Fenny Chronicles - The Guardian

Guardian Angels are consistent, insistent, and persistent.


Fenny and I have established a very strong connection and when either of us is in a mess we look at the other for support. When Fenny has been up to no good and is discovered, she comes running straight up to my room and then she knows I’ll put things right. When my parents and I get into an argument Fenny very vocally supports me. When I tell her not to talk to someone, she doesn’t go near them or look at them :) The same applies to me, I can’t pet any other dog. She will just sniff out all the evidence and sulk for more than 2 days and then finally make up. There have been times when Fenny and I have sulked for the same reason and we sit together and sulk. There is no pulling us out of sulk mode when we display such solidarity.

She hates it when anybody touches things that belong to me. It could be my bag, phone anything. She has the right to drool on and chew my possessions but no one else can enjoy such liberty. Once when my uncle was making a call from the landline she barked at him till he walked away from the phone, she did the same every time he or anyone else used it. She thought it belonged ONLY to my brother and me:)

There was a paper called Company Law when I was in the third year which was supposed to be the toughest paper. As was the case I was really petrified of the subject. I must have read the book thrice, read stuff out to Fenny. When reading if I couldn’t grasp the concept I’d read it out to Fenny and miraculously the concept would sink in. I’d wake up in the middle of the night and start studying and fenny would sit next to me till the wee hours of the morning. The day I was done writing my company law paper which was the last paper in the third year Fenny and I slept for over 12 hours straight. Now if I show her the company law book she’ll run in the opposite direction.

Everybody has a guardian angel or I hope they do, but I have two – One is sitting next to me the other I’m sure is smiling down at me( Mukta Ajji)

Fenny Chronicles - Our Best Friend

My best friend Chaitra came home when I told her we’d got Fenny. She knew how much I had been longing for a puppy. She is not a dog lover but she is not a dog hater either. So she came home and saw the tiny cuddly puppy and actually pet her. (Now before I tell you more about Fenny and Chaitra, I must mention that Chaitra is a cat lover and had never pet any dog before Fenny.) That moment on Fenny and Chaitra became best friends too. Fenny enjoyed Chaitra’s visits to our place. Once she actually climbed on her kinetic ready to take off with her. (Made me so jealous)

Fenny had found herself a best friend too, she awarded my friend with several attempts to lick her face, jumping on her, spinning her tail when just being glanced at and being petted by her. When she calls up she asks about Fenny and her misadventures and has always made it a point to visit Fenny. Till recently I hadn’t realized how strong a bond had grown between these two. I’d be speaking both for Fenny and me when I say, “We couldn’t have asked for a better ‘Best Friend’. We got the Bestest” :)

Fenny Chronicles- The Helper Puppy

Within months of having Fenny at home, she knew that we all lived by a routine and she used to enjoy watching each one of us do our work. Like my mom, she used to hang the washed clothes to dry on the clothes line and get them in at evening once they were dry. Fenny decided that she had to help my mom. So one evening she started pulling down the clothes (the ones she could reach) one by one. Before she knew it she was drowning in a bundle of clothes. My mom hearing the strange sounds from our court yard decided to check, only to find a bundle of clothes rolling on the ground and a very black tail peeping out from one end of the bundle. Good intentions with bad execution usually got Fenny into a LOT of trouble with my parents.

One day my dad was cutting some leaves from the garden patch for the kitchen. Fenny was out with him and she saw him busy uprooting these leaves. Having collected enough leaves my dad came inside. These leaves are used to prepare a delicacy, and were very carefully grown by my dad. When he came back out in the garden to take the tools back in, he saw fenny digging furiously uprooting the remaining leaves. The moment she saw my dad she had a look that said, “Come on now, go ahead and pat me on the back. Aren’t you just proud of me?” She did get a pat!

Fenny and I used to share a shelf. The top part of the shelf had my books and the bottom shelf had Fenny’s towels, her goodie box and chews. When we were packing before moving to our new house, my mom had asked me get my books to the hall so that she could put them in cartons and label them. Fenny saw me going to and fro with my stuff. So she decided to do the same she started dragging all her belongings from the bottom shelf and placed them in the hall. I hadn’t noticed her till I was done with my job. We got a box for her, put everything in it and after her inspection of the orderliness of the contents in the box we sealed it labeling it as FENNY.

