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Tell Tail n Aug 2017 - Oct 2017 15A
wonderful personal trainer,
her alarm clock, and most
importantly her goofy baby.
There is nothing that Tejaswini
Aparanji finds annoying about Dexter,
her really happy golden retriever.
So when Tejaswani had to move
out of India, leaving Dexter behind
was never an option, he is family.
She did her homework and hired a
pet relocation service to handle his
export paperwork and an agent from
Singapore handled his import/license/
vet check on landing/quaratine
booking. “While it is necessary to
get an agent exporting from India,
Singapore has all the steps spelt out
quite clearly so if one has time on
their hands they can do the import
process themselves,” she explains.
The quarantine
Spending a month in quarantine
in a new country sounds scary,
but Dexter handled it rather well. “I
knew he would be ok. It’s usually the
pet parents who stress more than
the dog,” she says. In Singapore,
pet parents can visit the dog
everyday during visiting hours and
are supposed to exercise the dogs
etc except on Sundays and public
holidays. Since Tejaswini’s job
involves a lot of travelling, she hired a
dog walker to do that for him.
“He flew in a couple of days after
me and I was all emotional when I
arrived to see him on his first day in
quarantine. The walker had reached
before me and they were playing
ball. Dexter was so engrossed that
he saw me, came up for a little kiss
and went back to playing. I was very
disappointed. After 15 mins we took
him inside and that’s when it struck
him that Mama needs some lovin’. He
plonked himself on my lap and kept
licking me and fussing around,” she
smiles.The move
The move was difficult, more so
since Tejaswini is a single pet parent.
“I had my moments when I had a
gazillion things to do including his
paperwork and I felt overwhelmed
by it all. I would hug him and breakdown. Once he reached Singapore, I
paid the dog walker SGD 450 to walk
him everyday in quarantine. Today
when I look back, it feels like a distant
memory. In the end, it all works out.
Always,” she stresses. He doesn’t
like the dog food there much but
otherwise, he has made friends and
is happy!Not spoilt
Part of this may have to do with
how he is brought up. Tejaswini has
never spoilt him, she isn’t the kind
of pet parent that prefers the dog
to be shadowing them all the time.
That may be why he grew up without
being anxious when left alone but
shows all the love when she is home.
“I invested time in training him, and I
knew that I wanted him to live in my
home, not me in his,” she states.
She had been dog sitting Dexter
since he was little for her friends. But,
a medical issue in their family meant
they had to give him up and they
asked Tejaswini to adopt him when
he was five months old. “That face
and those eyes were hard to resist,”
she smiles. And they continue to be
hard to resist!Dexter goes to Singapore!
She can’t do without
her favourite selfie
partner. So when it
came to moving out of
India, Tejaswini Aparanji
packed up with Dexter,
her golden retriever. She
shares her experienceTejaswini with DexterDexter in quarantine— UK