Finally he was through with all his vaccinations & it was time to take our Magic out for a walk in the park……

He was mortally scared. The new smells were overwhelming. It was also that time of the year when cow dung manure was spread out in the park- fatal attraction for a puppy. All the local dada’s (dogs) barked and when they charge at him from below parked cars it was terrifying. He just ran & hid himself under a bench so our walk ended in just a few minutes.

These quick jittery walks continued for some weeks. He would pull on the leash, sometimes just stop walking so he had to be carried. He was eating lots of grass & vomiting. He ate stones and sometimes went completely crazy. Anything moving had to be chased whether it was a dry leaf or a squirrel, or a pigeon or a plastic bag. He was hassled by people walking, jogging or running. Once we happened to be in the park when the ‘laughter gang’ went hehehahahahaha.…… he ran for his life !!

Thankfully the weather has been good & we could take him down in the afternoons when the park is quiet with few people………

We have realised how different he is from other pups. A labrador or a German Shepherd or a Dalmatian or Boxer- even a mastiff seem to tag along with their handler so very easily. I notice that these pups don’t really need to be on the leash- they happily tag along & even if they wander they come back when they are called.

But not so with our ‘karwani’

Debashish had warned us to be careful when we leave him free. Very casually he mentioned while blowing out some smoke :  ‘Bro: there is no guarantee that a karwani will come back & don’t make it into an ego issue with him…. Later i heard from someone: Oh…. you named him Magic…. so you are expecting him to vanish into thin air, like all karwani’s do… (shit !).

We had decided that we will not have a trainer for Magic since there are no trainers who understand the psyche of a caravan hound. 99.9% percent of dog training done in India is by breaking the spirit of the dog.

So what are we left with ?? Just love & fresh air ??

I’ve braced myself for this long journey ahead & I share my partner’s dream that one day Magic will walk with us without a leash. How will we do it we don’t know. As of now it looks like its going to be quite a challenge for all of us & it’s not going to be an easy journey…. nothing is working & sometimes the walks are getting unpleasant for him & me…