Dobi, My Happy Dog

by Mehdi
(Tehran, Iran)

One morning, in mid Aug 2007, I received a phone call from my young brother. He wanted to know whether I would like to adopt a poodle dog whose owner, a young girl, has recently left the country. The dog has been circulated between different families and no one wants it any more. With no hesitation I suggested to visit the family that owned the dog and we were there in the afternoon that day.

The reason why these people couldn’t hold the dog was that they were living in an apartment and some neighbors had complained about it. In our country, legally, there is no ban to have pets in apartments as long as there is no disturbance for the neighborhood.

Recently, there have been some new restrictions from the police about taking dogs to public places and even parks. This has increased the pressure on both pets and pet owners. Sometimes, this is the reason why people leave their pet alone or to others to avoid any conflict with the police.

Seven months have now passed and Ddobi is now a member of my family. We love this 10 year old male poodle dog and we are doing our best for him. As an example, when I take Dobi outside the building for his daily walk, I carry him down the stairs and again up to fourth floor on our way back home, in the fear of any noise by him and any possible contact with neighbors from which may result in real trouble for Dobi to continue living with us. As yet, fortunately, there has been no important problem with neighbors or police regarding our pet and I wish some people’s attitude about dogs will change in the future.