The Tiger's Hound- Part 19

As soon as he reached home, he found the stick. Sheru walked excitedly with hope that he would give something delicious to eat. It believed that Prasun might have learnt his lesson now. It knew that he would do anything to be on top. It assumed that Prasun will offer him the tasty piece now that he was scared of losing the position.

When Sheru turned back towards it's master, it was shocked to see Prasun with the stick. "Because of you, I would have lost my dream. I would have fallen down and all these.. capturing you, training and making you capable would have wasted. Today I will not leave you.", he scolded, while he was ready to hit Sheru.

Before he could hit it, it ran as fast as it could. Prasun chased while firmly asking it to stop running. But it didn't stop. It ran towards the center of the village until it reached it's training grounds. Prasun threw the stick as soon as he realized that he was in the training ground where Kimberly and Shyam Babu were frequently seen.

Prasun stopped and gathered his energy. He ran again when he felt better. He increased his speed and threw himself on the dog. By then everyone surrounded him to watch the scene. He had to come up with something. 

"Are you fine?", he asked, taking deep breath. "You shouldn't run like this. You will hurt yourself more. Come on, Sheru! Be a good dog! Take rest!", he said , holding his paw tight. Sheru whimpered. He carried the dog in arms and brushed his head.

He pretended as if he cared. " I will give you large fish if you listen. See, everyone thinks I don't care you enough. Show them how much we love each other.", he said as he kissed the dog. He walked with the dog in his hand till he reached home.

(To be continued)

The Tiger's Hound- Part 18

Sheru knew what it was supposed to do. It behaved normal and did it's task as it was told. It ran a mile which included running zig zag and avoiding the obstacles. As it walked on the plank, it pretended to fall. It looked real. Everyone except Prasun worried if Sheru hurt itself.

Kimberly took Sheru at once. She checked whether Sheru was hurt. Sheru winced some times to show that it was in pain. She took it's paw and brushed it to see where the pain was. It winced again when she touched it's paw. She tied a cloth piece on its paw and called Prasun out.

"Nothing to worry, Prasun. It's a slight injury. He(Sheru) will be fine within few hours. Sheru is brave dog and these tiny incident won't affect him", she said. Prasun didn't understand other than word Sheru. He smiled as she gave him a comforting smile.

She left him with Sheru. Prasun was angry. He was in verge of hitting it instead he hit Sheru with words, "Why didn't you balance the last act? Your tiny mistakes won't matter now. But once they realize other dogs have more potential than you, they will ignore you. And I won't let you ruin what we have done."

He quickly bent down to remove the knot tied to it's leg when Shyam arrived to check Sheru's health. " What are you doing? Sheru is hurt", Shyam said, astonished with what he was seeing. Prasun immediately tied the knot tight instead of untying it.

He got up and said, " I was only making sure that the knot was tight and whether he was alright." Shyam Babu nodded and patted Sheru's back.  As soon as Prasun walked back home, he sighed deeply, thanking almighty that he wasn't caught abusing the dog. He had to be careful.

(To be continued)

The Tiger's Hound- Part 17

Prasun woke up to the loud noise of falling vessel. He brushed his eyes and twitched his nose to see clearly what had happened. When the image was clear to him, he stood  up angrily with both his fists placed each side of his hips. He stared furiously at Sheru.

Sheru looked down while it could feel the fury waves coming towards it. Prasun searched his weapon to instigate his anger on Sheru. He found stick to hit him. He chased Sheru with the stick while it ran away.

Sheru ran into tiny allies and passages where it could crawl into. But Prasun was very clever.He found the dog everywhere it hid. Unfortunately he couldn't catch it. It would run away as soon as he caught it.

Prasun was tired and angry when he reached the training ground. He didn't even have proper breakfast nor freshened up to look decent to Kimberly, Shyam Babu and others. They gaped at him for appearing in uncombed hair and sleep ridden eyes. Shyam Babu summoned for water tumbler and offered to him.

Prasun diligently washed his face while Sheru smiled with his tongue out. It was breathing hard and rejoicing it's win over the first part of the plan. It got prepared for next part. It made sure he had hard time next few hours.

As soon as Prasun was fresh, the training started. Kimberly asked all the dog handlers to hold the leash and guide the dog towards the next excercise which included running for a mile ,jumping onto the plank and balancing on it. Few dogs could manage the act while some failed and didn't try. It was Sheru's turn. It was waiting for it's turn eagerly.

(To be continued)

The Tiger's Hound- Part 16

Oh his poor master! It smiled inside thinking about how it was going to make him feel worse. It was going to taught tough lesson on how to treat a dog with love and care. Sheru had not seen a single guest or a person greet him. Maybe this was the reason it's master was so snobbish and cold.

It had come across some sweet humans who offered it food with love when it was a stray puppy. They patted it while it gobbled the food due to hunger. Sweet humans!! They were hardly there. It had thought that those sweet humans would come again this time to adopt. They never came back.

It waited. The days passed. It had accepted the bitter truth that they would never come back. It had made friends with the other stray dogs. It had almost become alpha dog when it's friend betrayed it by leaving it to the wicked Prasun's clutches. Now here it was, impressing the person it had hated during the first few days.

But with free food coming towards it, it had slight feeling that it's master was not all bad. There is something good in him which he has not realized. He may seem inhuman and useless to everyone else but for Sheru, he was good man with cold heart.

