When Niresh first brought Alfie home 1.5 years ago, he took a chance on a shy, scared and insecure pup. Their “first date” didn’t go that well – Alfie tried to flee, failing which he peed on the floor in abject fear and basically just hid as far away from Niresh’s family as possible. Despite the less than warm reception, they still decided to go ahead with the homestay.
The first 2 weeks at home were rough. Alfie was basically a furball of fear and uncertainty in his new environment – he would refuse to go home after walks (and even broke away from his leash twice!), and would run away whenever someone approached him. Despite having a nice bed prepared just for him, Alfie would rather sleep in a corner on the floor. And when he was awake, he was in another corner wistfully looking out of the window. Thunderstorms were extra hard on him and he would cower in a corner, shaking uncontrollably and sometimes even peed on the floor in fear.
Notwithstanding this, Niresh and his family never gave up on Alfie. They understood that his behaviour was just a mixture of past bad experiences and a sudden change in surroundings, and therefore decided to adopt him!
Slowly, with tender loving care and disciplined attendance at obedience training class, Alfie emerged from his shell. He began to use his bed and stopped looking out of the window so much. He started becoming more playful and would initiate playtime with his new family, even showing them his belly for some good ol’ belly rubs. The pup that once ran away would now contentedly sit beside them to watch TV.
Whenever they came home from work or simply emerged from their rooms in the mornings, he would greet them with sheer exuberance, as if saying, “Thank goodness you’re back! I couldn’t stand a moment more without you!!”
Looking back, Niresh admits that adopting a rescue dog is indeed challenging. But hang in there and in return, you will get a family member that loves you probably more than he loves himself, and treats you like you’re the most important person on earth. Niresh says that he cannot imagine life without Alfie now and adopting Alfie from SOSD is one of the best things he has ever done.
This young man is not only training to save human lives, he has also saved Alfie’s life! But he’s not stopping there; in fact, he’s going 200km more! Next month, Niresh will be running Monster Ultra 200 to raise funds for SOSD. Find out more about his campaign here.
Please show him some love and together, let’s save the lives of our street dogs!
