Monday, November 24, 2008

Cold water

Lyka was a girl. So while she didn't feel the need to mark her territory everywhere, when heat season came around we had to watch her like a hawk and Dad would arm himself with a stick to ward off all potential suitors when taking her for walks. It usually never got very bad and we would make it through without any mishap. But we experienced a new and annoying phenomenon when we moved into our old house.

I was in class 10 at the time and it was exam season. My room on the first floor faced the road and I was in the habit of waking up at insane hours to study. So one night, soon after I'd gone to sleep, I heard loud barking right outside my window. When I woke up to find out what was causing the din, there was a line up of the male dogs of the colony outside our front door, yowling away. After some yelling at them, they went away only to return after a couple of hours. Clearly my method wasn't working. So I decided to throw cold water on their plans. Literally.

I got a mug full of water and poured it out the window on their heads. They didn't know what hit them and ran away. But they weren't to be deterred. Back for attempt three, I again gave them a free bath. And like this it continued for the rest of the night. Lyka had of course slept through the whole thing, blissfully unaware that I was muttering curses the next morning being bleary eyed and irritated at the lack of sleep.

The next night I was prepared. I placed a whole bucket of water next to my window and this time, drenched the canines right through. That seemed to teach them a lesson and they didn't return the next few days. But this little routine was to be repeated every time and by the time I left for college, I had perfected it down to an art.

3 comments:

an said...

Hi, I just stumbled on to your blog and have enjoyed reading it. A couple of times, with tears in my eyes, but more often than not, with a smile. I have a 4 year old husky-lab mix named Lyka. We adopted her from the local humane society when she was 8 months old. She is my absolute favorite person in the world. Reading your blog makes me realise how fortunate we have been with our dogs, and to cherish every memory we have of them. Thank you

M said...

thanks for your comment an. as you can see random events spark off our memories and over 13 years a lot have accumulated. hope you keep reading and let us know of antics your Lyka is upto!

an said...

here's one that strike's an uncanny resemblance to an earlier post of yours. This happened a month or so after we adopted Lyka. It was the beginning of a long Michigan winter, and dark. We were driving home, with Lyka in the back seat, the window rolled down. A couple of deer passed us, and Lyka having never seen deer before, jumped out of the car and ran after them. I can identify with the emotions you described because we felt the exact same. We found her, sheepish and guilty looking, a couple of 100 m away and since then the windows have always remained rolled down less than half a foot, if at all. Eerily similar story from continents away, but true. :)