Bruno:
Bruno was brought into our house more than 17 years ago as a lean but naughty puppy weighing about approx.750 gms. Today, I should not call him a brat as he is an old naughty member of my house, but to express my affection towards him, I just cannot remain but, have to, call him a brat. His arrival in our house was by a mere chance. My children Betsy and Cyril were very fond of pets. This liking must have been in their blood because their mother, of course, my wife Pearline was and is mad about pets and I too have been not at all averse to animals. In my younger days also, we had dogs and cattle in our house and if I remember correctly, Kaiser was the pet dog we had when I left home for Baroda in 1970. Coming back to Bruno, in the initial days he was not very much heeding to instructions and with certain very light punishments he fell in line and started behaving very intelligently and affectionately. We did not notice how he was growing up as a younger member of the family taking care of every one and expressing his deep love which cannot be described in words. Simultaneously, he was also claiming his stake with each and every one of us. His sense of belonging even today is great. He is very sensitive and adapts to the circumstances in the house. He still jumps and sits in the lap whenever he gets an opportunity. He has made it a matter of right to sleep in our bed for some time before he goes for his regular sleep.He does not forget any one and with children, my God! He thinks he is their care taker and their safety is his exclusive duty. My memory is fresh as to how he was lying near the cot and taking care when young Maanya, Manshree and Manvi were sleeping. Any slight movement by them will make him restless and will run to call his mom. He understood me as Papa and Pearline as mom, as our children used to call. By God’s grace he did not have any serious health problems except the incident in 2010 when we had gone to Kerala and he was kept at our servant’s place when three street dogs attacked him. We were crossing our fingers and praying for his recovery. The efforts put in by my son Cyril to arrange immediate medication and the care taken by him and his friend Anand were commendable. By God’s Grace and great care taken by us all especially his Mom, we would get back him active. This time, when we were to go to Kerala last month, our main concern was to find out a suitable place where he could be kept and finally we got him accommodated in a dog hostel, though at a higher cost. He does not forget people he meets once, for years, and he will hug and kiss them when he happens to meet them again. He likes to be in our company always, especially his mom. If he is kept alone, he will cry though it is more than seventeen years since he is with us. Of course, he is gone old now, he has cataract in one of his eyes, he gets tired frequently, his hearing is also slightly impaired. We never miss out in giving his regular injections and routine medicines and tonic. He not only guards the house, but is an active, loving member of my house.
My grand daughter Maanya is too fond of him. She tells ‘‘Bruno is my saga bhai. Cyril and Prashant are his cousin brothers and my mummy, Bruno’s cousin sister”. Our Manshree, whenever she talks, her third sentence will be about Bruno and she often insists to hear Bruno’s barking sound on phone. Bruno is also very fond of Maanya and Manshree. When these two girls happen to meet Bruno, I admit, I have no words to explain how they express their love and affection. Cyril, whenever he is on chat with me, he will ask how are you Dad, Mom and Bruno. To sum up, Bruno is an important part of our family, whose role cannot be described in words. Our only prayer is that he should remain in good health.
Britto:
Some time ago, my elder brother, Johnachayan had told me that he had brought one more pet dog (he already had one), a Pomeranian mix breed who resembles our Bruno in appearance. When we reached home in September, we were rather pleasantly surprised to see Britto, who had much in common with Bruno. He had a look almost like Bruno. Both of them belong to the same breed and more or less same behavioral pattern. He is only nine months old now and appears as if he is the younger brother of Bruno. For the first couple of days he barked at us, certainly it was not friendly barking, we could make out. We simply called him Britto and ignored him. When he realized that we are not giving attention to him, he changed his style. Infact, we knew from a dog instructor that you should ignore a dog at the first instance and should not try to make friend with it for a couple of days. We sensed that his barking style has changed and he wanted us to reach out to him and make friendship with him. We slowly started going near to him and give some thing of his liking to eat. With in a couple of days, he made us his friends. He is very affectionate and spared no time when he got an opportunity to play with us. Of course, he is a naughty little brat in the complete sense of the term. He became very excited in the company of my wife and she being a pet lover had very good time with him. He soon became a friend of Cyril also. Thereafter, during the few days left for us to leave, he wanted that we should spend time with him and play with him. When we left for Bharuch, the poor thing was crying his heart out and we also had to leave with a heavy heart. We pray that he grows up with the same charm and also hope that we shall meet him again.Both Bruno and Britto, we consider them as brothers, have many things in common. Both are lovable, affectionate beings and are grateful to those who nurture them. They cannot be called dogs, but they are members of the house and the very presence and affectionate behavior of them, can ease out any tension which one can have in the hurly-burly of day to day life.
