Alpha (or Alphie) the Girl with the Beautiful Eyes (and Ears)
HOW ALPHA GOT HER NAME
We met Alpha in January 2019. She was born in an abandoned plot in our neighborhood, their mom Kali, dug a hole in the ground and gave birth to 8 of the cutest puppies one has ever seen.
Imagine a 6 lb pup scaring away 3 adult dogs so she could eat first. That's right, Alpha was the boss as a puppy. She beat up on her older sisters like they were half her size. She hadn't a care in the world. That's the day she earned her name.
PROJECT CATCH, HEAL, AND RELEASE
Just a few months ago, when we got to India in December 2019, the first thing we noticed is that Alpha had a really bad elbow injury. It was swollen, a big open wound in the back but she never let us get close enough to get a good look at it. Alpha is a shy dog, one of the most cautious of humans. But we don't blame her, 7 of her brothers and sisters were picked up and taken away from their mom and her when she was barely 2 months old. They probably all died, the chance of survival of young puppies without their mom in a new location is practically none.
We asked the neighbors who have been watching out for her for a few months and they mentioned that she got hit by a car (the plight of most injured dogs)
CATCHING ALPHA
Honestly, we would have never caught her. She is too shy, too fast and too cautious to ever get close to us. Even when she was just a 2-month-old puppy, she was always very cautious of us and never let us pet her, even though every one of her cousins was flipping over for us and letting us rub their bellies.
Alpha's elbow injury got bad enough that she started hiding in the yard of a house that nobody lives in. After months of trying, we noticed that she was in the same place for 2 days and wasn't putting her foot down. We saw an opportunity to catch her as she was in an enclosed place and I had been freshening up on my dog catching skills from the project at the golf club.
The day we caught her, we thought that was the hardest thing we will ever have to do, as it typically is in helping the street dogs. Turns out, healing her back to health was even harder.
HEALING ALPHA
The injury was so much worst than we thought. She had a broken bone but that has fused in place, her foot was injured and bleeding and she has a massive open wound on her elbow which is also very deep. The foot healed, the bone is fused, it's just the elbow wound that needs to be healed. Alpha has been with us for almost 2 months now and she is healing, but very slowly. We bandage her twice a day with anti-biotic meds and a fresh bandage. The injury is in such a peculiar place that it's always rubbing on the ground. If she takes off her bandage for even a couple of minutes, the wound gets inflamed and red.
We're very hopeful that she will make a full recovery soon!
She has quite a routine now, she loves her crate and spends most of her day in it in our backyard. In the evening, we try to get her out and play with her so she gets her energy out (and lets us sleep at night).
WHAT MAKES US HAPPY
It's March 2020, I'm sitting in a home office and Alpha is on the floor next to me, dreaming and running in her dreams while she makes the cutest puppy noises. It's late, 12:45 am and I'm uploading the collar dedicated to her. This is the same dog that was so nervous of humans that she peed when I captured her. She is the sweetest, and may we say, the prettiest dog that we have known. She is so gentle and timid but is slowly opening up and starting to make whiney noises when she greets us and flips over for belly rubs. She's a work in progress, but aren't we all? :)
An update on Alpha (2024)
A late update on Alpha. We ended up adopting Alpha in 2020 after we brought her back to the united states with us.
She's been the most incredible dog and we're so grateful to have her in our life. She's been traveling around the United States and Mexico with us in an RV. She has grown so much as a dog and we have grown to understand her better as well.
She loves the outdoors and pillows.
