Archie
A donation was made in memory of Archie by the Chatterjee family on Feb 02, 2019.
Archie's story is a sad one for us. He was born on January 3, 2007 and lived with us in Hyderabad, India. He was the second dog in our family, being younger than our older dog Asterix by 6 months. He was a big, aggressive German Shepherd but was loving and gentle with our family. He was energetic and he would always play with this one particular empty metal water bowl, dragging it around with his front paw, launching it backwards, and then chasing after it. It was funny to watch, since he preferred playing with a metal bowl over a ball. It was also pretty loud against the concrete ground and he would play with it every day, especially at 7 am when everyone was sleeping!
However, despite his playfulness, Archie was aggressive to strangers and was untrained, which looking back is a big "what if?" regret that we will carry. In the 3 and a half years he spent with us, he attacked or bit 20 people in total. Most of these were due to the victims not reading the multiple "Attack Dog Inside, Do Not Enter" signs on our front gate and stepping in before we could restrain him. Luckily none of the 20 victims were seriously injured. However when the number got to 20 we knew we had to give him away to someone who could handle him.
We decided to give Archie back to his trainer, who was the person who brought him to us in the first place. One of the most painful memories I have was during this time, when Archie realized we were leaving without him and was howling for us to come back. We visited him a couple of months after that, but he had a hard time coping when left again. So we decided that it would be better if we stopped visiting him and let him move on without us.
I still regret that we couldn't give Archie the happy life that he should have had with us. I would like to think he was able to move on without us, and that he was happy living with the trainer and the other dogs that the trainer looked after.
Archie died of bloating in July 2012, at the age of 5. We miss him a lot, and we will always remember him. We hope that he was able to find peace after all the struggles that he had to go through.
- Mom, Dad, Abhishek, Abhijit
However, despite his playfulness, Archie was aggressive to strangers and was untrained, which looking back is a big "what if?" regret that we will carry. In the 3 and a half years he spent with us, he attacked or bit 20 people in total. Most of these were due to the victims not reading the multiple "Attack Dog Inside, Do Not Enter" signs on our front gate and stepping in before we could restrain him. Luckily none of the 20 victims were seriously injured. However when the number got to 20 we knew we had to give him away to someone who could handle him.
We decided to give Archie back to his trainer, who was the person who brought him to us in the first place. One of the most painful memories I have was during this time, when Archie realized we were leaving without him and was howling for us to come back. We visited him a couple of months after that, but he had a hard time coping when left again. So we decided that it would be better if we stopped visiting him and let him move on without us.
I still regret that we couldn't give Archie the happy life that he should have had with us. I would like to think he was able to move on without us, and that he was happy living with the trainer and the other dogs that the trainer looked after.
Archie died of bloating in July 2012, at the age of 5. We miss him a lot, and we will always remember him. We hope that he was able to find peace after all the struggles that he had to go through.
- Mom, Dad, Abhishek, Abhijit
