About Us

My obsession and fascination with dogs started in the year 1983, on 13th December of that year to be precise. This was the day I was born and along with me came ‘Tiger’. Yup, hence the name ‘Tigerpet’. Tiger was a Doberman.

My grandfather’s dog had given birth to a litter of pups and one of these pups was Tiger. My parents got him when he was  8 weeks old. The earliest memories about Tiger come from my mother. Both of us would run to greet my father after he came home from work. He, being the bigger and larger fellow, would push me aside to greet my father at the door. Another story my mother tells me about both of us is of the day when she heard me howling and crying incessantly. Upon rushing to see me, she was horrified to find Tiger having put his paws over my chest and growling at me. To be fair to Tiger, I had been incessantly pulling his already shortened tail. Who wouldn’t growl after that? My mother was aghast and banished him to the kennel for a week. What could I do? It was her protective motherly instinct at work.

Tiger died a tragic death. The guard had left the gates open at night and Tiger had managed to sneak out and never came back again. He most probably was killed by a stray leopard, from the nearby jungles, prowling around  the tea gardens. I was inconsolable. This incident has left a wound in my heart so deep that I doubt it will ever heal.

Yours truly, with Tiger, the Doberman

That’s me again with Tiger, the Doberman.

Then my mother got Sweety, a Lhasa Apso while I was at boarding school. She was very clever and quite fearless. She was very protective of my mother and wouldn’t allow any stranger to get close to her. She didn’t like being disturbed while eating. I didn’t quite know about this and was petting her once while she was eating. To be fair, she did growl warning me to back off. I unfortunately did not understand her signals and ended up being bitten on my chest. This was my first lesson in respecting boundaries, be they with human beings or animals. I didn’t dare tell my parents about this incident fearing they would banish her too, especially given that she did bite quite a few strangers.

In December 1996, I was coming back home for my winter vacations . We stopped at our grandfather’s place for a week. This time he had a German Shepherd who had given birth to a litter of pups. I declared I wouldn’t leave without one of the pups. My mother agreed to my demand provided I promised to take complete responsibility for the pup. I agreed immediately. I had no clue about what was to follow and what getting a pup home actually means. I named the German Shepherd pup ‘Tiger’ in memory of my Tiger, the Doberman. My brother and I used to feed him, bathe him, play with him, clean his potty and basically did everything for him for 3 months during our winter vacation. He was like my baby. I had to leave for my boarding school and would now be coming back after three months. After I came back, I didn’t quite expect him to remember me. When I saw him, he had his back turned towards me. I was a little afraid as he had also grown big in size but he did remember me and was thrilled to see me and my brother.

In 2000 we had to move to a smaller house where we couldn’t keep Tiger or our cows. We had to give him to an uncle who took good care of him. My brother and I would visit him. While leaving, he would get into the car before us and we would have to leave him there. These memories are as fresh as if they were happening today. It breaks my heart every time I look at his pictures or think about him.

Though I never had the courage to have my own pet after that, I feed off the love from street dogs. Taking care of a pet is a huge commitment and a great emotional investment, something I don’t think I can handle right now.

I dedicate this professional journey of mine to all the pet owners and their ‘Tigers’ and their search to provide a better life to their pets.

Abhinav.