You lose some, you gain some

Yesterday morning on our way to the farm a rickshaw in front of us drove over a puppy. He stopped for a few seconds, looked at the puppy lying on the tarmac howling and drove off. We picked up the poor thing and took him to Animal Aid Unlimited, a local animal rescue centre and sanctuary. The vet on duty said the puppy looked alright except for a bad bruise on the front left leg. They decided to keep him for a few days. They said they would call us to pick him up and drop him where we found him. Animal Aid Unlimited has a policy - one with which I agree very much - to return able dogs to where they were found. We went home. 

This morning we were driving around when we saw a puppy lying in the middle of the road. When we got out two guards were standing over her not sure what to do. A girl on her scooter had stopped and offered to call the Animal Aid ambulance but we figured it would be faster to bring the puppy there directly. 

During the bumpy drive to the rescue centre I could feel the puppy slowly pass out. I tried to wake her up and even blew into her mouth (I really didn’t know what I was doing) but she died a few minutes before we reached the sanctuary. 

Not really knowing what else to do, we still went to the sanctuary to enquire about the puppy we had brought in the day before. One of the care takers said he limped a bit because of the bruising but that he was overall fine. She suggested we take him since the risks of infections are quite high in these places. 

‘Should we leave him where we found him?’ I asked. 

‘That would be the best but I leave it up to you,’ she said, ‘try and see if you can find any dogs from his pack.’ 

We sat in silence in the car with the puppy falling asleep on my laps. We were both thinking the same thing - what if we can’t find any dog? Can we really just leave him there, fending for himself? Can we afford to take him home?

We arrived at the spot where we had found her. The moment I stepped out of the car he woke up and looked around. He seemed the recognise where he was. 

We walked to a sort of yard where I put the puppy on the ground. He walked briskly - hardly limping - towards a pile of junk. Suddenly, we spotted an adult brown dog. The dog looked at the puppy coming towards her. I wasn’t sure what to do. I knew that there was a risk the dog would attack him but we stood there watching. Suddenly, the dog wagged her tail and walked towards the puppy. They licked each other with their tails wagging wildly. 

An old man standing nearby walked over and said: ‘Oh, we were wondering where the puppy had gone. He’s the only left from the litter. His mum must be very happy to have him back.’ 

Another man walked out from a small room at the end of the yard with some bread in his hands. He called the dogs who came running and hungrily ate the food from the floor. 

We left relieved and stunned at the same time. We really never expected we would find any dog - let alone his mother. 

Below is a very bad photo of the black and white puppy and his mum.