Three months ago, Rasika Ramesh was driving past a busy area near a hospital when she spotted a little black face amongst the dried up leaves on the street.
It belonged to a young puppy who was sitting right under a large bodhi tree and crying when Rasika picked her up and took her to a vet.
“I wasn’t able to resist helping her”, says Rasika who reveals that the then one-month-old’s mother was nowhere in sight and that she was attempting to chew on something that wasn’t edible.
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Inspired by her sister-in-law Pavitra Sriprakash (whose pet dogs are all rescues), Rasika decided to christen her Zoey and foster her until she found a home as loving as theirs.
Zoey, who sports an impeccable velvety black fur coat, bonded with Rasika’s dogs and her two children – both under the age of five – and barks the loudest to alert the family when there’s a stranger at the gate.
Rasika, who recently took Zoey to an adoption drive, was surprised when potential owners fell in love with the pup’s exuberant personality but hesitated upon hearing that she’s a female.
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Says Pavitra, “Almost all our dogs are females. People feel they have to take extra care of a female dog, but that’s not true – they are just as low-maintenance. After birth control surgery, they are gender neutral”.
She dotes on all her pets, irrespective of gender, and says that they are all uniformly loving and make great companions.
“The ideal home would be one where pets are treated like family. It’s like having a new child in the house”, says Rasika, adding that dogs infuse joy into a home in their own unique way and that she loves coming home and handing Zoey her chew sticks.
“There’s never a dull moment. There’s plenty of activity going on and there’s always life in the house”.