12/07/2025
The story goes thus…Sindhoor’s excited about getting a new door. Sowjanya’s sceptical. “The main door concept is not much appreciated by our 3 visiting residents.”, she cautions. This reminds Ahana of the streeties in the park who use their paws to pull open the very gates that were installed to keep them out. “Always wondered why they pull instead of push though”, she adds. Sindhoor gets nostalgic. “Nishi was a pusher. She pushed her way through life. Cheeru daintily pulled”, she says and ponders if this was about their personality or physicality. “Nishi was so strong and heavy that even when she tried to pull, it turned into a push.”, she recounts. “All my doors have scratch marks. Luchi was a scratcher, Masti is a scratcher”, Surabhi chimes in.
Toss a picture of a reclaimed old door, into a group of BHARCS Diploma students, and the inevitable happens. A discussion on the personality of the dogs ensues. But wait! We don’t just banter about dogs, we ponder! So, let’s…
Are these personalities being described, just about the dogs or about the person experiencing the dog? We used words like ‘pushers’, ‘pullers’ and ‘scratchers’ - communication and problem-solving strategies. Our words reflect how we view their actions. We’ve seen similar actions being attributed to very different personalities – ‘naughty’, ‘attention seeking’, ‘destructive’ etc. Those labels helped us justify punishments. But our labels affect us differently. If we do not want scratched doors, we find alternate ways for our pushers, pullers and scratchers to communicate or solve for the problem they find important. More importantly, we get to celebrate their ingenuity and personalities. This choice is ours to make.
Do you celebrate your dog’s personality? Tell us more. Scratcher, puller, pusher, ‘bark-to-get-human-to-do-my-bidding’ er? Who do you experience and celebrate?
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