Mili — The Stray

Mili was a stray dog. Loved by everyone wherever she went. She was a smart one because she knew how much humans love dogs. Mili had few tricks up her sleeve, like stand on 2 legs, shake hands.. she knew that would always get silly little humans excited. Sometimes these tricks fetched her tasty treats.

If everything failed, she had loyal humans who fed her every day.

But Mili was also aware of those humans who call themselves Dog catchers. Never had a dog come back from the grasp of dog catchers. It was like Bermuda Triangle for Mili. So she knew to stay away from them.

A pet dog (MJ) once came around.. this is how their conversation went.

Mili: Don’t you feel like you're in a cage all the time. Being stuck in a house with nowhere to go.

MJ: Not really, I like to think everything has its own pros and cons. Although I cant roam around whenever I want, I do get food whenever I want. If you ask me, I choose food anytime. What do you say?

Mili: I don’t agree with you. Even I can get food whenever I want. Wanna see?

Mili does one of her tricks in front of the pet’s owner. The owner so excited to see the stray dog do this gives her a treat.

Mili: Told you!!!

One day, Mili woke up to find the streets empty, no person on the road. This didn’t bother Mili much as she knew humans always came around.

So she waited.. and waited some more.. and some more.. but no one came.

After waiting for an entire day without food... Mili started the walk to look for food .. after walking a few miles she found a dumpster.. but the place was already full of animals scavenging for food… there were cows, donkeys, cats, and also dogs.. all fighting for stale leftovers. Poor Mili didn’t find anything to eat there as she was overpowered by the big animals.

So, she kept walking until she had found some food. It had been 3 days now, and Mili had not eaten anything.

Mili was tired, hungry, and getting sick. She decided to take shelter under a tree to protect herself from the scorching heat and take a rest. She soon fell asleep as she was too tired.

A few hours later, she was woken up by Milo. Milo was a stray dog himself. He took Mili to a place where a human came and fed all the dogs.

When the human arrived in the evening, about 20 dogs were waiting for him and he fed all of them.

Within a week, Mili had gained her strength back and along with that, she had gained a partner in Milo. Milo was very protective of her, never let other dogs near her.. he always made sure Mili didn’t go hungry. Naturally, Mili fell for him.

However, one day Milo was gone. Mili was alone again. Despondent, she left the place where Milo had taken her and went back to her old place. Humans had started to show up again on the streets so it was fair to assume that she would get food at her old place.

She was correct because the humans who used to feed her started coming back. For Mili, life was back to normal. Until one day she noticed her body had started to change, she had started feeling heavy within 2 weeks. Obviously, Mili didn’t understand that she had puppies inside her. However, the humans around her knew it. They brought her warm blankets, nutritious food, one person even built a temporary shed for her using cardboard boxes. Mili didn’t understand why suddenly she was reaching so much affection but she didn’t mind.

Finally, the day arrived. Mili gave birth to 4 puppies. Having lives to take care of was added responsibility but Mili’s love knew no bounds. However, with the cold approaching, challenges kept increasing. Now, she had to make sure the puppies were always warm and in this cold weather, Mili was finding it difficult to keep herself warm let alone her puppies. Still, she managed with the help of some kind-hearted people who got more clothes for the puppies and built a wooden shelter for her.

One day, the people seemed to disappear again. And now Mili was really in trouble as she could not leave her kids for long to look for food.

By now, the kids had weaned off the mother’s milk so they needed food as well. Mili had no choice but to go look for food.

So, she went looking for food. It took her quite some time to find, but she found some leftover food, chapatis, and rice. She ate the rice for herself and put the chapatis in her mouth for her kids.

Mili was really happy for she knew that this would keep the puppies fed for the next 2–3 days.

As she was about to reach the kids, she noticed the dog catcher van again. Like a pro, she hid and once they were gone, she went to them only to find they were gone.

She immediately realized they were taken by dog catchers. Mili ran behind the van but it was already gone.

2 months later….

Mili is staying with the pet dog MJ and his owner along with her 2-month-old puppies. The puppies are now going for adoption. All puppies are soon adopted, and Mili the stray spent the rest of her life as a pet.