Newcomers to the Deonar Centre

In the first picture you can see a very healthy but very shy female pup. She literally bounces about when she is up to mischief. We are only happy that she is healthy - to keep them in such a condition at any Shelter that is chockful of animals, is a feat in itself.
In the second pic you can see an adorable little special needs female. She's very furry and really gorgeous. All that's wrong is that she has a hernia on the tum,which is now shrinking a bit. This bundle of fur is ready to go!
The third little black pup is pure cuteness and fortunately has been taken out into foster care, so let's hope she is home free! She will be adopted in two weeks time if all goes well. All this little one needs are your best wishes for a lovely, safe, happy future.
The pups in the last two pics are sisters. They are in Deonar with their mum, who as all canine mothers has kept them in tip top shape. They are as lovely, playful and adorable as they look. Can dogs be more good-looking than this?

Volunteer from USA

This young woman came all the way to India for about 10 days to work as a volunteer for IDA at the Deonar Centre.
What she accomplished in those few days was amazing. Drawing on her experience of working at an Animal Shelter in NY, she suggested many ideas that are proving to be of great help to our animals.
For instance, we have started a 10 day course of medication to prevent kennel cough in our infant pups. This seems to be quite helpful in preventing and curing the start of kennel cough. She also demonstrated really great methods of cleaning the enclosures and told us a number of ways to keep the cleaned rooms as sanitized as possible throughout the day.
Watching her work was an education in itself and there was definately an upsurge of good health within the most vulnerable place at IDA, the sick puppy pen.
Zephreny even went out a number of times on our mobile medical van and assisted the doctor with his patients all over the city. Now that's a volunteer! Hope she will be an inspiration to many others wanting to help in animal welfare.

Visitors from Australia

It was a big day for four of our Sponsor dogs last week. Their loving Sponsor came all the way from Australia to visit them. All four were located and brought into the office to formally meet their Sponsor. After that the photo session started and you can see the charming results!
Pommy being held close and loving it. She's a sweet old dog and very, very shy, but she came out of her shell to greet the visitors and days later, she is still 'smiling'.

In the second picture you can see Lalu and another of our very affectionate dogs bonding with one of the other Australian visitors. Needless to say, they were totally charmed by all the ultra-friendly animals at Deonar.

Sunning in the Garden

These two little tykes are both unable to walk. Their legs hurt - the orange pup in front has a deformity of the front legs and the one sitting upright has paralysed back legs. How they love the garden and the nice warm benches. Pups like this experience pain because the affected limbs are so rigid. The warmth of the stone bench provides instant relief. Besides it's nice to take the air in the garden and be out of that little puppy pen of theirs.
The fluffy black dog sniffing around is our blind Raja. He has to be carried to the garden from the blind pen as the way is full of obstacles - like about ten other sighted dogs! Once there, without any hesitation, he starts exploring and even though he bumps into things, he really enjoys himself. After a good brushing and combing for his long fur, he goes reluctantly back into the blind pen. He's learning to 'walk' alongside people in the heel position and his nose works very well! Slowly, we will try to bring our other blind dogs for an "outing" into the garden. I'm sure they will enjoy it as much as Raja does.

Aren't We Adorable?

These fabulous pups are all one litter except for the good-looking girl in the third picture.
These were sent together with their inoffensive very young mother to the Centre.
This is the last thing that should happen. Street dogs are very efficient at looking after their young when left to their own resources on the street. They stay alert and healthy, guarding their infants and searching for food. This lot has been brought in to Deonar. Next step, they are open to all the ailments you can think of.

If you ever come across a mother and her pups, see that you don't head for the nearest shelter to find them 'protection'. Usually they don't need it and you will be doing the mother and her babies a great disfavour by putting them into an enviroment totally unsuitable for the very young. Once in the shelter, if they are not adopted or fostered almost at once, you can say your good-byes to the entire family. The best thing we can all do is see that the family stays in comparative safety on the street. This can be done simply by keeping an eye on them, not catering to their every need. They really do not need us humans much. Mother dogs have been doing an efficient job for centuries. Leave them be. In the natural order of things, a few pups from the litter will survive. Then get the mother neutered as soon as they are two months old.
This is the stage that we humans should interfere, so that no more pups will be born to be exposed to the dangers of this mega city.

At Last! A Grassy Patch!!

Managed to get some tiny plants of 'starter' grass. Check out the patch - at least the puppies like exploring it! Waiting for the grass to 'take' and it's not doing too badly.
The pups love exploring this space, they are small enough to have plenty to explore.
The white pup in the lead has a bad front foot which is very lame. This did not stop her from running around in the lead with her small companion following behind.

You can see her on the bench with Assistant Aparna. Puppies love the stone benches as well. They get nice and warm in the sun so are great to sit on.