Willow-Watching
Dec 26th, 2007 by Ashok
Willow was sick for the first time in her short life (which is all of 11 weeks so far). Just a stomach infection which passed, thankfully, in 24 hours. But it was a nerve-wracking 24 hours, especially because my daughter, Yashka, was away at horse riding camp, my son Ayush was still recovering from surgery on his dislocated shoulder, and I was just trying to get back to work after dealing with Ayush’s surgery and the hospital stay.
But we got through it–and most important of all, Willow got through it. (Ayush is fine too, by the way! Although for that one day he was more concerned about poor Willow than himself.) We had a great vet, Dr Shefali Shah at Lokhandwala, which was a huge help. She was always on call, and willing to come at a moment’s notice, even though it was Christmas Day and the whole city seemed to be either coming from one party or going to another.
Anyway, she’s past it now, and already starting to gain the little weight she lost that excrutiating (am tempted to spell that ‘excretiating’) day, and it’s so nice to see her bounding about the house, yelping and playing ‘donkey’ with Ayush and me and her fuzzy black-n-white ball. She always ends up making a donkey of us, being the smart Basset Hound that she is, and we’re constantly amazed at what a strong personality she has, and how intelligent she is. Her capacity for understanding and communication seems infinite, and already at barely 11 weeks, she’s more obedient than I ever expected. Goes to show that you don’t need a whip and police training to teach a dog to behave: just love, caring, affection, and clear, simple communication and respect for the dog is enough to earn you her undying affection and loyalty.
For that one day that she was painfully sick, she would only eat and drink out of my hands–literally, with me dripping water into her mouth and holding out mouthfuls of pureed apple and dahi for her to lick. And I tell you, it’s no different from having a little child sick at home. My son tells me that he now understands what it must have been like caring for him 18 years ago–or Yashka 14 years ago. Having barely slept for 36 hours–I even had to stretch a mattress on the floor in Willow’s room (aka my office by day) to comfort her and watch over her all night–I couldn’t agree more. Four legs or two legs, a baby is a baby!
Anyway, I didn’t have the heart to take a single picture of her sick, but I did put together a little collection of pictures from the past few weeks, including a whole series showing her befriending a quartet of Pekinese in the nearby Municipal Garden. There are a couple of her sleeping, including one of her sleeping in her favourite place–at my feet, in the well of my desk while I write. A couple of her staring. Eating. And if any or all seem a bit out of focus, that’s because she’s almost never still for even a second. You can even see that other objects around her are in focus, but she’s ever so slightly blurry.
That’s how she lives life–blurry. And so be it. Family pictures should be about love, not perfection.
Check out the Willow-watching photo gallery here.
