We are the puppies of Jor Bagh Lane.
We are two pairs of siblings - and we are four out of five sole survivors of two litters of puppies who together totaled 19 at birth.
This gives you a rough idea of the odds of survival here in our corner of New Delhi: other dogs, disease, cars, the stifling climate, and a lack of food, water, and basic shelter claim close to 100% of our ranks.
We are two pairs of siblings - and we are four out of five sole survivors of two litters of puppies who together totaled 19 at birth.
This gives you a rough idea of the odds of survival here in our corner of New Delhi: other dogs, disease, cars, the stifling climate, and a lack of food, water, and basic shelter claim close to 100% of our ranks.
Lady Luck smiled upon us the day we were discovered by Parshu, a committed dog lover, who also happens to be the driver for our link to these pups, the compassionate and kind-hearted Yo'Av Karny.
More photos and a detailed timeline and history of our lives can be found on the Facebook page that Yo'Av created called Save the Puppies of Jor Bagh Lane to solicit help and support for us.
For more information about adopting one or more of the puppies of Jor Bagh Lane, please contact Dawn Trimmel at (414) 426-4148. Thank you!
Yo'Av will now tell you our sad story in his own words...
More photos and a detailed timeline and history of our lives can be found on the Facebook page that Yo'Av created called Save the Puppies of Jor Bagh Lane to solicit help and support for us.
For more information about adopting one or more of the puppies of Jor Bagh Lane, please contact Dawn Trimmel at (414) 426-4148. Thank you!
Yo'Av will now tell you our sad story in his own words...
* * * * *
Overview
They came to the world during the monsoon season, probably in late June. They are natives of a neighborhood called BK Dutt Colony in South Delhi, a very unhappy place for all animals. Survival rate of puppy litters there is close to zero. The locals are too poor and distracted to be of much help.
Overview
They came to the world during the monsoon season, probably in late June. They are natives of a neighborhood called BK Dutt Colony in South Delhi, a very unhappy place for all animals. Survival rate of puppy litters there is close to zero. The locals are too poor and distracted to be of much help.
All four pups hail from this neighborhood.
Muskan (female, left) and Khushi (female, right) - Muskan means smile and Khushi means happiness - became known to us very early on thanks to the heroic feat of our driver Parshu who rescued them from the surging monsoon rainwater which nearly drowned them. That was on July 2, 2014. From that moment on, when the pups were about ten days old, we fed their mother regularly and quite well. That gave them a chance of survival which otherwise wouldn’t have been there.
Muskan (female, left) and Khushi (female, right) - Muskan means smile and Khushi means happiness - became known to us very early on thanks to the heroic feat of our driver Parshu who rescued them from the surging monsoon rainwater which nearly drowned them. That was on July 2, 2014. From that moment on, when the pups were about ten days old, we fed their mother regularly and quite well. That gave them a chance of survival which otherwise wouldn’t have been there.
As you can see by their timeline below, two pups were taken to the veterinarian at one point for gaping puncture wounds. One healed, but alas - was later killed by a passing car right in front of me. The other was Muskan.
Eventually, only three out of the original dozen in the litter survived. Two are to be flown to Chicago soon, incredibly - the third, whom we call Jute (for his strong preference of jute bags) is with us.
Muskan and Khushi's mother is alive and well. She was spayed two weeks ago and released back to her native habitat, which is customary here. I hope she will forgive my crude intervention with her reproductivity.
We all thought that 23 puppies in the past year (though only 3 survived in all) has been enough of a contribution on her part!
Eventually, only three out of the original dozen in the litter survived. Two are to be flown to Chicago soon, incredibly - the third, whom we call Jute (for his strong preference of jute bags) is with us.
Muskan and Khushi's mother is alive and well. She was spayed two weeks ago and released back to her native habitat, which is customary here. I hope she will forgive my crude intervention with her reproductivity.
We all thought that 23 puppies in the past year (though only 3 survived in all) has been enough of a contribution on her part!
Gulabo (female, left) and Sheru (male, right) - Gulabo means rose, hence Black Rose and Sheru means tiger - are from a different litter which lived about half a block away from Muskan and Khushi. Gulabo and Sheru were born approximately seven weeks after the other pair. We met these two when they were about ten weeks old, in mid-October. They were born to a litter of approximately seven babies.
Their mother kept them next to piles of debris in an inner court where people tolerated their presence but did not offer them anything to sustain them. By the time I stumbled upon them, they were the only two survivors of their litter.
It just so happened that I encountered skinny and sad Sheru in the street for a fleeting moment. He looked identical, though younger, to Muskan and Khushi and their siblings.