The morning arrived too quickly. It woke up to rays of sun. It stretched it's legs and walked up to it's master. It licked him and pushed it's head towards his shoulder. Prasun didn't wake up. He was snoring and sleeping calmly.

Sheru tried everything. Prasun still slept in ease. Sheru walked towards the vessel that contained water. The atmosphere was quiet and tranquil. Sheru knocked it down and water spilled while the falling vessel disturbed everything peaceful.

(To be continued)

The Tiger's Hound- Part 15

Sheru looked away. It didn't want to show it's hungry eyes to him. It licked it's saliva as the smell of the fish penetrated it's nose. For a second, it thought of snatching the fish from his hand and running away. But it couldn't betrayed it's master. It was because of him that it got timely food and place to stay. If it remained loyal, the food and place will remain for sometime until it found a new place.

Prasun seemed a bit cranky as usual to Sheru. It waited for it's share. It deserved to be treated with good food. It had gathered many praises from the lady who was teaching it new skills. It didn't fail anywhere. But it's master was indifferent. He didn't give anything to eat or spoke any good words.

It didn't understand whether it hated or loved it's master. They shared a strange relationship. It didn't love him nor it hated him. He had never ill treated him nor showered too much love to him.But still it had never thought of betraying him. Sheru could sense a good human that secretly resided in Prasun's heart.

Sheru tried to sleep but it's growling tummy didn't let him sleep. It looked again towards Prasun. Prasun avoided his dog. He knew that it wanted it's share of masala fish. He didn't offer. He didn't want to share his treat with anyone. Sheru was only a tool that would help him with fulfilling his dreams.

Alas! His human heart couldn't see his dog sleeping hungry. Maybe there was little love inside his hopeless heart. He had learnt hard way the lessons of selfishness yet he never could forget the kindness.

He offered Sheru a raw fish that he had thought of cooking next day. Sheru ate the fish within few seconds.It waited for a pat on it's head for being good dog, It didn't receive any pat or love from Prasun. It only got his scornful gaze. It ran away to it's place where it laid with thoughts of how it could get it's revenge of it's master's cold snub.

(To be continued)

The Tiger's Hound- Part 14

It cried and turned away from the sight. Kimberly held it's hand gently and injected it to keep immune from all kind of germs. The dogs had to be fit and healthy in order to face danger.The tigers in the jungle were ruthless and they didn't care if their prey were weak. It would pounce on anything that seems like food to it.

The pain was just a pinch. Sheru felt relived when the needle was taken out.It had thought it was going to loose it's life. Thank lord! The lady was sweet enough to not to kill it. It's master on the other hand would have taken it's life if he was given the needle.It ran before it was given any more surprises like that.

Prasun called Sheru. But it pretended as if it didn't hear and ran as fast as it could. He didn't chase it. He knew his dog well. It had ran away because it didn't want to face his wrath. Anyway he had cooled down when he saw Kimberly and Shyam Babu praising Sheru.

Shyam Babu stopped him for small chat, " Sheru is showing lot of improvement. He is the dark horse of our pack." Prasun nodded his head and smiled. "Anyway, where had you been? Sheru arrived the location much earlier than you.", Shyam Babu continued. "I.. I had to fetch fish for Sheru's dinner. It wants it's food on time.", Prasun lied.


Shyam Babu joked, "Very punctual dog!" and left Prasun to his thoughts. Prasun walked back home. He wasn't angry. He was surprised why his wild dog had turned into sober one. Maybe it's hunger made it do things such as being loyal to him.

Prasun prepared fish with little masala that he had purchased with money he had. He had always dreamed that he would prepare little royal food for himself when he would get the job. As he sat down with his dinner, Sheru came in from now where and sat next to him. He gave wicked smile. He was not going to share his dinner today.

(To be continued)

The Tiger's Hound- Part 13

He didn't believe his eyes. He had almost lost hope and had given up again because of this dog. Here it was standing and wagging at it's tail while Kimberly was giving instructions. He wanted to hit the dog but he couldn't do that. It was because of this dog, he would be able to relive his dream again.

He walked towards Sheru and stood next to him the way other dogs and their handlers stood. He stood third from where Ramlal stood with his dog. They followed the instruction well. It looked as if they were born for this only- being the villager guard. However he still didn't understand why Ramlal participated. He had huge house and inherited lot of wealth from his ancestor. He even had job to support his additional income.

He looked at Sheru. Today it was more diligent and loyal. This was unusual. It was more playful and never listened to his orders. Sheru did what it was told. But Prasun was still not out of his shock. He still believed he was living a dream. Maybe it was a dream. If he pinched himself, he would be out within few minutes.

He pinched twice. He slapped himself repeated times. He wasn't out of the dream. Maybe it was not a dream. He bough himself back to reality when he realized people staring at his weird actions. He smiled and said, " I have nap at this time. It will take time for me to unlearn this habit."

Shyam Babu smiled while Kimberly nodded her head, signalling him that it was okay. As the dogs completed their basic training, they were given some vaccines. It was Sheru's turn. Like other dogs, he was afraid too. But it jumped when the needle was close to it.

He tried to soothe the dog. But Sheru was really scared. What if it was painful! It never saw anything like that being inserted to it's skin by human. Were they going to kill him? Oh Lord! No! It didn't want to die so soon.

(To be continued)