Sanskrit Dog Names

In Dharamsala, there is canine recovery center known as Peepal Farm. Rachelle Hanson, a student of environmental science from Seattle, Washington volunteered for a three-month exchange program that provided food and accommodations in exchange for her help. At the rescue center, Hanson met a small one-month-old puppy she named Tiny (translated into Sanskrit as Laghu). Little Tiny had been rescued from the streets of a town in the Himalayas. He was awaiting adoption when Hanson was at the facility. 

At the end of Hanson's stay, she considered taking Tiny back to the USA with her, but she knew that there were many homeless dogs in the United States, so she decided not to go forward with the adoption. However, once back home, Hanson continued to think of Tiny and look at photos of the dog on Facebook. She even created a Facebook page for the dog in the hopes that someone would adopt him. Unfortunately, no one came forward to take Tiny, so Hanson decided to follow her heart and have Tiny flown into Seattle. In addition to bringing Tiny to the USA, she also brought another stray who had suffered severe injuries after being hit by a car. The stray, known as Poppet, had been recovering at Peepal Farm. 

On the flight was another stray, called Inde, who was flown to nearby Canada from Peepal Farms. Inde was a street dog who was adopted by Canadian, Olivia Craven. Once homeless,  Inde is now living the good life in her Canadian home, and Craven says the pooch loves the snow and snowshoeing with her new family. 

Tiny and Poppet are both happy in Seattle with Hanson. To date, over 200 strays have left India in the last three years for life abroad. A Delhi-based veterinarian named Premlata Choudhary says, “There are many dog lovers in the world who go to great lengths to adopt stray dogs, including those that are disabled, blind and incontinent, from India." Inde, Tiny, and Poppet are both success stories of Indian dogs who have found wonderful homes far from home.