Here is my story…
I am from RamganjMandi, a small town, which is in Rajasthan
My father loves the idea of keeping dogs, but we never kept the dogs inside our house, they were always on the terrace or in a fenced area just beside our home.
So, we had around 5-10 dogs, and it was my and my younger brother’s responsibility to take care of them.
We both divided our responsibility equally.
I was in charge of protection and he was in charge of food, and we both had to work together in cleaning.
By protection I meant, if the dogs ran away, which happened many times, I had to bring them back.
I remember, I used to run a lot to bring them back home, and by doing this, again and again, I kept on improving my approach. I learned how to herd the dogs back using my body language and energy during my childhood..
But I also observed that the dogs are more enthusiastic towards my brother, but it didn’t require a genius to figure out that dogs were behaving with him like that because he was handling a big ritual in their life and that was feeding ritual.
So, when my brother was tired and showed little unwillingness to take food to the dogs, I took the chance and started doing his chores.
Soon I saw a major shift in the dogs’ behavior, they started following me, because I was becoming a big part of their life.
I realized then, that you have to spend quality time with your dogs if you want to have a deep relationship with them.
I was also learning from my neighbor, a gracious, kind-hearted, assertive lady.
I used to call him Jai Jai Wali Maa because she was always praying.
She had a pack of stray dogs, she used to take care of them and they used to listen to her, because of her assertive nature, At that time it didn’t make any sense though, I figured it out later.
So, after completing school, I came to Pune in 2002 for my further studies and got completely detached from dogs and mother nature.
I finished my computer engineering in 2008.
Generally, people take 4 years to complete, I took 6 years because when I reached there, it completely shattered my dreams, because the college was teaching a curriculum that was like 20 years old.
So anyway, I got over this shattered dream thing and finished my engineering somehow.
Then I joined an IT company and within a few months started leading multiple teams there and then under a year I left that job and started my own IT company.
I was earning money like a machine, my family was happy, everyone was happy, except me.
Life was going on, one day at a time, getting dull by every passing day, depression, anxiety, and lack of purpose took over my life, and I started to toxicate myself almost daily, ruining my mental and physical health.
I was a pre-diabetic, had hypertension, and had a crappy Immune system.
I used to fall severely sick every two months. At that time I did not know my bad habits are taking the control of my life and I was becoming a slave of my own egoistic self.
My anger towards everyone was escalating with great proportions and lashing out became normal to me. I was sinking in my own depression and was finding ways to end the misery I created for myself.
There were many moments in my life when I thought of giving up on life but there was always a thought that there is something greater than the life I was living.
Nothing gave me the level of satisfaction I used to feel when I was a kid when I used to sit alone in peace and just observe the behavior of animals for hours. The way they live, no matter what, animals always find a way to have the most out of life, and on the other hand, I always find humans to find ways to get upset.
I was a very happy and curious child, I used to spend a lot of time with animals which I and my neighbour had.
My neighbor “Jai Jai Wali Maa”, used to take care of all the stray dogs, cows, birds and she gave me early lessons of compassion and empathy. We shared a unique connection.
While growing up I lost all the connection with her and animals, I got busy studying nonsense, getting into college, getting a job, earning so that I can spend on nonsense and prove my worth.
I earned enough to sustain for years, and I was just wasting my time doing nothing, intoxicating myself, spending uncontrollably. Truth is, Internally I was preparing for my final day, I wanted to give up completely on this purposeless life.
One day, something magical happened. In 2016 I got a dog, and then the real changes started to happen.
A dog came into my life, an animal touched me with pure love, and all my memories of my childhood came back flashing, all the knowledge My “Jai Jai wali maa” gave me about life and animals, I started to realize all of that.
It was a shock for me, I went into a state of severe uncertainty for two days and anxiety was high but that small puppy pulled me out of that dark pit.
I found an anchor to hold on to and live for. A dog changed my life, gave me purpose, and made me a better human.
His name was webby, and because I wanted to understand him, I started studying dog psychology and came across the work of great Mr. Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer.
In 2019, I left city life, shifted to the outskirts of a village. Soon after shifting I lost webby in 2019, a part of me. His demise shattered me, I was at a very low point in my life, writing this is bringing tears in my eyes, and it is painful.
Now, I live in a tent, on a hill, with many dogs, observing their behavior and helping people raise calm confident obedient dogs by developing a deep connection.
I keep webby in my heart and enjoy every day of my life.
Dogs have changed my life. They saved my life from me, for that, I am forever grateful.
