Giving back to man’s best friend!
I have been volunteering with The Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) for almost 12 years now.
WSD is Mumbai based NGO for dogs and cats and was incepted in 1994.I started off as a volunteer in 2005/6 during my vacations post 12th class exams. Affection towards dogs had been imbibed into the family as a child which was encouraged by my husband (then boyfriend) to take more seriously.
Like most teenagers, I had lots of time to kill during vacations and thought of channelizing my fondness for dogs in a rather constructive way. However, what started off as an activity to spend time turned into a lifestyle.
I found my calling in WSD and consider it to be as serious as my full-time paid job.
Apart from handling the Instagram account, my services at the NGO mainly involve behavior studying and training dogs which are
– picked up from the streets and cannot be returned to their location
– pets that have been abandoned by their parents
Both the types of training require a different approach in order to make dogs more compatible with humans, thus improving their chances of getting adopted. WSD has a professional trainer who religiously attends to the dogs and teaches other volunteers to do the same.
There are several other fund raising activities which I am a part of as and when the organization needs.
I volunteer with WSD because for me they are the epitome of animal welfare.
With a routine that has become more and more materialistic and frivolous, volunteering gives me the joy of being me. Unlike what people like to believe, volunteering is not a charity that is done to the opposite creature. Rather, it is done for the inner peace and satisfaction of oneself. Invariably, it gives me more joy than anything else in this world.
Loving a dog and feeling sympathetic towards an ailing creature is simple but constantly working towards its well-being is challenging.
The inspiration I get from people who run the organization drives me to thrive harder towards a cause I truly believe in.
– Farah Dottiwala, volunteer Welfare of Stray Dogs
"Love is a four legged word" – Kandy Shepherd
