‘Being a mother’ in our culture is broadly synonymous with delivering a baby or adopting one. It is also denoted by socializing the child into one’s culture, loving him/her unconditionally and providing him with the best of everything. What we often miss to understand is that ‘motherhood’ is associated with any act of compassion and love. It could be towards anyone. For me, it is towards my little bundle of joy, Pluto.
I discovered my strong maternal instincts when I got home Pluto. His entry into my life and heart is completely credited to my husband. When we decided to take our relationship to the next level, I expressed my desire to have a dog at home. It was like an untouched chord that stuck both of us. Interestingly, both of us were dog lovers and always wanted to have a dog. To our utter dismay, both our families never permitted us to have one. The childhood desire to have a dog now turned into a much thought over responsibility to become pet parents even before marriage. Eventually, we took the call of getting home Pluto (who was just 25 days old).
Pluto stayed with me at my home. My mother who was really scared of dogs allowed him to stay with us as she knew that I will be getting married in a few months and will be taking him along. At that time, she had no idea about the magic of dogs! She never imagined that after a few months she will be completely in awe of him and in fact would miss him more than me. My younger brother grew really fond of Pluto and he was the one who took care of him in my absence pertaining to work commitments. He lovingly calls Pluto “Bad Boy”.
My experience of raising Pluto has been the most rewarding one so far. I apprehended that a puppy just like an infant, demands too much of care during his growing days. You have to be on your toes 24*7. The little sacrifices you make for him, the time that you devote towards him, the way you feed him etc. makes you grow fond of him with each passing day. If that’s still not enough, just watch him and you will instantly fall in love with the overwhelming cuteness!
There will be days when he will be so mischievous that it will be nerve wrecking. You would want to scold him badly but let me tell you the moment you will do so, he will act out such an adorable puppy face that it will induce terrible guilt for reprimanding him. The cherry on cake would be that after a while he will come up with something even more notorious. Basically, after a while your emotions will get confused over him and exhaust!
For Pluto it was chewing on our new sofas. Oh gosh! Hell was broken loose in our home that day. My mother was almost throwing Pluto and me out of her home. It took me and my brother days to calm her down and get the sofas mended. I can’t stop laughing when I think about that phase! However, as a pet parent it wouldn’t matter to you how much he spoils your furniture, wires, footwear etc., what matters is the truck loads of irresistible cuteness that he will spread in your life. Our entire life started revolving around him.
My husband is the most incredible dog father one can ever be. He never missed any of Pluto’s appointments with his vet. He used to take Pluto to his residence on weekends to enjoy their boys’ time which mainly consisted of Pluto’s bathing and sleeping (pun intended)!
Over the next few months, my brother and I over pampered Pluto. When Pluto turned 6 months old, we realized the need to discipline his ‘rowdy’ behaviour. This brings me to another episode (worth a mention) which happened, when Pluto literally scared away his trainer. On the fifth day, his trainer labelled him a ‘terrorist’ and called it quits! This was 2 months before our wedding. My husband then stepped in and took the responsibility of discipling him. He is the only person Pluto is scared of! Thankfully, Pluto is now a well behaved dog (with pangs of uncontrollable urge to chew on socks and shoes).
We had a special photo shoot arranged with Pluto during our wedding. How could he miss to be a part of our wedding!!
Actually, it was only after marriage that our best phase with Pluto began. It is really heartening to watch my husband and Pluto play every morning and evening. Sometimes when I am silently watching them, I wonder what if I wouldn’t have asked him to get us a dog. We would have been so incomplete without him. His presence in our lives is phenomenal. He binds us together with love and adorability. I don’t think we will ever love our child more than we love Pluto. For us he is our first baby!
Today he completes one year in this extraordinary world which is so full of love and joy!
