Sheru - The Wonder Dog

 

Let’s meet Sheru, The Wonder Dog. Our Sheru is an extremely good looking, notorious, playful and smart stray Dog. He has 2 siblings – Bhuri and Kallu, and some nephews and nieces. He is much like Amitabh Bachchan from Satte pe Satta. He loves his family, protects them at any cost but when it comes to food, he has to be the first one to eat. Rest of the family has to wait and watch until Sheru has finished eating and then they can have the left overs.

Dogification of a popular character is not the only quality our Sheru possesses. He is one of smartest dogs considering no one trained him for it. He wants to live a life of quiet and peace and chases away anything which he deemed a threat. Also, he can never be caught in the act.

The most extra ordinary thing about this Dog is, he protects his family more than most of humans do. One morning I couldn’t find Kallu when she was pregnant, I didn’t mention anything in dog language but Sheru somehow understood that I was looking for Kallu and started jumping up and down in front of me and then led me to Kallu, just like movies. Kallu had dug a hole beside our house and was ready to give birth. The next day there were 5 puppies and Sheru became a permanent resident of our street (which he wasn’t before that).

He started chasing away dogs and humans from puppies, no one except a few selected people could visit the puppies. I don’t know when and how this happened, but he trusted my family and allowed us to touch the puppies, to feed the puppies and to take care of puppies.

One day someone from neighborhood, started a small fire with scraps, somewhat near the place where these puppies were sleeping. Sheru just went mad, he started showing my mother the fire. At first my mother did not understand it because the fire was harmless but then it occurred to her that Sheru is worried about the puppies. He only calmed down when my mother went to check on puppies and told him that everything is fine.

When the puppies started walking Sheru has to keep a close eye on them. Whenever they were out in the open, he comes to our front gate and stays there until we have noticed it. When the puppies are playing in the streets, he chases away strangers or dog haters. He runs after them; he barks at them but he never bites them. Every night before going to sleep, he checks the perimeter. Runs a lap to spot any possible threats. He is the first one to come to puppies when they cry. All he is getting in return from most of humans are stones, sticks and abuse. He reminds me of soldiers and it’s just not because of his muscular physique. He stands in front of running cars so that the drivers have to drop down their speed. He sits at the middle of the road so that he can have his eyes everywhere. When at night we lock our front gate, he comes to us to say -  “sleep well now I will take care of the puppies”.

Now after child birth Kallu has become very weak, and we started giving her extra food. The food which Sheru was not getting, if you remember he is Amitabh Bachchan from Satte pe Satta. But somehow, he knew why Kallu needed more food so he did not make any objections.

Puppies have also started eating solid food. Sheru doesn’t hesitate to let them eat from his share. That’s just how much he loves the puppies. It has happened so many times that one of the puppies was lost for a while, whenever I go looking for them, Sheru just knows that something is wrong so he accompanies me. He doesn’t know what I am looking for because he can’t exactly count, but he knows, if I am frantic that might be because one of the puppies is lost.

It might be a plain story for most of the people but when you think about it; humans have written countless books on love, family, loyalty. Have made thousands of movies on that topic. Have created monuments for love. But at the end of the day it’s a dog who actually understands what true love and loyalty means.