Awareness Drive at Dog Show: A Volunteer’s Note

by Karobi Gogoi

The 5th and 6th Dog Show was organized by the Kennel Club of Guwahati (Assam) under the Kennel Club of India on 4th December, 2011 (Sunday). The show was held in the Assam Engineering Institute playground in Chandmari. It was a cool and misty morning when all the participants accompanied by their masters reached the ground by 09:00 am for the registration.

Since it was a weekend, animal lovers (esp. canine-friendly ones) and people from the locality thronged the place more out of their enthusiasm to see the pedigree dogs- St Bernard, Boxer, Labrador, Pug (the Vodafone dog) etc. One could find all the bilayati breeds. Think of any pedigree dog and lo! You saw it!!! The only exception was Savera, a milky white bitch of the desi type with her roots down south in Tamil-Nadu.  It was a unique sight to see how well the dogs were groomed and trained, each dog responding to the command of their master. However, there were also a handful in the pack of dogs who were scared of the large gathering, camera shy and still some who played a symphony with their barks and howls.

While the fortunate pets have masters to look after them, the ones on the roads- the destitute dogs which is such a common sight for us, are never cared, forget about loving them. How often we see dogs and cats, goats and cows and all the 4-legged creatures, mowed down on the highways or in the busy streets of our city, how often we see dogs bleeding from infections and wounds. These creatures with just a little bit of care and love can be healed. They just need a helping hand from us . . .

Just Be Friendly exists to provide treatment to such injured street animals free of charge, to carry out Animal Birth Control Programmes in collaboration with Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), and also in providing free anti-rabies vaccines. This is only possible for the generous donation of those who cares about animals. There were people who came to see the show and when they passed by the stall of JBF there were some- both students and professionals, who donated for our cause. It doesn’t matter how much one donates- be it a 1 rupee or 10 or 100 or 500 or more, what matters is every rupee that you contribute will go in treating and healing the suffering animals. Dr Shahjahan Ali Ahmed, Dr Hrishilekh Kumar and Ratul Hazarika represented JBF on this day. Pamphlets and leaflets were distributed to the people- some who already knew about the good work being done by this organization and yet some who never heard about its existence. It was motivating for the volunteers to hear words of appreciation from a few persons.

Pedigree, the brand well-known in the market as a provider of nutritious dog food also participated in the show which was adjacent to the stall of JBF. Pet owners in large numbers lined up the Pedigree stall because 2 packets of pedigree were provided free to each of the prospective ‘future’ buyers. Out of the blue, a brown desi dog whose territory had been encroached on that day by other ‘well-behaved’ dogs, sniffed the existence of JBF and found temporary shelter for the day inside the stall.

The show went on till the evening and concluded with the prize distribution ceremony. JBF, by marking its presence in this show, helped in creating awareness about the plight of the city’s sick street animals and also in reaching out to the people to garner support by being the voice for the countless voiceless animals. Reach out to us when you see any injured animals in your city. We are available at 9818241962.

So if Just be Friendly (JBF) sounds like something that you would like to be a part of or contribute please email us on info@jbfsociety.org

You can also find the updates from JBF at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/JBF-Just-Be-Friendly/110939308950871?ref=sgm

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