Hi my name is Jack…..
I am a 7 month old male desi dog rescued from the streets of New Delhi, India. I am approximately 40 pounds and a love bug who is super well behaved. I am neutered, current on vaccinations and micro-chipped.
Here is my story written by my rescuer, my savior and my best friend Pragya…..
I was standing outside the building where I live on 27th October 2018 night, a dog came from nowhere & started jumping all over me, asking for belly rubs. I know all the dogs of my area, he was new. He was acting like he has known me forever so I decided to feed him, showed where the water bowl is & named him Jack. Jack stands for “God’s gracious gift” & that’s exactly the kind of vibe he gave me. He looked bewildered yet very trusting & gentle. He tried to follow me to my floor but I discouraged him because my landlord doesn’t allow me to keep dogs.
The next day, still oblivious about his sudden arrival in our block, I saw him stealing my dustbin in search of food. I invited him in & gave him some food. He was very well behaved, ate the food & immediately fell asleep. He looked very content to have a doormat to rest on after I discouraged him from sitting on my bed. I saw a bite wound, which was maggot infested & several bite marks on his body. I started thinking he could be an abandoned pet. Since I am not allowed to keep dogs anymore as per my landlord’s orders, sadly, I had to wake him & ask him to leave.
The next night, the temperature dropped & people were bursting firecrackers. He was banging on my door in the middle of the night & crying. As soon as I opened the door, he jumped on my bed & fell asleep. He wasn’t leaving & crying constantly. Now I was sure that he’s an abandoned pet dog. I couldn’t sleep the whole night thinking about him & his future. He surely has no survival instincts to live in the streets because he is very submissive & gets beaten up by all other territorial dogs. He doesn’t fight any dog that attacks him, surrenders immediately & ventures into very dangerous areas because he doesn’t know better. It is a disaster waiting to happen & I am afraid I will lose him. I have lost 7 puppies in the last couple of months because they were living in the streets.
Since Jack was visiting our building, the common opinion of my landlord & other tenants was to “shooo” him away. They “shooed” 3 dogs in last couple of years & all those dogs ended up dead. When they were adamant on shooing Jack, I took him to Max Vets Clinic on my friend Hartej Dhupia’s advise, by doing so Jack also escaped the horrors of Diwali & the vet Dr Bhanu Dev Sharma very kindly kept Jack at his clinic until other arrangements were made. I am very grateful to Dr Bhanu for keeping Jack in his care when everyone else was shooing him & he had no place to go. Jack stayed the clinic, his maggot wound was treated which was very deep, he was neutered & postoperative care was given.
Afterwards Jack was shifted to a boarding but despite my best efforts for Jack, he caught kennel cough & the boarding shifted him to another place. I was ill & had gone back home (outside Delhi) to recover but after Jack was shifted to another place I couldn’t stay home, I returned immediately & brought him to my room in Delhi. I explained the chain of events as they happened to my landlord & other tenants & they allowed me to keep Jack until he becomes healthy. They keep saying, “make sure Jack leaves” but have allowed me to keep Jack for the time being.
About Jack
Jack is exactly like a baby! Like a baby he is clueless of the bad that’s in this world & is super trusting. But unlike human babies, he doesn’t cry, is toilet trained, loves eating whatever is served & never complains. He is peaceful & disciplined. He uses his instincts & common sense. He has a very trusting, docile, submissive & loving nature. He can be naughty at times like all puppies but is not disobedient at all.
I don’t know where he was born, who abandoned him but I know for sure that he loves human company & desperately needs it. He has no mean bone in his body & has nothing but love to offer which begs us to think why would anyone give up on such a sweet kid. I think it is most probably because he is a desi/ indie dog. I cannot even begin to imagine how heartbroken Jack must have been when his most trusted human left him to fend for himself in unknown streets among territorial street dogs & cruel humans. Now since he is an abandoned puppy, I do not want him to be abandoned again, to be heartbroken again, so I have worked very hard & trained him to be the best pet dog ever! He follows his routine religiously; he has learned schedule, structure, boundaries, exercise, discipline & some basic commands. He loves his walks; he is excellent on leash & starts getting my clothes, shoes & his leash when it’s time for his walk. He is fully toilet trained.
If you are an introvert, please get ready for small talk because your pup is super friendly & social. He will greet each human & canine who is nice to him with kisses. He doesn’t jump or lunges during his walks. Given his sweet & warm friendly nature everyone falls in love with him immediately, they start taking pictures with him & want to know all about him. He has made tons of friends & has become a celebrity in my block.
He’s playful, very good with humans of all ages as well as other dogs. I took him to the vet in an auto rickshaw when we were just beginning to know each other; auto rickshaws are very noisy & scary for first timers. He was scared but allowed me to take control of the situation & behaved calmly throughout the journey. At the vet, he was very scared but allowed us to do whatever we wanted to do with him, didn’t growl or snap at all.
Fostering & training him has been an extremely rewarding experience because he has learned everything much sooner than I expected. He is ready to be a pet dog again!
Jack is a puppy but he doesn’t chew on our personal stuff. He has his box of toys to play with & really appreciates chew bones. He just loves running but we have no dog parks or provisions for it. He loves to play tug of war, fetch & balls! He loves belly rubs. When we stop rubbing his belly, sometimes he gently directs our hand towards his belly for more.
Given the past experiences with desi dog adoptions in India, I am very disappointment & I don’t even want to try because it is only a waste of time. Most importantly, I do not want him to be abandoned again.
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Desi (day-see) dogs live on the city and village streets of India, with an estimated 400,000 in the capital Delhi, alone. Also called Indies, Indian Native Dogs, or pariah dogs, these dogs have changed little over thousands of years. Desi dogs are highly intelligent, alert, good-looking, athletic, and full of character. Many urban desi dogs have recent European breed ancestry too, along with sighthound sleekness and speed.
While most street dogs experience indifference at best, some neighbors and business owners look after their community dogs. Delhi’s extreme weather (cold winters, sweltering summers, thick smog, and monsoons), dangerous traffic, disease, human violence, and attacks from other dogs, ensure that most desi puppies die before reaching adulthood. It’s a great irony that increasing numbers of status-conscious Indians are buying expensive and ill-suited foreign breed dogs, while more resilient and regal-looking native Indian dogs often have to travel internationally to find willing adoptive homes. Most of the desi dogs that ISDF places could not survive on Indian streets due to early orphaning or injury or have been rescued from especially threatening situations. Would you like to take me home?
If you are interested in adopting Jack, please contact Dawn at info@istreetdog.com. You can also find our adoption application here. Your application must be approved before scheduling a meet and greet.