Enter Elsa

"She was abandoned in a bunglow premises. No one was feeding her and she was surviving on the stuff growing there and some food that we threw in till she fell ill. Then I climbed the wall and hoisted her out. She is a beautiful lab. Can you take her?" This was how I came to know of Elsa's existence. I had a three year old black lab, Caeser with me at that time and knew what it meant to have a dog. We were in the middle of moving into a bunglow and were considering getting a second dog.

It was a bit too early for us to actually have the second dog, but a yellow lab coming our way seemed to be an offer we couldn't refuse. We went over to take a look and while she was not a purebred, she sort of fitted in. We brought her home to meet our beloved Caeser and in the excitement, he yelped. Jayant, my husband, who adored him, decided that it was a sign that things were not right. He put her right back into the car and off they went. Her stoic acceptance of whatever fate was waiting for her was what changed his mind. Her first lesson for us, 'In the face of anger, keep your cool and things might go your way'.

Almost five years later, today she is Jayant's favourite. She has convinced him (all of us, in fact)about the value of the mixed breed, the value of female dogs, the value of stoic acceptance and many other valuable lessons. Not only did she win the first round, she has gone on to win many more.