“Mumma! Luke is chasing the duck!” screamed my daughter and I rushed out brandishing an umbrella to find a duck flapping around quacking a death knell and Luku galloping behind. When he saw me running towards him with my formidable umbrella,” Luke, NO!”, he stopped in his tracks with questioning eyes, “Why can’t I have fun with these feathered friends?”
A bit about the ducks: Much before Luke had come home, our gardener had brought in a couple of ducks who were abandoned by their previous owners. They were the queens of our garden. They didn’t expect a friendly giant (or a fearsome one from their viewpoint) to come out to play with them. Though Luke never meant harm to them and would never have attacked them fatally, to save them from a heart attack, we decided to give them away to a duck-friendly house.
Luke was duly admonished and he went away happy to explore the plants. That was his favourite pastime- sniffing around plants, getting some flowers and leaves showered over himself and posing prettily with a wide smile. We wondered if in his previous birth he had been a date palm because he would stop to sniff around at each and every date palm on his walk route, every single day.
He enjoyed the company of humans- the older, sensible ones. He would get impatient with small children. He didn’t care much for other dogs too. He had no patience for little barky pups and their super energy level. He would tolerate their antics for a while and then a deep, royal growl would send them scooting. He had a fan following of pups and dogs he met on his walks. He would give them a cursory sniff, concentrate more on the humans accompanying them and then move on to the next shrub.
Luke broke the myth about cats and dogs too. He avoided conflict with the many who frequented our garden. He was once scared away by a nasty, spitty one when he went to say hello so he moved away from their territory. That however didn’t stop him from approaching kittens in distress on the streets and watching over them till they reached safety.
Whenever we took him o a dog park or social gathering of dogs, he would look around at the plants and then remain by our side. Maybe he was reminded of his days at the centre where he used to be surrounded by so many dogs. We stopped taking him to such events and let him have happy moments with plants and flowers.
His favourite spot was the lawn. He loved to relax there with the wind rustling his fur, mouth nibbling on the grass, ears cocked for birds’ tweets and eyes closing in dog dreams.
His eyes are closed now in peaceful, eternal sleep with a lantana plant and a tulsi plant to keep him company.
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