A Dog’s dream on a rainy day:

It was a rainy day. Luckily, before the downpour started, this dog had finished a sumptuous left-over meal, from the bin standing on the street corner. The effect of full stomach and the rhythmic patter of rain had lulled it into a dreamy sleep. 

Pets or street sentinels, we have this wisdom that 'dialogues cannot be had in vacuum'. So, we bark to communicate our emotions or illness, loneliness or to seek attention or to warn of intruders, and to sound an alert of danger. We have the repertoire - bark, howl, whine, snort or growl to express a specific reaction depending on the situation. 

We are particular about where we settle, of course on others’ property or public spaces, and claim that territory, by emptying the bladder on specific objects or by pawing to leave scent on the ground. This is to caution that our supply chain (wet waste bins) and lodging is protected and is under constant surveillance. For us, any intrusion into our marked territory, is a tariff imposed and we resent it by barking and snarling with bared teeth to warn off the trespassers. Sometimes, we use a muted version of barking with wagging of tail, to indicate a willingness for a friendly dialogue or to settle disputes. 

 We follow ‘the alert survives’ moto. We could uncannily identify friend or foe - people as well as other canines with malefic intent, by the exuded scent or by decoding the clues from the exhibited body language. When a dog chases other dogs or vehicles or people, it is to establish its territorial rights or simply to give expression to its natural hunting instinct. Sometimes, it is used as a means to have some fun to overcome boredom or to relive the past bitter experience of being hit by a vehicle, which triggers the chase and barking routine. 

Particularly bicycle and bike riders become our vulnerable targets, as they try to speed away from the barking and snapping at their legs and we accept the challenge to prove that we are also equal to the task of catching up. On occasions, the fun gets out of hand and some of us succeed in planting a bite or two. Besides people on wheels, we take great pleasure in chasing crows and small birds, rabbits, squirrels and mice - it is our temptation to give in to natural prey hunting instinct. Once in a while, we select cats and raccoons to add variety to the game. Most of our chases will not be aggressive pursuits and cause no harm to the prey.

Being ambivert, we take over any street to reside, rest and do guard duty, effortlessly mixing selfish and altruistic motives. If lucky, we get food and if not get hounded out every time we make an appearance. Becoming street smart, we have a well-developed antenna to read the situation in the environment - to relax in front of a house or give it a wide berth. Once safely ensconced, we like to dabble in social and political activities with other canines - to frolic with a chase and have fun or to engage in a fight on a real or imagined cause. However, each one of us reserve the sovereign right to regulate the entry of other dogs, into the earmarked territory.

Nature deciding to off load a month’s quota on that day, the rain fall kept up a steady patter. This dog continuing its slumber transitioned in to a cloudy haze. As if to mimic the rain fall, a bunch of unanswered questions stirred a storm, in its tiny brain. Why people in high places hate street dogs and try to exile them as persona non grata? Are we not the unpaid sentinels, watching and warning them against unauthorised entry or dangers?  Why these so-called animal lovers, who take to social media, at the whimper of a street dog, to espouse our cause and then vanish without even taking one of us under their care?

Angered by these acts, the dog continued thinking in its dream. Don’t we have any canine rights to protest against the rounding up of street dogs? What right you people have to deny us the chance to become parents, grandparents and great grandparents, by neutering?   When human culprits are allowed to walk around freely, why single us out for a life sentence behind an enclosure? Is this not an act of infringement on our natural right to be born and freely roam on the streets as we wish? 

If we are treated with dignity, would we become enraged and bare our teeth to settle the score with ‘bites’ here and there? For everything, you people rely on statistics and we the community of street dogs vociferously demand to know this - how many dog ‘bites’ have been reported and treated per thousand people in a year? And how many dogs were roaming the streets at that time? And what attempts have been made, to make people understand that their ill-human treatment of street dogs only had altered our attitude towards them?

Darkness of the night does not frighten us as much as the sight of a dog catcher and the wire-ring he carries to snare us. Even here are we not witnessing a hard wire approach rather than soft rope handling? In spite of being born hunters, have we not compromised to leave you people alone, as long as we are left to roam our streets for food and shelter?

Are we not standing guard on 24/7 basis, for protecting your dirty and unkempt streets? Though you don’t pay us for the service, we are doing it for free as a user fee!  What you expect us to do, when you people leave so many tempting delicacies, as leftovers, in the garbage bins? We consider them as take-aways - partake, feel filled and then contemplate to bring home new members to our collectives. Is it not natural? But there is a catch – more of us and more of you, sometimes conflicts between us do arise. This being the reality, why we alone are being blamed for rabies?

We do have pedigrees. Accompanied humans during their hunting trips. Guarded their cattle, kith &kin and habitats. We have an acute sense of geography and unerringly would take you through passages in the labyrinths and get you home safely.

Did we demand a ransom from anyone of you? A pat now and then, and once in a while a kind look and a little food satisfies us. In turn what we give to you is - companionship, unwavering loyalty with willingness to lay our life to save yours. Don’t spend time in thinking of ways to banish us from the streets. Use that time to think about ways to thank us for giving you the chance to avail our selfless services. Our presence in your streets is an insurance cover, which remains valid as long as we are alive. Consider all these benefits before shutting the door on our face.

The dream ended here and the dog stood up and stretched to its full length. By now, the rain has stopped and rays of sunlight was emerging through a bank of white clouds. To shake off the effects of the dream, it looked skywards and sent a long howl in the direction of the Sun, as if to lay all the blames there. Coming to the present, it rushed to the wet waste bin and as expected, the bin was filled with rain water. Then, it did a security check to ensure that there are no intruders in its territory. Finally, the dog trotted oof to that house, where it was always given food, to confirm that people are there and there will be no problem in getting the next meal.