More than a family pet he was a member of my family another one of my siblings, BTW, I have two siblings I had a good childhood with its shares of ups and downs but mostly i would like to remember the good times, its not the i have forgotten the bad times, its just that it exists at the bottom nook/corner of my brain.
Back to Tiger, we had many Tigers in our lives but this particular one he was a mixed breed of an Alsatian and don’t know the other. He was a great listener who loved Cadbury’s dairy milk and ice cream, I know people today advise you not to give chocolates to dogs...but he always loved it...it was the only food he would snatch away from me...usually he was a gentleman who lived to a ripe old age of almost fourteen years
I remember times when me, Dad and Bro (Sis was not much into this) would struggle to give him a bath, He was a big guy mind you, jumped huge fences, in our case our compound wall. After a bath he would go and roll himself in the dirt, my dad said it was his way of drying himself as we did not do a good job drying him with a towel
I still remember Me , Bro and Tiger going for a walk/run/jog early in the morning after my Dad made us swallow raw eggs, yes you heard it right raw chicken eggs (these were laid by country hens we had as pets more about them later)...My dad and sis would be on the scooter and tiger literally dragged us...but that was pure fun....what i would do to get back to those days.
Diwali was an exciting time at my household.. me and dad would light up the maximum of fire crackers, Mom cooked/made all the Diwali special snacks...Hey don’t get impatient i am coming to tiger, This write up is dedicated to him....Usually dogs or any other animal per say are said to be afraid of Fireworks it is to do something with the frequency of their hearing and the basic fright of fire...but not my Tiger.. for him he was just protecting us his siblings, putting his fears aside.....He would grab the cracker in his mouth and try taking it as far as possible and me and bro running after him lest it explodes in his mouth...
So diwaili time we would have him locked at home...but he was always restless as we were out..
once we were all inside he would calm down...and for sure i know that he knew we were safe.
He was always free, we never chained our dogs...and he would knock at doors...He would follow us everywhere, I remember when Dad would drop us at school we always made sure that Tiger was not following us, but one instance he followed us and guess what he came right into my class...and my Dad who had realized this when mom said she could not find tiger came looking for him at school...He made me proud that day..my teacher had commented what a well behaved dog he was.....did not bark at anybody and my Dad came to my class room and took him away he just followed Dad after giving me a knowing look...
Another incident this happened to me and my siblings at various accounts, i used to go to the music school(learnt it for sometime before realizing that it was not my cup of tea) by bus and darling used to follow us inside the Public transport...I had to get off the bus as he would not go home without me...i would have to walk him home and of course miss the class..
As much as we loved him...i can say he loved us more