I followed him to his domicile. The circumstance of the little family's life inside that inner court was indescribably wretched. They hid under the bed of a blind man, who didn’t mind their company but had no idea of their condition.
Both puppies were skeletal and skittish. Gulabo I managed to catch reasonably easily before taking her to the clinic for a check up, intravenous fluids, and deworming. Sheru, however, escaped out of my reach, hiding among debris. It took me two more days to capture him.
Spayed as well now is Gulabo and Sheru's mother. She is also back in the street and seems to be doing fine since.
Initially, I wasn't thinking of dealing with adoption for these two new additions. I had the rapidly-dwindling other litter to worry about. My thought was simply to revive this pair and return them to their hideout, where I would try to feed them regularly in future. But we soon realized their condition was so desperate that taking them back would amount to a death sentence.
I ended up taking them in for a few nights. Sheru, pathetically weak that he was, stayed in my bedroom where he would emit occasionally puppy growls - endearingly so, I must say. Gulabo stayed on the balcony, recovering quickly and amusing herself most sweetly with toys and newspapers.
Circumstances being what they were, eventually we committed to taking on all four puppies (five, if you include our Jute).
Ultimately, we moved both pairs of survivors to the amazing animal rescuer Aarti's local haven, Happy Paws Medicare Boarding, in the Chhatarpur region of Delhi, about an hour's drive from downtown.
Their mother kept them next to piles of debris in an inner court where people tolerated their presence but did not offer them anything to sustain them. By the time I stumbled upon them, they were the only two survivors of their litter.
It just so happened that I encountered skinny and sad Sheru in the street for a fleeting moment. He looked identical, though younger, to Muskan and Khushi and their siblings.
I followed him to his domicile. The circumstance of the little family's life inside that inner court was indescribably wretched. They hid under the bed of a blind man, who didn’t mind their company but had no idea of their condition.
Both puppies were skeletal and skittish. Gulabo I managed to catch reasonably easily before taking her to the clinic for a check up, intravenous fluids, and deworming. Sheru, however, escaped out of my reach, hiding among debris. It took me two more days to capture him.
Spayed as well now is Gulabo and Sheru's mother. She is also back in the street and seems to be doing fine since.
Initially, I wasn't thinking of dealing with adoption for these two new additions. I had the rapidly-dwindling other litter to worry about. My thought was simply to revive this pair and return them to their hideout, where I would try to feed them regularly in future. But we soon realized their condition was so desperate that taking them back would amount to a death sentence.
I ended up taking them in for a few nights. Sheru, pathetically weak that he was, stayed in my bedroom where he would emit occasionally puppy growls - endearingly so, I must say. Gulabo stayed on the balcony, recovering quickly and amusing herself most sweetly with toys and newspapers.
Circumstances being what they were, eventually we committed to taking on all four puppies (five, if you include our Jute).
Ultimately, we moved both pairs of survivors to the amazing animal rescuer Aarti's local haven, Happy Paws Medicare Boarding, in the Chhatarpur region of Delhi, about an hour's drive from downtown.
They struggled for quite a while to stay alive. Sheru had tick fever, and Gulabo proved anemic.
Kind-hearted Aarti implored me to find them foster families expeditiously for they were in immediate danger of catching infections raging among other area dogs. Finally, rather than waiting for me, she transferred them to her own residence where her attention and love kept them alive and got them over the worst of it.
Aarti tells me she will miss Gulabo most. She may not be the most attractive, but she is utterly sweet, harmlessly naughty, and extremely friendly with dogs and humans.
Sheru is the great prize of my 'Rescue the Pups of Jor Bagh Lane' project. He was virtually dead when I plucked him out of his inner court. The odds were overwhelmingly tilted against him.
He has recovered, perhaps not fully but largely; he is playful, active, gregarious, communicative, and friendly. He loves to be held if the holder proves to be especially loving. And he adores his sister. That’s official.
It is now December 2014. Muskan and Khushi are about to turn five months old, and Gulabo and Sheru are three and a half months old.
Muskan and Khushi are pretty and sweet in the way desi dogs often are: they are no toys, they have their own personalities, they are smart, they are savvy - well, I should think so, as they have survived one of South Delhi's toughest environments. This pair benefited from our attention - both food and medical help - from the second week of their life on, as did their mother.
It is now December 2014. Muskan and Khushi are about to turn five months old, and Gulabo and Sheru are three and a half months old.
