Guddan & Gudiya Shih Tzu – Rescue Story of Mumbai Stray Dogs

Guddan and Gudiya – Shih Tzus Rescued from Mumbai

Guddan and Gudiya are both Shih Tzus found in Mumbai. Their stories are intertwined for many reasons – they were both found on the street of the big city within days of each other and brought to Bangalore within days as well.

A Shih Tzu was reported found in Mumbai in mid-2018 on a street – dragging herself. She had either run away and met with an accident or she had become paralyzed and thrown on the road. But this dog would drag herself on the forelegs. The social media circus erupted with how sad it is and how the people who did this should be found and lynched, but no one answered the question – would they keep her? Keeping any dog is a lifelong responsibility – especially a paralyzed dog. The first months are especially dangerous primarily for 1 reason – if the dog has survived the first few days of being crushed it is no indicator of the inner injuries – any inner organs would have been damaged and that failure of even one organ seemingly intact in a x-ray will cause the dog to die over the next weeks. The next few months pose a different danger – a female un-neutered dog lying in its own urine and faeces is likely to develop pyometra and usually, it is too late to detect till septicemia sets in followed quickly by multiple organ failure. The Shih Tzu was only a few days found only a when we learnt about it – slowly the rescuers were panicking because there was no home. VOSD sent a private pet transporter to Mumbai within one day to get the dog. VOSD did not charge the rescuers any surrender fees and paid the transportation cost of the dog to VOSD Bangalore from Mumbai.

Pregnant with dead pups inside

A few days later another Shih Tzu was found roaming the streets of Mumbai. Heavily pregnant but her pups had died inside her. Again, it is likely that she was kept by a breeder and the pups had died so she was caste out. Or she had lost her way and they had died because of some trauma. Going by her condition and examinations done later she was likely a puppy mill dog. Anyway, a surgery was performed and her dead pups removed. The dog was in poor condition with overgrown matted hair to the point you could not see her face. Again, there was a lot of sympathy in online Facebook groups but no takers. Again, in a couple of days a VOSD transporter had arrived to bring her to Bangalore.

The first dog came in a small crate – and the same crate was sent back to get the 2nd one.

Paralyzed no more – both dogs walk!

When she came the first dog had the biggest, brightest eyes and was relatively clean but from being in the crate. She was shampooed and introduced to the other dogs at VOSD. She flew like the wind on a clean marble floor expect she couldn’t walk. She ate well. She had her hair trimmed and blow dried. In the night Rakesh Shukla, Founder VOSD, put her on his pillow and sang her a lullaby. She slept like a baby. When he woke up in the middle of the night as a he does, usually do a dozen times, he saw her sleep walk. There was the slightest movement in her legs. He got up and performed the 1st real test with a pinprick on the webbing of her feet. She was not paralyzed! The next day Rakesh took her to the vet, and we did anx-ray–It was confirmed that she was not paralyzed. The road to recovery is long but we have all the basics – a low power laser machine, an infrared lamp and Rakesh has given physiotherapy to dozens of dogs – but most of all for another dog called Chiu who had walked after 3 months and lived another 6yrs. When they came back from the vet clinic, Rakesh started her physiotherapy. In a few days she tried balancing herself and stand, in another week she was walking unsteadily. 2 yrs. later today she runs on all fours -jumps up and sits on a chair if she gets tired of chasing Rottweilers and Mastiffs. She was such a dog that I called her Guddan – short for Guddan Patola. A punjabi term for a rag doll that little girls make and play with made from excess sewing cloth and strings. She is just Guddan of course.

A few days after Guddan came – the same crate was sent back – for another shih-tzu. Naming her was simple – with Guddan the other one had to be Gudiya. We knew the story of her being found, abortion etc. What we were not prepared for was the mess that she still was living for weeks with rescuers, fosters etc. Her hair was so matted you could not see her eyes – but it was matted all over. A shampoo, drying and trimming later – Rakesh discovered that she was completely blind. The bigger worry was that she was paralyzed with fear. She refused to come out the crate and then took to a corner for days, took her a few days to start eating and would abandon her plate at the slightest sound. That was then. Today she knows every corner of VOSD and every Indian, Mastiff and Rottweiler  dog that she lives with at VOSD. She walks and eats without any hesitation and fear. She mostly like to stay to herself but she has one friend – Guddan. Guddan spends hours each day licking her and grooming her, and they play together all the time. When picked up they will both lick Rakesh’s face with a vengeance. That’s why their other name is the Kissing Gorami’s.