Tito was fed three meals each day, including breakfast, as compared to one meal for adult dogs and two meals for puppies. Lunch was around 1 o’clock in the afternoon, and dinner was around 7 o’clock in the evening. Lunch consisted of pressure-cooked dalia (broken wheat) mixed with pieces of chicken/mutton, potatoes, carrots, and lauki (bottle gourd). I’d separate the bones from the meat and hand feed them to Tito after the meal, making sure he didn’t choke on them. We would also feed Tito dry pellets (dog food) as directed by the veterinarian. Dinner would occasionally consist of curd-rice, or it could be a smaller portion of the morning meal, with chicken or mutton broth and a few pieces of meat. Tito ate two boiled eggs, milk, and six slices of bread for breakfast. We’d keep an eye on Tito’s ‘output’ to see if he was digesting his food. Tito would get titbits whenever we ate something, except during our meals, when he would happily lie down under or near the dining table, content that he had had his fill just before.
Tito’s medication proved tough to administer. He would refuse to swallow capsules or tablets. He’d close his mouth and clench his jaws tightly. Even if I was able to pry Tito’s jaws open and insert the pill into his mouth, he spit it out. Dumpy was the only one who could outsmart Tito. After prying open Tito’s jaws, he would put his hand inside his mouth and put the pill deep inside his gullet, making it impossible for Tito to spit out the offending object. Tito had no option after that but to swallow the pill.
I then devised a ruse. I’d wrap the pill in a piece of bread dipped in chicken broth. I met with success initially. However, very soon Tito found a way of thwarting my trick. He would carefully consume the bread around the pill and then spit out the pill, wagging his tail and staring at me as if to say, “You think you can trick me? Ha, ha!” The fight had to be won. I improvised further. I would first powder the tablets and extract the powder from the capsules, then mix the powder thus collected with the chicken broth. I would then soak the bread in the mixture and feed the soaked bread to Tito. Despite perhaps realizing that the chicken broth did not taste like usual, Tito would gulp the bread. It was triumph of gluttony over suspicion.
Tito simply did not like eating anything raw, even fruits and salads. We sampled a variety of foods, including apple, grape, banana, pear, and cucumber. He turned them all down. If we shoved those offending food items into his mouth, Tito would spit them out and either snarl at us in feigned anger or gaze at us with hurt eyes that made us stop. I tried to feed Tito red wine on a couple of occasions by pouring some in his bowl mixed with water. Tito approached the bowl and, after sniffing the concoction, turned away in disgust. Gujarat is a dry state, which prohibits the manufacture, distribution, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Tito was a good citizen who followed the law of the land! Tito grew into a robust, young dog with boundless energy and a strong will of his own.
