It seems just like yesterday that Glory(our 6 yrs old male black lab) came to our home @ Baroda. That's why they say time flies. Really time does fly, and how? The most memorable years of my life had been in Baroda and Glory was one of the many reasons for that. It was a very cute experience in the beginning which turned out to be quite painful one (to be honest) later. The earliest memories of Glory for me are those when we just brought him to our Baroda Shantidham residence and during the same time we had our sister and her two kids visiting from Delhi. Goo-goo as we fondly used to call him, was a very naughty child. He would wake up at 4 AM in the morning and the first thing he used to do was wake me up by climbing onto me and licking my face. He just did not respond to commands. He was a havoc in his initial days. Whatever objects he found, he had to chew it. Well that happens with most of the dogs in their growing days. But, our dear Goo goo never really grew up. He is still a child. Maturity is not a word in his dictionary. He was a spoiler. Anything that came in his range was always destroyed. We all were very angry with his behaviour and used to punish him a lot for his mistakes. But, slowly we realized that punishment is not a way for training a Dog. He was a real attention seeker and he would do anything to get our attention. Gradually, it became clear that one in thousand labs are hyper like him. But, one thing that sets the record straight is that even after being so hyper, even after being punished so many times, he never bit anybody. My little niece Akanksha was very fond of Glory from day one. I believe that Akanksha is the only person in our family who has given nothing but love to Glory. My younger niece Isha was just 8 years old when suddenly all the attention in the household was transferred to Goo goo. She was afraid of Glory in the initial days. I remember one incident when suddenly Isha started running away from Glory and he followed her thinking that she is playing with her till she fell and fractured her hand. After that day Glory was very careful with Isha. I could never understand how even being a Dog he could make out that Isha fears him and he used to be very careful not to scare Isha. Shows that animals can grasp a situation even much better then us humans. Slowly he won over Isha and one day to our surprise we saw Isha patting Goo goo in the morning and he was very very calm with her. Since that day Isha's best friend has a new name, Glory. If anyone in the family even tries to talk with Glory in a harsh tone, Isha is the first one to argue.
Times have changed. My brother's family along with Goo goo got shifted to Mumbai and later I shifted to Pune. Glory has also changed a lot with time. And can you believe it Goo goo has become obedient now. He has responded and understood the situation that he has to stay alone in the house when people are gone to school and work. He is not the old hyper dog now. Only thing he fears is sound of crackers. He would skip the dinner even if a single cracker goes off. Once our family learnt that Glory is so sensitive to crackers, we all have stopped firing crackers on Diwali. I even urge all my friends not to fire crackers which make loud sounds.
Glory has changed the way I used to look Dogs and animals. I sometimes even talk to stray dogs which my friends find ridiculous. If I have changed regarding my sensibility towards animals, Glory is the only one responsible for it. No one in this whole world can welcome me with such warmth when I visit their place. Goo goo gets so excited whenever I meet him, I start feeling very special indeed. That's how the mans best friend treats him. Once when a small child was asked the meaning of love, it responded "Love is when your dog licks you even after you have locked him inside the house for the whole day." That's love for you. Glory has taught us the true meaning of love i.e. unconditional love. Out of this world. Thank you Goo goo for coming into our life and teaching us the very basic lessons of life.