Muskan and Khushi are pretty and sweet in the way desi dogs often are: they are no toys, they have their own personalities, they are smart, they are savvy - well, I should think so, as they have survived one of South Delhi's toughest environments. This pair benefited from our attention - both food and medical help - from the second week of their life on, as did their mother.
However, Gulabo and Sheru came to my notice well into their third month, which is to say their infancy had been very tough: little to no food, and zero medical intervention. Indeed, at the time I plucked them out of the garbage-strewn inner court where they were hiding, both were hanging on by a thread, Sheru's thread being shorter and thinner. And their five siblings tragically already long dead by that point.
So here they are, four puppies - alive, and slowly recovering. What we do not know is their destiny and destination. Let me confess that which is self-evident: no digital queue will form here to adopt these dogs. Far from me to reproach Indians, but just by stating a fact - one you all know very well, I trust - Indian dog lovers by and large still prefer 'purebred' dogs imported from Europe. The tend to associate their own street dogs with an outdoor environment that is decidedly not to their liking (many exceptions, of course).
So here they are, four puppies - alive, and slowly recovering. What we do not know is their destiny and destination. Let me confess that which is self-evident: no digital queue will form here to adopt these dogs. Far from me to reproach Indians, but just by stating a fact - one you all know very well, I trust - Indian dog lovers by and large still prefer 'purebred' dogs imported from Europe. The tend to associate their own street dogs with an outdoor environment that is decidedly not to their liking (many exceptions, of course).
The cruel choice is largely between attempting their reintegration into their native habitat, or continuing to hold them at Happy Paws, pending salvation. They have lost most of their streetwise skills, and in any event I'd hate to see them back where they nearly died.
As of now, somewhat incredibly, their only hope lies in overseas adoption.
I am working with International Street Dog Foundation in Chicago currently, a rescue that has helped stray dogs from Thailand, Malaysia, Mexico and India, and they are our great hope. That Muskan, Khushi, Gulabo and Sheru would all end up on the shores of Lake Michigan is so counterintuitive as to be funny. But I am hopeful that this is indeed their trajectory. I hope all four pups will be on their way to Chicago very soon!
* * * * *
Jor Bagh Lane Puppy Timeline
July 2
It all began on the first day of the Monsoon, which hit Delhi on July 2, 2014.
A good man, Parshu, whose driving skills we use frequently to navigate around the city, fortunately happened that day to call on his favorite fast food stall on Jor Bagh Lane, better known as B.K. Dutt Colony.
A good man, Parshu, whose driving skills we use frequently to navigate around the city, fortunately happened that day to call on his favorite fast food stall on Jor Bagh Lane, better known as B.K. Dutt Colony.
and one that residents are familiar with.
You will notice the area where the puppies were born is strewn with garbage. In this neighborhood, the merchants use the nearby field as an impromptu landfill.
Parshu noticed a dog carrying a tiny puppy out of an underground cave by the roadside.
A local fast food seller, Sumit, collected the puppies in a box. To their amazement they counted a dozen puppies, as tiny as their palms. They were approximately ten days old. How easy it is to ignore threatened life in this hopelessly congested metropolis, where so many mammals hang on by a thread. All the more reason why Parshu's civic heroism earned our admiration and gratitude. We undertook to keep Mama and her litter alive. You would notice Jor Bagh Lane is not the prettiest in the city. Sorry for that - but life thrives even in squalor.
July 2 - 26
The petty merchants of Jor Bagh Lane initially showed only a distant curiosity but soon joined in the endeavor to keep Mama and her babies alive. Amit, the owner of a rental car service, saw to it that the puppies would not get trapped underground again since their mother, in search of safety, kept transporting them back to one sinkhole or another. For a time, the little family called the dusty space under an old car home.
After the rescue, we delivered meat and biscuits to the mother almost every day. The food - and perhaps our affection as well - improved her own health and poor skin, and we hoped by extension, that of her litter's.
One day, alas, we arrived to find five puppies absent. Were they claimed by nature? Did they fall prey to a human or another creature? Were they taken away for unknown purposes? Sadly, Mama could not tell us. With her litter sadly reduced, Mama continued to pay full attention to the survivors. However, the merchants told us to beware, and that their life expectancy was likely to be short. Last year, Mama gave birth to eleven puppies. Tragically, ALL were killed by passing vehicles once they began to crawl out of Mama's grasp.
