When we, that is me and my brother Ramesh brought him home, he was all of two years old. I am not talking of any child, but of my pure bred German Shepherd dog. While coming from Vasai to Dombivli in our van he was quite, except for one time when he was bugged by a pair of Doberman's at the petrol pump, where we had stopped to fill up. He was really scary at that moment when he unleashed his patent growl and bark at them after first allowing them to come near the van. It was a sight to see those Doberman's run away from his menacing posture.
When we reached home, he was nervous to begin with, but in an hour or so he perked up enough to check our house from pillar to post. At that time he was told by my brother in no uncertain terms that he was never to enter the kitchen. I can still remember Ramesh giving this order to him in Malalayam, and Jackie seemed to understand the language, even though he has been brought from a house where Marathi was spoken. Jackie just looked at Ramesh in his peculiar way and he seemed to understand the order, since he never tried to cross the boundary of the entrance to the kitchen. My sisters had a habit of teasing Jackie and running into the kitchen. He would always chase them till the kitchen door, and wait for them outside the kitchen.
Jackie was huge. If he stood on his hind legs he could easily put a six foot human being to shame.
He was also very gentle when he wanted to be. The people staying around us used to call him a Lion because of his size and color.
The three people he never liked were the milkman, the postman and the paper boy. His main reason for this dislike must have been due to the fact that all these persons only came till our doorway but never entered our house. None of these three groups could ever escape without being treated to his full blooded bark. Oh! I have missed a point over here. Let me just say that his bark was such that he could possibly awaken the dead from their graves. Friends and relatives coming to call on us would check from our garden gate about Jackie being tied to the
leash. Practically nobody liked to have Jackie put his front legs on their shoulders and slobbered all over their faces.
He had an avid hatred for other dogs of our locality. If any of them happened to bark at him when he was being taken out for a walk, then the person holding the leash had better be very careful or he would be taken for a high speed ride.
The only person who did not have to undergo this indignity was my mother. She had informed him once that she did not have the strength to run after him and he obliged her with obedience. By this time he could understand Malayalam very well. I suppose, he had the command of a six year old human child on our mother tongue. I am still at a loss to know how he managed that particular trait.
But then he was exceptional in many ways. Once, I was returning from a tour after fifteen days, and only dad was there at home. I had not informed my parents about my home coming, as I wanted to surprise them. But by the time I reached our garden gate, Dad knew I was coming, by just looking at the enthusiasm that Jackie was presenting at that moment.
I still remember, on the night that my grandfather passed away, he did not bark even once although scores of people were passing through our home during that night. On the following day hundreds of people came to our house, and a few even asked me about Jackie,s whereabouts, since they could not hear his patent bark. I don't remember him barking on those two days.
He used to sleep in my room and start barking if he heard any noise during the night. In case I did not acknowledge his barks, he would come near me and unleash a special bark right in my face, so that I had to talk to him and inform him about having understood his concerns, and ask him to go to sleep, which he rarely seemed to do at night. If I happened to get up during the night, I could always see that he was looking up at me. I had never caught him napping during the night.
