It wasn’t us who chose Simba, it was Simba who chose us and adopted us!

Welcome back to the Hoomans of sploot series! Let’s do a little recap of why we started this series.

In an effort to recognise pet parents who're doing an amazing job we decided to speak to a few members of the sploot community. Little did we know about the kinds of amazing stories we'll come across. Not one, not two - but all of these stories deserved to be written and shared. That's precisely how Hoomans of sploot started. Every week, we feature pet parents who have interesting stories about how they became a dog parent and share it with the community.

Coming back to this week’s Hoomans of sploot, read on to know about Parul and her dog Simba.

Here’s what Parul has to say:

“I had always wanted a dog ever since I was a child. I have very fond memories of dogs since my grandparents had a dog that would keep me company at home, play with me and even take care of me. My mother and I used to be greeted by the dog so ecstatically that these greetings had been etched in my mind. My grandparents’ dog passed away when I was around 13, and although it was a little heartbreaking, I wanted to get my own dog right away. My parents were both working and I had school, which is why it was logistically not possible to get a dog then, but the want kept growing.

During the pandemic, I mentioned to my mother that it was finally time to get a dog. And there were no contentions. The lookout for a dog began, and soon after, my mother found a Facebook post saying there were six Indie puppies up for adoption. That was our chance, we didn’t think twice after that. We just began preparing our house to make it pup-friendly and got our little Simba home.

But the saying, ‘You can never fully be prepared for parenthood’ holds for pet-parenting as well. There were so many instances when I was clueless, and the process of learning and improving as a pet parent is still ongoing, and Simba understood that. He helped me become a better pet parent. He gave me all the cues I needed to understand his situation and work with him. He was there for me and helped me improve every step of the way. In these 1 and a half years that he has spent with us, he has not only helped me become a better pet parent but also a better person. He has significantly reduced my hyper expressions of anger. He has calmed me down, helped me learn how to cope with emotions (such as anger) that can get the better of you [because it’s important not to be aggressive around your pet for whom this could be impressionable], and calmed me.

He has brought about a lot of positive changes in all my family members’ lives. He has fixed our schedules and made us punctual. He doesn’t let us forget his feeding timings, he doesn’t let us forget his play or walk timings and wakes us all up by 7 in the morning to take him for a walk. We’ve become early risers because of him, we’ve become more physically active because of him. And this list has no end! But the two significant changes that he brought about in our lives involve my parents.

My father wasn’t very fond of dogs, he was quite afraid of them. However, the very first day that we got Simba home, my father returned from work and picked him up in his arms, as if, in an attempt to make Simba feel safe. It was a very heartwarming scene since both my mother and I weren’t expecting that to happen, at least not so soon! My mother also, in fact, was in an accident a few years ago which completely shut down her physical movement. This was followed by the pandemic which further curtailed physical activity and even walking about. So, after so many years of not being physically active, it becomes very difficult to gather the will for physical movement if not for an important drive or force. Simba proved to be that important force that installed a lot of physical activity and play in our lives; something we couldn’t have imagined. I genuinely never thought I would see my mother moving about as much as she currently does because of Simba and it makes my heart very happy.

It seems very fairy-tale-like to have that one saviour who’d solve so many problems in your life but this was our reality. Simba is that saviour who’s committed to making our lives better. It is as if, it wasn’t we who chose Simba, it was Simba who chose us and adopted us and changed our lives forever. And we’re so grateful!”

If you too want to be featured on the Hoomans of sploot series, hit us up at community@sploot.tech | Tell us a little bit about how you became a pet parent and what makes the journey so special.

Thanks for reading, see you next time!