Meet Pookie, a three year old Indian Pariah dog from Dhaka. She has a tear jerking origin story, like most comic book characters, involving abandonment, abuse and trauma. Rescued by four humans when she was around three months old, she settled in the cozy home of two of them who later formed her pack
Loved and loving, she is a feisty little devil who also responds to Pooks, Pumpkin, Potol, Pumpernickel, Makhon, and Baby. As much as she likes her space, she knows her girl human needs incessant cuddles and warmth, so she accommodates - patiently embracing the forced hugs and the many kisses knowing they will eventually lead to treats. The boy human is her nap buddy as she’s discovered over many months. Undeterred by her attempts to wake him up in the mornings, she did the next best thing - she joined him. And they have been napping together since.
Here’s her morning routine - she’ll be up around 7 to see if the male human is awake. He never is. So she’ll scurry downstairs and sniff around the garage and finally settle with watching TV with some of the ladies who work there. An hour or two later she’ll be back up checking on the man. Nope, still asleep. If the girl human is visiting then it’s park time already! Stare at her till she caves - that’s easy. And off to the park they go. Play ball, run around, release all that pent up energy. Back after a good hour or so, she needs her chicken fix. Boy human is up by now, so some quality scratch time with him, and then on to Facebook.
The humans call Pookie’s time in the veranda her Facebook. This is when she stares at things from afar, barks and snarls at strangers and other animals and is rude to anything that is slightly confusing.
She likes children, but from a distance. They confuse her; so little and so much noise. She only cares for four kids and that’s only because they aren’t around too often. Watching her humans dote on other beings isn’t exactly her idea of a good time. Either pet Pookie or keep your hands to yourself.
She had a run in with a police officer last year. Had to convince the man that she really was a good girl - the goodest there’s been. He understood but funnily enough didn’t give her any treats…
Since her humans don’t know her actual birthday, every year, they celebrate the day they found her. It’s nice. All their friends come over, there’s a cake fit for a dog, balloons and many, many presents! Last year, she received a massive bone instead of a cake, which was even better! She had to hide it in one of the flower pots though - the meat is tastier after it ages a day or two.
Her favorite thing
s include going to the park, her little red devil squeaky toy that she carries around everywhere like her child, full attention from the boy human and the girl human when she visits, following said humans around whenever they leave their respective seats, and sleeping next to them whenever they are watching TV or in bed.
This is the story of Pookie. How could you help spread some love this Valentine’s Day? Maybe pet a stray, feed a stray, adopt a stray - only if you are ready. Animals, like children, require a lot of love and attention. If none of these seem viable, you could donate to the clinics and shelters in and around the country who work with stray animals: Obhoyaronno, Care for Paws, PAW Foundation and ALB Animal Shelter to name some. You can find them on social media, so you could donate through My Pet Project - which is a charity gig where pet portraits are painted through donations to these four agencies.
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