While Kaniya tried to boss over almost every canine at house, he was mortally afraid of Disco, a super senior bed ridden rescued stray and Chamgi, the furless, but with a hakunamatata approach towards life, dog.
