By Kavita Chhibber
This website is being launched in honor of our German Shepherd HRH Ramses who left us on December 13, 2019.
I hope others will also share the stories of their divine canines who have passed because these divine canines have taught us many life lessons. These lessons made us love more freely, live in the moment, forgive, forget, and find joy in the seemingly trivial things in life. Neither they nor those life lessons must be forgotten.
He lived for almost 16 years, but his life would have ended at the age of 6 when Ramses came on the verge of euthanasia in a shelter in Atlanta. He was roaming the streets when he was rescued, and even though they found details of his owners, they were nowhere to be found.
A rescue organization called Our Pals Place pulled him out just in time. It was no coincidence that his rescue happened on a Tuesday (Jai Hanuman) and that he happened to be born on the same day as my youngest daughter.
I remember going to OPP to adopt another dog for my daughter, but the dog had already been adopted.
I went back a month later to see if we would like a dog enough to bring them home.
My husband Ajit and I walked in and there he was.
Emaciated with bald patches on his fur, his bones sticking out… and yet when he looked up, there was such beauty, dignity and a regal elegance that remained untarnished by adversity.
It was mutual love at first sight for Ajit and Ramses.
Ramses stood up on his hind paws and made a beeline for Ajit.
Ajit said to me, “We should adopt this dog.” I was not that enamored. I was about to move to Boston and was living in an apartment. Most do not allow German Shepherds. Plus he was a very big dog. Even by GSD standards.
But Ajit was quietly persistent. “If you want to adopt a dog, he is THE one.”
So, it was back and forth for three months. I rented a house just for that one year so that we could adopt Ramses.
It is funny how he went from a stoic, friendly but aloof German Shepherd to a joyful, frolicky one. The transformation started on the day I decided I was going to adopt him. It was like he knew he would be out of that big cage soon.
Ramses came home, on 4th October 2010.
When you adopt a grown dog, it is like a lottery ticket. You have no clue what you are bringing home.
Gigi Graves, the founder of OPP, had observed him. She told me that he could easily have the run of the house. He did not seem destructive and did not have to be in a crate.
But even we were not prepared at how perfect he turned out to be. That was winning the canine lottery for sure.
Ramses was immediately at home. Like all German Shepherds, he went and checked out every corner of the new space. And then happily sat down just outside of my bedroom on a makeshift bed. I had abruptly brought him home just as I had moved in, and his bed was still being custom made.
For the next 9 and a half years we were the royal entourage to the handsomest, most regal GSD. His demeanor was such that we started calling him HRH (His Royal Highness) Ramses.
We renamed him Ramses after the great Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses the Second. Most GSDs live to about 8 years or 10. The well-kept ones to may live to be 12 to 14. He was already considered a senior at age 6 when we got him.
My belief was that if we gave him a long-lived Pharaoh’s name he would also live a long life. A raw food diet, a stress-free home, exercise and pranic healing helped a lot as well!
At a time in ancient Egypt when men died around 40, Ramses II lived up to 90.
Our Ramses taught us so much about living in the moment, about gratitude, about forgiveness and selflessness.
He was a spoiled baby at home and acted like one. But outside he was a fierce protector.
For a dog who was the favorite of kids at OPP, he would not allow even a five-year-old near us when we were out on a walk.
He had an invisible four feet circle drawn around us. And NO ONE was allowed to enter that.
It was a lesson that he taught us as well. The wisdom of creating boundaries.
He was funny, silly, and loving but always in a very classy way.
It is interesting that all the most important males in my life have the exact same qualities. Superior intelligence, quiet dignity, and under stated elegance.
Ramses was no different. He never gobbled his food, never slobbered, or jumped on people.
He did not drop a single drop while drinking water .
Many German Shepherd owners told me they had never seen a German Shepherd like him. That he was more human, like some great being who had come down to earth as a dog just because I wanted one.
Someday I will author a book on him.
Ramses left this world just the same way he came into our lives – with a quiet dignity. He was sick only for thirty minutes and left peacefully 2 years ago on December 13th, with the Mahamrituanjaya Mantra playing in the room. He lay next to us as he departed.
I was told it was a very powerful day with auspicious stars aligning.
I guess not for us.
He has left a deep hole in our hearts as most divine canines do. But I am so grateful he did not suffer.
We are grateful we had him for as long as we did.
We are grateful we have two beautiful new rescue dogs in our lives since December 5th, 2021. But also, glad they are not GSDs, even though we came very close to adopting one.
Ramses was meant to be the lone incomparable one in our lives.
It is bittersweet that he appears in our dreams, giving us obvious signs he is still around us.
As is the case with all our lost loved ones, I wish I could reach out and hug him again. I wish I could feel his cold nose nudging us to get up and give him his breakfast.
I miss just lying next to him in peaceful silence, pressed against his calm, large, silky, heavily muscular body in silent communion, feeling my stress melt.
I am grateful to have had him for as long as we did. I just wish it were forever.