Hi, I’ m Priti Hope Sloot. I am from India. I’m 12 years old and I study in the 7th grade.
I’m going to tell you about how Bruno (our dog) came to us. At the end of November last year, there were some floods caused by a cyclone called Michang. It actually was not supposed to stay close (in the sea close to the beach) to Chennai for a long time, but it stayed for a long time, about one week. We got 60cm of rain, our street was flooded and even the pavement (which was one foot above the vehicle track) could not be seen and the water was also very murky. The water stood for two days. In many houses the water came inside the house, in some houses the ground floor was flooded. In the end of December all the water was gone from the city.
One night my mother heard a cry and whimpering (about one or two weeks after the floods), the next day a small (about one and ½ months old) puppy was found (by my father when he was unlocking our gates) in our corridor sleeping on our door mat. Somehow, he (the puppy) had managed to squeeze through our gates. As soon as the puppy saw him (my father), he ran away. After my father saw the pup, he called my mother and both of them were watching the pup and then my mother realised it was the puppy which was crying and whimpering that night because he was being attacked by other dogs.
This pup was brown in colour, he had a large wound on his back (which was half healed). Since we had two cats already and we only had cat food, we fed him cat biscuits. At first he would run away and go under the EB box outside our house. It took him about one week (or more) for him to let us come close to him. Since he was coming in every day, my parents had to decide whether to keep him (because as he grows, he soon wouldn’t be able to squeeze through the gates). My father want to keep him, I was okay with it, my mother was not that sure and my grandmother was totally against it (she wanted a dog, now we had a dog, but she doesn’t like him). After discussing we decided that we would keep him (and we totally out voted my granny [3 to 1] shhh don’t tell her). We also decided to keep his name as BRUNO MARS (a singer, but we call him Bruno).
My parents started to fatten him up, we took him to the vet (me and my father took him in the cat carrier cause he was small enough to fit in it and he was so quiet the whole time (and he weighted only 2.7Kgs in the middle of December). My parents bought him food, a bed, toys and a leash plus harness. Now we take him upstairs everyday, we exercise him and take him on the leash. The second time my parents took him to the vet because I was at school and this time Bruno weighted 4.65Kgs (in the start of Jan). The third time he weighted 6.4Kgs (at the end of Jan) and this time my parents took Bruno on the leash (I was not there because I was yet again in school). The fourth time he weighted 9.5Kgs (in the end of Feb). He had grown by 7.2Kgs within the span of two months, now (start of April) we believe he weights around 12Kgs.
We don’t allow him close to our cats otherwise he will chase them plus we don’t allow him in when our cats are there, but if he comes inside he has to behave properly (which most of the time he doesn’t). Sometimes he climbs on the couch in our living room and once he had to take a blood test because we had to neuter him (so he can’t make babies). He was so quiet that we thought he had turned into a mouse! He was so scared that we were afraid that he would pee, but he didn’t. Papa was close to him, holding him so he wouldn’t run away. Papa also made sure that Bruno was okay and after the blood test guy had gone Bruno hid behind the couch for two minutes. I had to carry him to show that the guy had gone. Bruno is still growing and seems to be very happy.
BYE!
I might tell you a story next time or continue this story.
So BYE FOR NOW!
Story by Priti Hope Sloot, 12 years old, living in India.
