It was a rainy night in December 1994.
Everyone was almost getting ready for dinner. Ma was just waiting for Dad to come back from wherever he went. The doorbell rang, and Dad came in half drenched in rainwater. He called the girl of the house his daughter-“ Khuku someone is here for you”
A tiny black ball of fur. He put the ball on the ground. The far ball started to walk with four legs!!
It was not anything new in this house. Khuku grew up with dogs always. She was 19 then. Their last dog Albert crossed the rainbow bridge at the age of 14 some months back.
But still, something changed that particular moment. The 19-year-old girl became a mom instantly. All their dogs she grew up with, they were her dad’s dogs, her kind of siblings, but this guy looked up at her –
He silently asked “Mom “?
Rocky was only a month and a half old on that day. His mom died after giving birth to four pups. Three of them died. Rocky was the only one who survived.
Khuku struggled a little bit in managing her university classes, Rocky’s pee/ poo training, and multiple time feeding. But she managed.
Rocky started growing very fast – as they all do. In no time he gained a massive 42 kg mass, who had no idea of his own size. His whole world was Khuku.
He would get up with Khuku in the morning.
First two dog biscuits from her hand. He would only eat if Khuku would feed him.
He would wait by the window until she would come back from college every day. Every time her car would enter the lane of her house – the loud barking of Rocky was the first and only thing she would hear.
Both of them – Khuku & Rocky, every day used to wait for the time of the day when they would play with the torn ball. He would run away with the ball and she would chase.
He would sleep by her side- every night, sharing the pillow.
Khuku didn’t have any siblings. She and her best companion Tintin and Asterix comics. When Rocky joined- they became partners in crime. Literally inseparable.
Time flew by on its own rhythm.
Rocky was a two-year-old vibrant dog. Khuku’s family went for a vacation for 10 days. Their house help was there taking care of Rocky. When they came back, they found Rocky with badly congested lungs, cough, and high temperature.
Reason?
The house help by mistake, locked him in the balcony one night and that particular night it rained heavily.
The vet, Rocky, Khuku and the family as a whole started a fight. Medication was not that much advanced all those years back. Rocky stopped eating completely.. khuku’s mom would paste chicken, rice, and veggies, and Khuku would put spoon by spoon in Rocky’s mouth and would keep the mouth closed until he swallowed it. It used to take hours just to feed a small bowl and it was a daily struggle for Rocky. Khuku was ready to do anything to get her boy back on his 4 paws. The fight went for months. None of them were ready to give up on the loosing battle.
Then one morning Rocky’s weak heart gave up. The whole world became black for the 21-year-old girl… She has lost her partner in crime. For some reason, she totally forgot how her life was before Rocky came.
That day she promised herself- I will never have a dog in my life. I cannot go through this sadness again. Ever
Time flew by in its own pace. Khuku got married, and she had two daughters. She came to Dubai with her family in 2008. Life was normal with its usual challenges.
2013 December- Khuku Went to meet a friend in Abu Dhabi. She parked her car near a friend’s house. Dogs were barking from the next villa. Out of curiosity, she peeped through the metal fence.
There stood a fur ball on four legs-
A wall broke in Khuku’s heart.
Khuku’s Family didn’t need much convincing. For some reason, they were already on board. The Villa Owner, the Pups then Dad for valid reasons was not ready, of course. But Khuku made it the mission of her life to convince the gentleman.
Four months old Chloe, one fine December evening, without any protest or hesitation, followed Khuku in her car. Then from the car to her home.
What else same ??
Chloe refused food. Khuku thought it must be stress. New place, new people. But after 3rd day without food – when she picked up the food on her palm, Chloe finished it.
10 years passed like a dream. Chloe is still hand-fed.
Khuku knows most probably everything is her imagination.
Most probably its just crazy coincidence.
She doesn’t need anyone to believe anything. Let it be her own personal craziness. But to Khuku – her Rocky boy came back after 19 years.
Nowadays Khuku runs a kennel in Dubai with two branches and a team of her 36 boys. The birth of her dog boarding/ doggy daycare- whichever name you want to give, gradually shaped up only because of Chloe’s extreme separation anxiety, The concept of crate-free stay – it all shaped up organically. There was never a ‘ business plan’. But that is a story for another day. Chloe came in Khuku’s life with a purpose. She is the reason behind everything that took form gradually in the last 10 years – What you know today as “ Romis Home Pet Nursery ’.. it’s an effort by a girl and her dog and her 36 amazing boys to keep the dogs stress-free, happy, healthy, and confident.
My dad used to call me Khuku. No one calls me by this name anymore. He left us in 2015. I wish he was with me now to see – his ‘ Khuku ‘ is surrounded by dogs every day. He tried all those long years to change my mind on not having another dog after Rocky. He believed very strongly kids grew up much responsible and empathetic and emotionally balanced when they grew around dogs. He was sad his granddaughters were missing the chance.
Romis Home Pet Nursery – dog kennel, dog boarding, doggy daycare or pet hotel, whichever name we can attach, but to me personally its an opportunity gifted by some higher entity. Its an effort by a girl and her dog and can not imagine life in any other way.
I don’t know why today I felt sharing this extremely personal story with my doggy – parents. I won’t blame you , after reading this if you feel – Romi is ‘ crazy ‘. But I can assure you one thing, because I have my craziness, I and my team exactly know how you feel when you hand over your dog to us. When you trust us with your precious ones. And I promise- me and my team will always try every way possible to keep your trust high up. We will do everything to keep them safe, and happy and will give them the interesting life they deserve. Thats the only way I can thank my universe.
2024 now. Kids are grown ups. Mom is back home. My husband is very much here helping me whenever I need him. But he has his extremely demanding own full time job.
So its me and my Chloe – 2 partners in crime- the same girl and her dog with you here, for you here ♥️
Long write-up 😀. Thanks a lot if you have read until the end.
Hugs and love from Chloe and her mom Romi.
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