Hey, you! Yes, you! Do you like dogs? Hmm? Of course you do!
Dogs are wonderful companions and are very loyal to their owners. Well, there’s this street dog on our street that is absolutely adorable and always wants pats on his head. If you saw the image above, you know what I mean. In this blog, I am going to share some of my experiences with this particular dog.
First, let’s start with how I met him. According to our milkman, he was on a different street, but he later moved over here. Our story starts when one fine evening, I dressed up and went cycling for some fresh air. And guess what I saw?
A new dog, with golden-brown fur, golden eyes and a bushy tail, sleeping. I thought, “it must be a new dog to the tribe”, and went my way. What’s that? Oh, right. You must be like, What tribe? Well, let me explain.
It’s like this. All streets have at least three street dogs. I call these groups tribes, because they do everything together, even hunting for food. There is a big tribe on our street consisting of fourteen or fifteen street dogs. All of them are golden-brown, and so I call them The Goldbrownies. That dog I saw was golden-brown, and that is why I thought he was part of The Goldbrownies.
Anyway, days passed. I saw that dog every day, and he slowly grew confident and began accepting pats on the head, and people also gave him food. That’s when I realized that this guy was definitely not one of the Goldbrownies. He was much of a loner than a tribal dog. More days passed.
One day, I decided to observe this dog. I don’t know why, but there was something majestic of his posture. Whenever he would be standing at the end of the street, he would look like a bold, fearless lion. Even his eyes were golden like a lion’s. He seemed a bit like me, a loner, modest and sensitive dog. I wasn’t bold and fearless like him… I’m too much of a scaredy mouse! At that moment, I felt a surge to pat him on the head. Why? God knows. But, as they say, your wish will be fulfilled one day. And it did.
One day, when I came back from my German tuition, Mr. Dog-who-looks-like-a-lion eagerly came towards me, wagging his tail. I asked my mother if I could touch him. She said yes! So I patted his head, and I felt really happy. His golden-brown fur was so soft, and he didn’t want me to go. He just kept rubbing his snout on my leg and urged me to pat him more. Since then, I always feed him biscuits and he eagerly gobbles them up. I decided to name him Bobo. I chose this name because according to my trusty advisor and friend Google, ‘bo’ means good in Catalan language. So I decided to name him ‘very good’, that is, Bobo!!
As days passed, I began to know his ways. For example, I discovered that whenever he wanted to say thank you, he would cross his front paws, stretch his front legs and move his body back (people say he just does it to yawn, but he’s not a lazy dog to yawn whenever I feed him biscuits). Then, I discovered that he opens his mouth whenever he is hungry. And finally, he holds his right paw horizontally on his left paw as if to salute. But that was how I met him. But since then, there have been some incidents where Bobo was either brave or sweet or just … himself.
One such particular incident was… interesting. I was just cycling along the road, minding my own business, when suddenly, about ten dogs came out of an alley. I screeched my cycle to a stop. Unfortunately, I was right in the middle of this sea of dogs. Now, let me tell you, I might be King Akshobhya the Fearless while being around Bobo, but other dogs? Nope. Luckily, they didn’t do anything to me, so I got out of there as fast as I could. Later, I was just about to go home when they were back. The new tribe.
I wasn’t concerned at first, but then I looked a dog right in the eye. It is said that you should not look a dog right in the eye, because it thinks that you are a thief (or something like that). Anyway, I did just that. I knew I was dead. I began saying my prayers. My life flashed before my eyes (Don’t laugh. It’s a figure of speech).
But then, I heard a loud bark behind me. It was Bobo. I would say he shooed tribe away, but he went forward and barked so loudly, they went away willingly. I was saved! Hurray!!!
Another incident took place four days ago. I came back from my tuition at 8pm in the evening. Suddenly, I saw a guy carrying a bag of some kind of food, coming towards us. Bobo was close behind his heels. The man took out some dog food and put it in front of Bobo, who gobbled it up greedily.
My mother asked this guy who he was, and I got to know a lot. Apparently, the man was actually a retired government officer, and he got pensions. He bought dog food with the pensions and fed all tribes in the town. While my mom and the man talked, I noticed a female dog standing at the end of the street. I pointed it out, and the man said that she doesn’t eat dog food and only likes biscuits. But as soon as the man was gone, Mrs. Dog came wobbling towards Bobo, who was still busy with his dinner. Bobo growled at her, and she growled back. But our Bobo is a big goodie guy. He went away with his tail between his legs, and Mrs. Dog ate all of the treats. I felt really bad for Bobo, and I don’t know if it was my imagination or not, but I could swear his eyes were watery when I saw him later that evening.
But wait! There’s more to this story. Next day, Mrs. Dog was back! Bobo barked once. “C’mon Bobo!”, I cheered. “You can do it!”. I bet you expected me to say that Bobo clawed her, growled at her or even peed on her face, or at least did something. Sorry to say that none of that happened. Our goodie guy just smelled her while wagging his bushy tail furiously back and forth. And after the previous day’s fiasco, they were friends again! So much for a cool fight. Dogs. I don’t understand them sometimes.
Another incident took place about a month ago. You see, Mrs. Dog’s husband, Mr.Dog, was actually a really nice dog. Was. Not anymore. He’s become really aggressive and mad. So much, that he bit a Beagle once (the owner of the Beagle was very angry indeed). His brown-white fur, once so clean, is now covered in slobber and teeth marks. It looks kind of like a tattoo of some dog bike club. His eyes, beetle black and sides white as milk, are now all red. Since his sudden change, I always steer clear of him.
Anyway, one fine day, Bobo was standing guard at the end of the street, when suddenly, a completely new dog that I had never seen before (a Labrador, by the looks of it), went past. Mr. and Mrs. Dog began barking at it and went after the Labrador. Bobo began barking and took off, too. At first, I thought he was going after the Labrador, but I was wrong. Bobo’s real intention was so kind, I thought I was going to start blubbering like a baby.
He actually wanted to help the Labrador! He ran in front of Mr. and Mrs. Dog and held them off while the poor Labrador went his way. If it was not for Bobo, Mr. Dog would have surely ripped him apart. Just, wow! Wow!
So that was a my praises on Bobo (AKA Mr. Dog-who-looks-like-a-lion, Goodie guy and much, much, more). I hope I didn’t bore you. I was just excited to tell about Bobo. There are actually so many other things that I haven’t told you yet, but I will surely bring a part two. Until then, Hasta La Vista!
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