Fenny Chronicles - Teething

Teething: this is a phase all pet lovers dread. As much as you love your pet, you do wish they wouldn’t use your favorite blanket as a chew toy and make a hole right in the middle of it or bite your slippers beyond recognition, or chew on your books.

Fenny is a small dog. Unlike other Labradors she is not huge. She was the runt of the litter. She is the tinniest of her siblings. For a tiny dog she used to set herself huge goals. I had once caught her chewing my French notebook, but as I was right there to rescue it, not much damage was done. Since then I used to keep my books beyond her reach. One day I had left my book on the coffee table, when I came into the hall I saw my little monster trying her best to get her paws on the table. She jumped many a times but she only got her nails on the table. So she went under the table, looked like she was figuring out another plan to get to my book. 5 minutes later she was circling the table. Finally she decided she’ll use the support of one of the legs of the table and started jumping, she managed to get her head and fore paws on the table and dug her teeth into my book and the next second she had dropped on the floor. The book lay open; she settled herself on it and started chewing it. I had no option but to rescue my book again. I didn’t have the heart to scold her. She looked so adorable trying to get on the table, the earnestness with which she was executing her plan was so precious.

The book was out of her reach now; she needed some thing new to chew on so she decided that my Brother and I would be her new chew toys. So when she had an opportunity she’d sit on our lap and chew our hands. Her teeth were like little sharp pins and her “chewing” left scratch marks on our hands. To divert her from our hands I decided I’d give her my slippers and she found true joy in them. No one tried to separate her and the slippers and she could chew on it all she liked. She grew to like the slipper so much, she used to carry it every where with her.

Fortunately for us the teething phase lasted for just about 6 to 8 months. When she was 9 months we moved to another house. When she was 10 months, my parents had to attend a family wedding at Mangalore. So my brother, Fenny and I were put in charge of the house. As soon as my parents left, my brother sat in front of the comp, me in front of the TV and Fenny decided to something by herself. After an hour we realized that Fenny was being awfully quiet. We decided to check on her. She was sitting on my brother’s bed, and was chewing his blanket. We got her of the bed and out into the hall. She got a dose of scolding and spent the rest of her time sulking by the door. She kept sulking for 3 days and cheered up once my parents came back. That’s when we realized that, my parent’s absence had put her in the destructive mode. We were soon to realize that Fenny expressed displeasure or anger by becoming destructive.

Fenny Chronicles - Why have a pet?

We must all ask ourselves this before we get a pet. Everyone who lives in an illusion thinking bringing up a pet is easy, welcome to reality. I am now a self proclaimed expert on pets from ants, fishes, snails, bugs to dogs.

Remember that you will definitely out live your pet, so be ready for an emotional rollercoaster. Anyone who thinks they’ll get a pet and yet be detached is fooling himself or is someone who just lost his heart to Satan.