July 27
By the fourth week of the puppies’ life, we noticed ominous gaping holes in the sides of two pups, both females. Muskan was one of them, though she was as-yet-unnamed. We whisked them to the shrine of all dog animal rescuers and lovers in this city, the Frendicoes Hospital by Jangpura at the Flyover Market. Struggling against the longest odds, the good men and women of Friendicoes inject a bucket of humanity and compassion into the life of this very tough city. By no means the domain of the rich and pampered, animals are brought in by all strata of the Delhi population. And so we carried the little ones to the clinic where they were immediately attended to by a doctor and nurses. The holes in their side - the likely result of bites, perhaps even by their own mother carrying them from one hideout to the next - invited legions of maggots, which were in the process of eating skin and tissue away. In two days, we were told, they would have been dead without treatment.
But both are on their way to recovery now. The doctors strongly advised against leaving the pups in the hospital where they would be likely to suffer more infections - a sad result of the density of population. Unfortunately, the hospital is quite small and the needs of so many creatures are so great. We decided to return the puppies to Mama. We would bring them back daily to Friendicoes for follow-up wound and bandage care. Unfortunately, Mama insisted on chewing away the bandage every time we brought the pups back. All the more so why we absolutely had to take them to the clinic daily until they were fully recovered. It's not that we are people of leisure with nothing else to do. We do earn our living. But how could one resist the magic of saving two tiny lives?
July 29
The puppies' cuteness is heart-melting. They crawl under Mama when she feeds on my canned meat; they measure themselves against my boots. As for the wounded pups, they continue their successful recovery. A doctor at Frendicoes Hospital told me yesterday, on my fifth consecutive day of bringing them over, that they were fine now and it would be enough for me to apply some sanitizing lotion to the healing wounds, purchased from the hospital staff. They both appear to be fine, and I hope they stay that way now.
(Baby Muskan, on the mend…)
August 6
After a Monsoon Mumbai hiatus, I am back at Jor Bagh Lane in quest of the puppies and their mother.
They are growing up. They are active, they are sweet, they are well-fed (I think), they love Mama, they appear to like my boots, and they like each other. Mama, very wisely, has moved them away from passing vehicles to an open field. The field, alas, is strewn with garbage and debris, not a badge of honor to the local merchants who use it as a dumpster.
They are growing up. They are active, they are sweet, they are well-fed (I think), they love Mama, they appear to like my boots, and they like each other. Mama, very wisely, has moved them away from passing vehicles to an open field. The field, alas, is strewn with garbage and debris, not a badge of honor to the local merchants who use it as a dumpster.
In fact, they pushed her away from the bowl and split the meat among themselves today, almost comically so. Lots of fun to watch, but possibly not the best idea. They should still be receiving mother's milk, as we think they are only about 6 weeks old. However, Mama appeared happy to withdraw to quiet refuge, underneath her familiar parked car. She wouldn’t let me place a flea collar around her neck, however. I guess I should never have approached her from the front. My repeated attempts to place the collar on her made her suspicious, and she walked away from me, her benefactor-in-chief. Well...she is forgiven. Hopefully later today, we will restore the bond.
Will someone kindly try to help me spread the word about these babies in need? I know I am in tough competition with the good people of Friendicoes and Red Paws advertising their own home-yearning puppies. But perhaps the compelling survival story of these little Jor Bagh Lane ones would speak to the heart of Delhiites. They are toughies, and so far they have had good experiences with humans, which is promising. Come and have them. PLEASE.
August 31
Only five are left, alas. Number six was hit by a car on Sunday night. Number seven was apparently taken by a passerby, hopefully one with good intentions. At two months old, they are ready for medical care. The five survivors visited the Frendicoes Hospital for deworming.
Symbolically, they were feasting on Mama's milk when I went to pick them up for their veterinary visit.
The puppies are getting increasingly curious about their environment. They make occasional forays from underneath the car that Mama calls home. This is sweet to look at, but fraught with danger. They are now inches away from passing traffic.
(Look! It's me, Muskan! The weeks pass…and I am growing up so quickly.)
One of the local merchants, Amit, is planning on delivering the puppies to a three-walled enclosure - a former mandir, no longer in use - just steps away from their present shelter. He would set up a net high enough to prevent the pups from wandering out, low enough for mama to continue visiting and feeding. A good idea...but not a long-term solution. Soon enough, they will grow sufficiently to mount that obstacle as well. If they are to be rescued, the moment of decision is upon us NOW.
September 7
The battle to save the puppies of Jor Bagh Lane is almost lost.
