Lucas’ Rescue Story

My full name should be Lucky Loved Lucas!  At only three days-old, I received a very special gift from fate.  This gift was in the form of an amazing human named Pragya.  Now one year after that fateful day, my sister and I have been raised by this devoted woman.  Mothers like Pragya know when their children are ready to spread their wings, and we are ready!  In fact, we have been ready for quite some time.  Soon, we will leave New Delhi, India to join the ISDF family and to find our Forever Homes!

 

On the morning of November 30, 2016, Pragya received a call informing her that some drunk villagers were roaming around with three newborn puppies.  The men were using the pups as a prop for begging.  Pragya quickly arrived at the location and found two puppies; one pup was me, and the other was my sister, Leah.  Pragya begged them to share the whereabouts of our sibling and our mother, but the villagers refused to tell her.  She asked them to give her custody of us, but they started harassing her.  After an intense hour, thankfully, the police had helped, the men had run away, and we had been rescued.  Our sibling and mother were never found.  At the vet, Pragya learned that we might not survive due to our age and lack of proper care without our mother.  “I decided to foster them myself and give all my might to try to save them,” she said.  We looked like baby mice, but we were so beautiful and amazing.  I had a black and brown coat, and my sister had a tan coat.  Every 1.5 hours, Pragya provided formula, stimulation, and burping.  She kept us warm with hot water bottles, and she placed a clock under our bedding to substitute for our canine mother’s heartbeat.  Pragya lives alone, and she didn’t sleep at all during these early months.  We made innumerable visits to the vet because we were so fragile.As you will read at the end of my story, the culture of adopting native Indian street dogs is ever-so-slowly changing among local families.  It remains a real struggle, though, to find adopters in New Delhi.  Pragya tried every avenue of social media, distributed posters, and put an ad in the national newspaper, but she did not receive serious adoption interest.  It’s a true shame because we are amazing dogs!

 

We are delightful, happy, healthy, obedient, and loving pups!  We are super intelligent and friendly and have good house manners.  Playing is our favorite pastime!  I am a medium-energy dog and love being involved in all family activities, and I love the water!  With my easy-going demeanor, I am very affectionate.  Pragya says that I am a responsive, smart boy!  Outside the home, I am learning new things like on-leash skills and how to greet other dogs.  I know I will learn more of these skills with the guidance of my Forever Family.

 

My story is filled with many details, too many to share here!  I can’t wait to meet you and tell you more… in-person!  Until then, you can look at our Facebook page to learn more about our history. https://www.facebook.com/LeahAndLucas/

 

Desi (day-see) dogs live on the city and village streets of India, with an estimated 400,000 in the capital Delhi, alone. Also called Indian Native Dogs or Pariah Dogs, these dogs have changed little over many hundreds of years. Desi dogs are highly intelligent, alert, good-looking, athletic, and full of character. Many urban Desi dogs have recent European breed ancestry too, along with sighthound sleekness and speed. With the extreme weather (damp, chilly winters, 115-degree summers, and monsoons), dangerous traffic, disease, human violence, and attacks from other dogs, most Desi puppies never make it to adulthood. Lack of awareness and cultural opposition to spaying and neutering continues the cycle of suffering. While most street dogs experience indifference at best, some neighbors and business owners look after their “community dogs,” and volunteer animal advocates and NGOs work to feed, vaccinate, and sterilize street dogs, and try to find adoptive homes for dogs in particular need. Few Indians see Desi dogs as suitable pets, however, opting instead for expensive and ill-suited European purebred dogs. These higher status dogs are often abandoned once the demands of responsible ownership become apparent. It’s a great irony that more resilient and regal-looking native Indian dogs often have to travel internationally to find loving homes. Most of the Desi dogs that ISDF places could not survive on Indian streets due to early orphaning or injury, or have been rescued from especially threatening situations.

 

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If you are interested in adopting LUCAS, please contact Dawn Trimmel at info@istreetdog.com. You can also find our adoption application here.

 

 

Rescue Partners: Pragya Mishra and Isobel Grant

Arrival: January 29, 2018

Age and Weight: One year and 60 pounds

  • Home Country New Delhi, India
  • age / weight 1 YR / 60 LBS
  • GENDER male