Cookie and me ♥

 

Cookie!!

With heavy hearts and tearful faces, we returned our adopted pup Cookie back to the shelter on 27^th October. She had started showing signs of aggression and anxiety and it was getting impossible to manage her. The people at the shelter also told us that we were probably doing the right thing by returning her to the shelter. As we walked to the shelter, for the first time in the last few days that we had spent with Cookie, we felt that we were doing something right.

Cookie came home sitting inside an Amazon cardboard box in the back seat of our car.  At that moment, we never thought we would ever have to let Cookie go. It was a hard decision to let her go, but it felt as though we had made a mistake by uprooting her from the animal shelter and we had to rectify that mistake. Yes, we had spent a lot of our time and love on her, but I guess there are things like freedom that money can never buy and love can never provide.

Cookie came home in cardboard box

All Cookie wanted was to run around unrestricted, like she could back at the shelter-  to crawl into the donkey enclosure, to play with her doggy friends, to chase the other puppies around. And these were aspects that we could not provide Cookie while she lived in an apartment complex. And we could really see her unhappiness on being denied her freedom. As we left Cookie at the shelter, we felt a big load lift off our hearts in thinking that we were giving her back all that she craved for. Like one of the dog trainers that we had spoken to told us, dogs do not care about fancy food or comfy bedding, so we knew she was not going to miss us.

Cookie in bed with all her chewy toys!

Shortly after we left, Cookie was re united with her playmates. The folks at the shelter shared with us videos of her running around and bounding unrestrained in the large enclosure. It was a bittersweet sight. We were happy that she was happy and also sad that she was happier there than she had been with us. But I guess that was a selfish thought.

This Dussehra vacation was pretty eventful and while Cookie was with us, she had taught us so many things. For starters, she showed us the cold, hard truth - we were incapable of providing what mattered most to her. As my father said, it is funny that a four legged, 2.5-month-old pup who would run around biting and chewing things was needed to hold a mirror to ourselves.

But the main thing Cookie taught me is that life holds many such disappointments for us. Many such hopes and dreams that don’t work out the way we want them to. But there’s no point in crying over them forever. Life is all about gathering experiences and moving on. Cookie was an experience. Taking her out for walks in the middle of the afternoon was an experience. Sitting with her on my lap was an experience. Being nibbled at by Cookie’s puppy teeth was an experience.

♥♥

But, Cookie has moved on now, all happy at the animal enclosure with all the other donkeys, cows, goats, horses and dogs. And so, we must move on too. We must accept this fact and cherish all the happy times we had with her.

It’s been three days since we gave her away, and things are already starting to fall into place. School and offices have reopened, and there is hardly any time to think about her. Life does move on.. 

Cookie has left her mark on us. From the scratches on the sofa and chewed up edges of the dining table to the place we all have in our hearts for her.. this was one unforgettable Dussehra!

Cookie's only belonging that I have retained with me is her name tag. One day, when I get a dog of my own, I hope to put this name tag on her! ♥