പാട്ടോർമ്മകൾ

 

"𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒐 𝑰 𝒅𝒐? 𝑯𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆!"

My mother was distraught. Our Doberman Rocky had been refusing to eat for the past three days. She had tried everything, but he wouldn't budge. The vet came over to run tests. Rocky was fine. But he continued to ignore his food, I had no idea what was happening....


Animals have been a constant in my life. Dogs, cats, rabbits, turtles, goats - I've had them all. But I especially loved dogs.


Rocky was a fearsome-looking Doberman with the heart of a butterfly. He was deeply devoted, fiercely protective and unbelievably playful.


He was unusually kind too. I remember him gently nudging a still kitten with his nose. When the kitten shakily stood up trembling before this looming giant, Rocky rushed to get us. We nursed the kitten back to health and later adopted it.


Rocky loved friendly pats from kids. If a kid was too terrified to approach, he would play dead until the kid tentatively approached and mustered the courage to touch him. Then Rocky would roll on his back, paws up in the air, triggering squeals of delight from the child!!


I was in charge of this handsome canine. I fed him, bathed him, took him on walks and let him rest that huge head on my lap while I dived into a book. But I had no idea how much he loved me until it was put to test...


I set off from home one morning for the 5-day college study tour. When I called home on day one, mom said Rocky didn't touch his lunch or dinner. She repeated the complaint on days 2 and 3.

Now I was worried. I wanted to get back ASAP.

On the night of Day 5, I returned home.

Rocky was overjoyed to see me. He kept bouncing around me. 'Why aren't you eating, boy?" I asked.

I filled his feeding dish and walked to his usual spot. He trotted in behind me and 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒐𝒅.

That's when it struck me - he hadn't been eating for days because I wasn't around to feed him.


He was missing me, probably worried about me.


Now that he saw I was okay, he was relieved and resumed eating.



I often wonder - Is there anyone on Earth who would go without food for days because they had no idea if I was okay?

Not a human that I can think of...

But there was Rocky...


𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐲'𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞....