The following story has been a very long journey, over 8 months of struggle and healing, inch by inch, day by day. It began in the most shocking manner, but now that the mother dog has healed and is living happily, we can look back and tell the tale of another animal’s miraculous recovery.
As I said, it all began over 8 months ago. It was around 5 am, and I was just finishing a night shift of caring for the cows and bulls of our goshala. I received a call from one of my friends that there is an injured dog down the street and I should come right away. I went outside and saw about 100 feet down the road there was a mother dog that had just been hit with a machete.
The wound was so big and deep that I was kind of left in shock with no idea even what to do. I was expecting some type of infected wound, not a fresh knife cut from a psycho. I didn’t think there would be any chance to save the dog, so at first I gave some cookies dipped in charanamrita from the temple, hoping the dog can get a better destination next life.
Even in her distressed state she managed to eat a couple of the cookies with the charanamrita. Afterwards she got up and slowly started walking away, drifting into the bushes, and there wasn’t anything more I could do.
All of this happened so fast, that I didn’t even have the time to process what was happening or what I needed to do. Before I knew it she was gone, hidden in the thick overgrowth by the riverbank.
After regaining my composure and thinking over what I should have done, I spent the day searching for her again and again but without success. The wound was so severe, I doubted she would even survive the night. Inside I was just hoping that she would pass away quickly without much pain or suffering, and not have to linger for many days suffering from infections and maggots.
Over the next few days, I searched for the mother dog many times hoping there would be some way to bring her in for treatment. Every time I went I could not locate her. Finally after many attempts one morning at 5 a.m. I was able to find her, but as soon as we tried to feed her something, she got up and again slowly walked away into the bushes out of fear.
She was very weak and dazed. She didn’t trust humans and there was no way I could get close to her or try to bring her back with me. Once she crossed into the overgrowth it was impossible to follow her.
That night before sleeping I offered a final prayer: “Lord, there is nothing I can do to catch this dog in order to treat her. She is scared of humans, and there isn’t any way for me to get close or try to hold her. If somehow you can arrange for us to be able to catch this dog and put her inside our compound I will try my best to treat her, but without that help everything is out of my capacity and there is nothing else I can do.”
I felt there was no chance anything could be done, and didn’t even keep hope that something would happen.
Four hours later my wife’s nephew woke me up and said, “We have the dog, she is in a cage in the goshala.” Still half-asleep, I tried to make sense of his words. It didn’t sound logical to me. Just a few hours earlier, it had seemed impossible. How could she already be here?
While I had slept, he and my mason friend Butu went to look for the dog. By the grace of God they found the dog and along with her was a person who was friends with the dog that used to feed her. Because that person would feed the dog every day she trusted her and let her put her in our cage. Everything had been arranged by unseen hands, far beyond anything I could have done.
When I finally understood she was already resting in our compound, I could hardly believe it. The first small miracle had happened.
For the next four days she lay there dazed and would not eat any food or react to us. We arranged to take her to the government veterinary hospital, but complications arose. No doctor was available in our town, so we had to make a hurried trip to another city two hours away. The operation was very long and difficult. The old flesh had to be cut out to make a cleaner wound for it to heal better.
Once again due to shortage of manpower my friend Butu had to participate in the operation to hold the dog as the cutting and stitching was done. He is much braver than me and has done this several times in the past due to shortage of assistants during operations. Unlike myself, he has no fear of the blood or seeing the open wounds. Two layers of stitches were applied, and a temporary drainage tube was inserted.
The operation was grueling, and it was only the first step in what would become a long battle. Her wounds didn’t heal cleanly. Due to the skin being too soft and moist, it couldn’t support the stitches and the thread was cutting through the skin causing the stitches to fail.
We had to redo the sutures — once, twice, three times — each time without anesthesia, holding her down as gently as we could.
Despite all this, she never lost her spirit. Every evening when the treatments were done, she would wag her tail at me, offering a small gesture of gratitude that melted away the exhaustion of the day. As the days went on, every night she howled in sorrow for her dog family, calling across the distant darkness to the dogs she had left behind. Sometimes I could hear faint replies from far off.
Out of separation for her family, the mother dog began howling in sadness nearly 24 hours a day. At one point we took her in her cage to the spot where she lived, to see if she would feel better seeing them. At first a pack of around 10 dogs came and were barking. She did not seem to react much to them. After some time we took her cage to another corner closer to our temple. There a male dog was sitting. As soon as she saw him, she became excited to escape and tried “digging” the bottom of the cage to find a way out. By her actions we were able to confirm which dog was her husband whom she was always crying for. Some people think animals don’t have families like humans do, but in reality they are very similar to us, and there are plenty of stories in the puranas that tell us this.
After a few minutes we had to bring her back to the temple and put her back in her room. We hoped that by seeing her family she would have patience knowing she would eventually be released and see them again.
Bit by bit, day by day, her body healed, and the deep, gaping wound slowly began to close. We constantly cleaned and dressed the wound to make sure no infection came. Finally, after more than three months of confinement, it was time to set her free. We took her in the cage to her prior home area, and let her out. She immediately met up with her puppy and dog family and was very happy to see them after so long.
We checked on her a few more times and then concluded that she was fine and could carry on on her own. Time passed and three months later, by chance, I saw her again on the road. She remembered me, and immediately started rolling on the ground.
She was a little skinnier than normal, because life on the streets is rough, but other than that she was fine and living happily.
She had returned from the edge of death by the grace of God. It is these small victories — these seemingly “insignificant” lives touched by Divine grace — that remind us of the ever presence of Bhagavan.
May Lord Krishna bless this child of His and keep her happy and well.
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