ohmidog!

It started with a chicken sandwich, offered to a stray dog on the streets of Islamabad.

What happened next was recounted in Washington Post piece yesterday by correspondent Pamela Constable, who took the dog into her home and cared for it while reporting from Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“I almost missed her at first, a small dusty dog curled up under a taxi in a crowded airport. But when I whistled, she poked her head out and looked up with a faintly hopeful expression. She had a slender face and huge brown eyes, like a doe …

“I bought her a chicken sandwich near the taxi stand and watched her gulp it down. As I started to walk away, pushing a trolley full of luggage, she raced after me and clung to my legs like a child. It was an act of rash, desperate trust I could not bear to reject.

“And so this tiny, graceful creature came out of the void and into my life. Within a few days we were inseparable. She was a slim white-and-brown hound, perhaps 2 years old. I named her Ahu, which means “deer” in Afghan Dari.

“I had rescued other dogs in other foreign lands, but Ahu seemed more like a long-lost friend. She was grateful for a bath and unfazed by a trip to the vet. When I came in the gate of my rented home, she leapt up and pirouetted for joy. When I worked at my desk, she rested her muzzle on my lap. When I went to bed, she curled up nearby.”

While Constable was off an an assignment, though, Ahu escaped, and her new owner would get to see a whole other side of the city as she tried to find her.

We’re not going to give the ending away, but you can find the full story here.

(Photo by Pamela Constable/Courtesy of  The Washington Post)