Stairs - an adventure

My home in Doha is a duplex. As soon as you enter, you come to a lobby which also has a staircase leading upstairs. If you go straight, you take two steps down and further ahead is the TV room. In India, Vidur has never had an opportunity to climb up or down a staircase. My mother (yes, she does seem to worry alot :)) kept worrying about how Vidur was going to move around without hurting himself.

On the first day there, he made an attempt to climb the stairs. What made him want to go up? You guessed right! It was my doggie. Vidur was, however, very successful the first time round. He went on all fours. He did not touch his knees to the ground. He climbed the stairs effortlessly. The next day (by which time he had also started walking) he tried climbing the stairs standing on his feet supporting himself on the banister. My mother heaved a sigh of relief.

Now, my mother was worried about how he would come down the stairs. Vidur found a solution to that too. He would turn around and keep going back on his fours till he reached the step. (sometimes he would start reversing way too early :)). Thus, he mastered the art of climbing up and down the stairs.

Home Sweet Home

We were headed home (Doha) from the airport, my mother was a little apprehensive about how Vidur would react to my dog. Let me explain. Micky goes crazy when she sees us and she was seeing us after a very long time. As we entered the house, predictably, Micky rushed down the stairs and started howling, barking and jumping. Micky is a saluki mix (salukis are dogs used for hunting in the desert). My point being that she is reasonably big and quite ferocious looking. Vidur's reaction stunned all of us. He was in love! He was facinated by Micky. He wriggled out of my arms and made a dash for Micky. Micky, unfortunately, hates kids. She used to bark at them all the time when she was younger. Now, she barely puts up with them. She checked Vidur out and seemed to understand that he was family and she had to be nice to him.

Wherever Micky went, Vidur followed. Vidur walked again (after that stint at my grandmother's place) and the sole inspiration was my dog. He seemed to think he could reach her faster and make eye contact. Micky, however, ensured that she was always out of reach. Micky loves her evening walks. About an hour before the actual time, she gets excited and restless. The closer it gets to her walk time, the more excited she gets. Vidur tried to touch Micky when she was really eager to go for her walk. Micky started barking at Vidur. Vidur froze. He quickly looked at me to judge my reaction. When he saw that I was smiling, he clamped his hands together and had this look of absolute glee.

Though Micky acted pricy most of the time, when Vidur slept, she would got sniff him and wag her tail. She also slept next to him once when she thought he was upset over something. Vidur got braver by the day. He started trying to poke micky in the eye, pull her tail and so on. We had to keep a close watch on both. After all, Micky deserved to be rescued from Vidur!

Now that Vidur and I are back in India, he continues to display his love for doggies. He wants to touch the street dogs! I am not sure they are going to be as understanding as Micky.