Understanding stray dogs and building trust with them.
Table of Contents:
- Our Experience In Short
- Understanding Stray Animals
- What Can You Do To Be Comfortable Around Them
During COVID, when life was shut indoors, there was life outside that struggled to find food, and used to dislocate in search of it.
My parents and I used to go out to feed them. On one crossroad, we used to be surrounded by 60-80 dogs late at night. Just imagine! They used to be hungry, thirsty, and in pain, but not even a single dog caused problems for us. Chances should be high. Isn’t it? Dogs, from all backgrounds, places, situations, and pain, yet not even one tried to harm us.
How? Rather, why?
Let’s understand one by one.
How? How did none of them try to harm us?
– We know that dogs are gentle creatures. They, like people, become aggressive when subjected to brutality, suffering, accidents, malnutrition, or ignorance. So, we approached them with the same understanding and reassured them by producing nice sounds like kissy sounds (“puchkaarna”), talking to them, making them feel comfortable, and respecting their wishes for distance to show that we care.
Now, the answer to Why? Why did none of them try to harm us?
– Because now they knew we weren’t going to harm them. Because they saw what we intended. Because they felt safe. Because they knew we weren’t there to traumatize them.
What a sight it used to be.
Now, you must be wondering, many times while simply walking through lanes, some dogs aggressively bark, run, and scare people. Why is that so?
That’s because stray animals are tormented in different ways. Harsh seasons, lack of food and water, and ignorance. It causes frustration.
To top it off, cruelty, diseases, and accidents make them non-tolerant and full of fear. Such traumatized dogs defend them from even a normal passerby.
There’s a very old saying, doodh ka jala chhachh bhi fook ke peeta hai. We don’t know their story. They can’t speak, and we can’t hear.
Then just like some humans, some dogs are aggressive by nature.
Now let’s see what you can do to tame them and be comfortable around them:
1. Respect their boundaries
Don’t get near or around them. Let’s take the worst-case scenario: they can’t stand you anywhere around them.
Understand, we don’t know what life has done to them, they might feel threatened even when you’re simply passing by. So maintain as much distance as possible. At times, sneaking away doesn’t work, so if they look at you, confidently pass away while making kissy-sound.
2. Show them you care
As mentioned above, Kissy sound/ Poochkarna is their comfort and love language.
Make it when passing by, or when they start barking and move away.
3. Keep a little food and water in one particular place.
Stray animals survive without food for days. So the next time you see a stray cow or dog, just think when was the last time that it might have eaten belly-full. Or how much are they able to scavenge from piles of trash filled with plastic and rotten waste?
If we don’t eat for a day, we would become tired, annoyed, and even frustrated. Think about what happens when not eating for days.
Charity begins at home, so start today, put out bowls for food and water and fill it every day with whatever you can. Every action counts.
4. Some of them are low tolerant, as are certain humans
Then again, just like some humans, some dogs have low tolerance, by nature.
Maintain your distance from them. If they chase your bike, while going away, carefully make some kissy sounds (”puchkaarna”) because most of the canines are afraid of these machines rushing off and creating sounds around them.
Love’s the key.
And this is mostly the same for all types of stray dogs. What differs is how quickly they become yours! One thing is sure, they’ll love you back.
Please Note: I have made constant comparisons of stray’s situations with that of us, humans so that we understand and empathize better. Because, ultimately, we all run on similar patterns in a lot of ways. Being alive and being able to feel pain is good for starters!