This blog is inspired by a very recent incident which confirmed my reasons for wanting a pet. When I was 17, I wanted a pet because I thought I needed to have someone who would help me understand myself better. Someone that I could tell about everything in my mind not worrying that there was any possibility of it ever falling on anyone else’s ears. Someone who wouldn’t judge me and be glad to know me and be in my company. Well I got what I wanted- a little black Labrador puppy.
Day one was a nightmare. She came home on April 1st and she was to stay in my room. All was going fine till it started raining followed by thunder. Now, she had just left her mom, come to a new environment, everyone around her was cooing and then suddenly thunder and rains. That was Fenny’s first ever encounter with rain. She was so insecure she peed all over my room (I almost resolved to keep her off water for a week, where did a small thing like her store all that pee?) I couldn’t sleep nor would she sleep. I woke everyone at home and we decided to take turns in calming her down. Day one was hellish. Day two didn’t seem too promising either. Potty and pee are clearly not a welcoming sight first thing in the morning. She was like this little bomb, the moment we saw her flicker her eyelids after a nap we’d pick her and put her in the garden and she’d do her job and then run back in. It took her a while to realize that if there was no one to put her out she could run out herself instead of messing the house.
It was decided that she would be a house dog and she would have minimum contact with strangers. Fenny thought I was her mommy and she followed me everywhere and as was expected she fulfilled all my reasons for wanting a pet. But just when I was enjoying my new found joy, she fell ill. It was a very traumatic period for all at home. She got so sick that she could not take any food or liquids. She had to be put on drips and had to take 17 injections in the first 50 days of her life. When she was sick all I could think was wanting to help her feel better. This whole thing about me expressing myself vocally to her and her not being able to tell me where she pained or what she wanted was torture. I was scared that whatever I did was worsening her condition, this went to the extent of me isolating myself from her for a day because I felt helpless. But she wouldn’t let me stay away, she came to me and got on my lap and slept for over 6 hours. That was the longest duration she had slept since she came home. From then on she decided that she would lie on my lap only and I obliged. The feeling of finally being able to help her was not just overwhelming but scary too. From there on she got better and we have had the most amazing time since.
It hasn’t always been hunky dory; we have had ups and downs. The next hurdle was teaching her to behave on the road while I took her for walks. We began with a slow jog and as she grew bigger and stronger she would run faster and within 5 mins I’d be breathless trying to keep pace with her and at the same time holding on to the leash with dear life. Just when we struck up a decent routine, we decided to move. A new house, a new area,totally unexplored vastness filled with varied aroma of all the dogs in our colony could only spell one word for Fenny--> A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E

Here I will admit to her being a little frightening and overly possessive about her territory and yes, if she were human she’d manage to be the nicest rowdy about town. One very sunny day a lazy mongrel was walking by our gate, before I realized it Fenny flashed out of the gate, after her me and after me my dad. It must have been a sight. I was screeching for Fenny to stop and my dad was screeching for the both of us to stop. We all did stop when the mongrel was cornered by Fenny completely trembling from nose to paw with his tail between his legs completely resigned to its fate, my dad and I intently watching fearing any movement would accelerate the tension into a fight. Just when the whole waiting bit was getting too unbearable Fenny turned around walked to me licked my hand allowed me to put the leash on and we were on our way back home safe without a scratch. I ran after Fenny fearing she would be hurt, but then during our wait anticipating a move from either dogs I really felt sorry for the mongrel. All the way back home I kept admonishing her for her reckless behavior at the same time being extremely proud of her which she clearly felt in my tone of voice. I guess that is why my “scolding” didn’t have the desired effect.
The same week my mom and I were walking her and I wasn’t holding the leash tightly because she was behaving. Right in front of us came three strays. As was expected Fenny gave them a chase and in the process she had my feet tangled in the leash which resulted in a major fall and then getting up by which time Fenny was really close to the dogs and to my horror, there was one frothing at the mouth and was very unsteady on its legs and was slowly inching towards Fenny. Fenny stood still keeping all three adversaries in view and started moving back wards, but she still had her tail up and hackles raised, she came and stood right next to my mom and me at the same time we pelted stones at the dogs and the rabid one pounced forward when a man intervened and shooed it with a whack.
We walked back home, Fenny clearly prepared for my “scolding”, but this time I wasn’t proud of her, I was angry about the way she behaved and worse than that, the minutes in which I thought the rabid dog would attack her some of the most terrible thoughts crossed my mind, the numerous what ifs? messed my head real bad. The moment we got back home I whacked Fenny one tight whack with the news paper. The moment I did that I regretted and hated myself. How could I allow myself to hit her? She looked more shocked, than hurt. She was surprised that I had hit her. I went to my room and cried because I was ashamed of having hit her, because I never thought I would hit her. The very idea had never crossed my mind, speak sternly to her may be but to hit her. Gosh it made me feel like an ogre. She came running to me and amidst a very droolish apology from Fenny I apologized to her and we were back to being best friends and the whole episode was forgotten.