Finding Uno

Last August, I was running in Divar island, Goa, a great place for running; mangrove bund trails all over with lots of birds and calming backwaters. One day while passing a house, I saw a dog with half its face swollen up quite badly. I wasn’t sure I saw it right. Also, I was training for a marathon and thought that instead of stopping, I would check on the dog after the run. I never went back to check on it as it had turned dark and I was tired.

Two days later at the Divar jetty point at Ribander, I saw possibly the same dog in the bus stand. It smelled like there was a dead animal in there, and when I looked at this dog, it had lost half its face including an eye. And there were maggots feeding on the flesh. I was shocked but I tried to think what I could do next. A kind man was also sitting in the bus stand and felt bad for this dog. I asked him to stay there and check on the dog till I go back to my place and get a disinfectant spray for the open wound, water and food for the dog. 

When I returned, as soon as we sprayed the wound it ran away into the mangroves and did not return. Half an hour later, I returned home and figured the next morning I would meet the dog, feed it first, and then spray. The next morning the dog was not there. I thought to myself that maybe its suffering had ended and that it had passed on.

But I saw the dog again the next morning in a worse state. Considering its state, I decided to call a vet to put it down and called Dr. Pinto who stays at Candolim. It is a 45 minute journey to Divar and he asked me to call PAWS - Panjim Animal Welfare Society. At the same time, my friend RussellCardoso from Divar came around and made calls to PAWS too. An hour later they came and caught the dog and took it to their rescue centre in Panjim.

Of the two hours I spent already with this dog, I observed two things, the dog was supremely resilient and never seemed like it had given up. The second observation was that the dogs yelp was so moving that I was in tears; once in a while when the pain got too much, he was yelping. At all other times it was quiet but I heard about three of these yelps and my heart sank for the dog.

At PAWS they started the long process of treating the dog. Cleaned the maggots, cleaned the wound, operated on the wound and the process of recovery had begun. They were kind enough to give me updates through videos too considering they are working on dozens of dogs every day. They also neutered the dog. I decided that I would visit this dog thrice a week with some food. The problem was that you could not turn up there with food for only one dog since there were at least fifty dogs there being treated as well as a couple dozen cats. Each time I went there, I would take a few supplies for the other dogs too. Hats off to the Heads Up for Tails folks at Panjim. When they got to know that I was taking food for a dog that was rescued, they gave me bags of treats each time I went there and asked me to go back there for more.

Meanwhile, he was recovering, very slowly but steadily. Two months later, PAWS called me to say that the dog is now healed, it was time to take a decision whether to leave him back where he was found. With one eye lost, he may not do well in the streets since he will not be able to judge the danger from moving vehicles. So, we decided to take him home. Only problem was the 7 dogs already at home! As an old dog, perhaps eight years old, will he be able to be part of the pack and will my dogs attack him. We decided to take the chance. It would definitely be better than him being on the streets.

Elrika called him Uno – the one-eyed pirate dog! Gradually he adapted. First month he slept outside the home on the patio, then moved in to the hall. After a month he started going on long walks in the beach with the dogs. Another month later he started doing two walks a day and playing with Elrika and me once in a while. When we would return from outside he would come wagging his tail and jumping copying my other dogs. That’s when we felt that he was now one with the pack. He also started walking part of the trail without a leash. His problem is that if he would smell any food he would follow that trail instead of walking with us. Initially too, in the first month, he would go running towards the wet waste collection truck in the morning every day. He probably ate trash all his life since all his front teeth are gone! Now he eats vanilla ice cream once a week, beef bones on Sunday, and chicken/fish with rice two meals a day. Good life!

From a dog I was sure we had to put down to a member of the home pack eating and exercising well, he has come a long way. Eight years on the street, a week with an open wound in the face, two months in a cage at PAWS, we had finally found Uno!

Uno is all healed up now. I tied some ghungroos on him just for this photo!