Of the original eleven, only three have survived - and their future is bleak. This past Monday alone, within a period of ten hours, two sweet, active, lively pups were crushed to death under the tires of passing cars. One of the two perished just a few steps away from me. A deafening yelp was followed by a final body twitch and a spurt of blood from the nose. In a bout of helpless and futile rage, I chased the killing car, punching its windows in tears. But in all candor, I find it hard to blame the driver. These little creatures are barely visible, their movements are erratic, and even the best-intentioned animal lover could fail to notice them. We carried her warm body to Friendicoes Hospital, hoping against hope that not all life had vanished. But it had. Especially heart-breaking was the timing: only five minutes earlier, I had brought her and her siblings back from Friendicoes where they had been given their first round of vaccinations. I remember commanding the pups to live long, now that the first antibodies were preparing to defend their little bodies.
Of the original eleven, only three have survived - and their future is bleak. This past Monday alone, within a period of ten hours, two sweet, active, lively pups were crushed to death under the tires of passing cars. One of the two perished just a few steps away from me. A deafening yelp was followed by a final body twitch and a spurt of blood from the nose. In a bout of helpless and futile rage, I chased the killing car, punching its windows in tears. But in all candor, I find it hard to blame the driver. These little creatures are barely visible, their movements are erratic, and even the best-intentioned animal lover could fail to notice them. We carried her warm body to Friendicoes Hospital, hoping against hope that not all life had vanished. But it had. Especially heart-breaking was the timing: only five minutes earlier, I had brought her and her siblings back from Friendicoes where they had been given their first round of vaccinations. I remember commanding the pups to live long, now that the first antibodies were preparing to defend their little bodies.
The mother, her teats still hanging heavy, seemed confused. I hesitate to use the word bereaved - but perhaps that as well.
October 14
Sheru and Gulabo from a different, nearby litter are discovered by chance. They are approximately ten weeks old. Over the course of a few days, both were removed from the utterly-abysmal living conditions where they - the two sole survivors of a litter of seven - and their mother were eking out a piteous existence.
They were brought to Frendicoes for medical attention,then came to stay with myself for a short period afterwards (though my resident adult dogs were not thrilled with their presence).
October
All four pups - Muskan, Khushi, Sheru, and Gulabo - stood nearly no chance of survival if returned to the neighborhood from which they all came. Happily, they were instead relocated to board with Aarti at Happy Paws, where they are receiving ongoing TLC, socialization, and medical care.
November
Dawn Trimmel, founder and president of International Street Dog Foundation, visited New Delhi and met the babies at Happy Paws. She will adopt both pairs of surviving pups out to local homes in the Chicagoland area as soon as all four are ready for their big overseas journey to their new lives.
The Drs. Choudhary are providing the medical care necessary prior to their upcoming freedom flight to the USA.
Soon they will be in loving forever homes at last! We are heartbroken for the 14 siblings of these pairs who perished - but thankful that at least five little lives were spared. Thank you so much for reading their story.
* * * * *
Here are a few photos of all four of us from October to present…
Here are a few photos of all four of us from October to present…
Muskan & Khushi (together)
The Desi Dogs of Delhi
Over a quarter of a million street dogs - possibly even many more than that - call Delhi, India home. These desi dogs coexist among Delhi's 22 million human residents - and both humans and dogs must constantly walk a fragile, precarious line drawn between them to keep the uneasy peace between the species.
Until the day a widely-implemented program is put into place - one with the cornerstones of mass sterilization to reduce street dog numbers; vaccination to protect both dogs and humans from disease; and adoption/responsible pet ownership or street dog guardianship in the intervening years before sterilization naturally dwindles the dog overpopulation problem (for example, for dogs who would not do well in a domestic setting such as a home, there may be neighborhood communities that can commit to feeding and watching over their local packs) - there will be no easy answers to the desi dog problem.
Fortunately, there are two amazing veterinarians - the Drs. Choudhary - who are committed to helping address the Indian street dog issue at its very grassroots. Their dedication and hard work are phenomenal. Together, they have helped to rehabilitate and re-home many of these deserving dogs around the world. And by spaying and neutering, feeding, and medically treating hundreds of desi dogs, they have made lives better for many, many needy dogs.
Here is a link to their Facebook page called Desi Furries Worldwide that provides a wealth of information and many lovely updates about adopted Indian street dogs helped by the Drs. Choudhary. Additionally, here is a link to an informative article written last year and entitled A Better Life for Desi Dogs. It explains the plight of India's street dogs and showcases the important role that this husband-and-wife veterinary team have played in improving the lives of so many needy dogs.
Thank you so much for your interest and support!
For more information about adopting one or more of the puppies of Jor Bagh Lane, please contact Dawn Trimmel at (414) 426-4148. Thank you!
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