The teenager in my house.

I wasn’t very thrilled to see her for the first time. My husband had meant it as a surprise, but she rather turned out to be a shock! I wasn’t sure I was ready for the responsibility.

But win my heart, she did!

Her tiny, kohl-lined eyes and the “all I need is love” look were difficult to resist. And no matter how much I resolved to be stern with her, I was always the one who would give in to her demands. So partly, I am responsible. 

That she was headstrong was clear as early as 40 days, when she turned away from her Cerelac diet (recommended by her doctor, of course) until I mixed some liver gravy in it. But as she grew up, her actions revealed more of her mischievous personality. At six months, she tried to trick us into giving her a treat without really doing her bio-business, for which we were training her. She sat in her posture, did nothing and then came running to us to ask for her due treat!

Before we realised, she abandoned her bed and started sleeping beside me on my pillow! Within a year she was used to the air conditioning, mangoes and human food indulgence a few times a month!

She is 15 months old now. Last week, as my in-laws were travelling, we got their pug to stay with us. We were delighted at the idea of Zora getting a playmate! Whiskey, the pug is more mature, at age 10. She follows her routine without demanding much from anyone. She also likes to relish her meals, unlike Zora who gobbles everything in a few minutes and starts jumping to indicate her walk-time. 

So Zora doesn't pile on to Whiskey’s food after hurriedly finishing her own, we decided to feed Whiskey first and held on to Zora tightly. She wasn’t very thrilled at the idea of smelling food she could not reach. She struggled violently for some time, but later seemed to settle for her fate, with a very upset-looking face (yes you could make that out).

We didn't enjoy this either, so the moment Whiskey was done (which was about 10 minutes later), we re-filled the bowl for Zora. We expected a violent attack by her on her favourite chicken crumbs. She didn’t. She walked up to the bowl, looked at her food, then stared at Whiskey with accusing eyes. Without touching her food, she walked a whole circle to come back to me. She looked at me with a challenging stare, took her position right between my legs and peeed!

“How dare you let someone else into my space?”

“This is my house, my bowl, my food, my time with you!”

“No one else gets priority over me.”

Believe me, in those 18 seconds when she stared at me while peeing between my feet, I could read all this in her big, livid eyes.

"Liver or nothing!"

"My house, my bed."