How to Make a Home, by Laika Lapushka

Laika was not found, at least not by us. She chose us and created the exact life that she wanted. This is a story of the might of a 5-month old rescue puppy, who over the course of 5 years, changed the lives of a few humans and brought us all home. 

I didn’t want a dog, I never had a dog, why would I want a dog when living was hard enough. 

Sometime in 2020, my partner MV decided he would like to have a dog. Why, we will never know. 

After this, we did go see about a dog, a black labrador puppy who was being given up, because the humans were moving. During that first and only meeting, I stood around pretending that this dog could be our dog. I knew that this was maybe MV’s dog, but not mine. Turns out, that dog was neither of ours and was relocated out of the city before we could decide. I had sidestepped a bullet and protected my independence and how-I-live, or so I thought.

Till this one text, months later, shot me down.

Our dear friend AD, had been following the adoption journey of this one puppy with big ears, a suspected Indie Spitz called Luna, who was supposedly super smart, knew her commands, was seen playing with a kitten while doing a boss-level head tilt in another video, who was bumped around from foster to foster home (6 or 7 fosters we were told) over 3-4 months. Her adoption enquiries stalled, because some didn’t like her black-ness, some didn’t like her indie-ness, some didn’t like her girl-ness. 

Something about this Luna spoke to AD in a way that she texted me, with a link to the adoption post to send it to MV and she ended the text with “Sorry to be doing this but I have very strong feels for this one”, followed by “tell him she will bring him the most happiness in life”. I texted back “Maybe with her, the house will follow”. This was possibly going to be MV’s dog, yet I made the video of the house tour for RockBottomAdoptions and included something to the effect of “we cannot wait to have you home”. I think what I manifested with those words was a home. That’s exactly what AD gave me through this dog and yes, Laika does bring MV the most happiness in his life. Every day. 

We had already decided that we would call her Laika Lapushka (Lapushka, Russian for sweetheart) before we met her and that she would be my friend Sputnik Sweetheart’s best friend (my “stuffed toy”, Sputnik). The rescuer had told me she liked to chew on stuffies, that she was teething, and I was in mortal fear of that happening. None of that ever happened. 

Why we thought to rename this one-month long foster dog with a carefully considered name and a full back story, we do not know. We had Lai’s own IG account ready that MV was going to control and still does, and her first post went up the same evening she came home. Introducing her to the world as "Laika Lapushka". 

Consciously it felt like we had made a very logical, astute and wise decision, one month and done and that maybe she will get adopted after her stay with us. We however went on to buy enough supplies to last years, in anticipation of her arrival. Subconsciously, the words and the actions of the two otherwise smart humans were not matching.

She came to us on a August afternoon: a five month-old with patches of hair missing, skinny but confident, ears akimbo, eyes intelligent, riding in the backseat of a Mercedes E class with a trunk overflowing with toys and all her belongings from her previous foster families who had clearly loved her, but couldn’t keep her. What we know now is that she had decided to wait, for this moment, for her family. Because she is not someone you can pass up. Not 7 times. Not even by strangers on the road even a single time, without stopping for a pat. 

I was the designated Supportive Spare. But when the car door opened and this very little Laika, with very big ears, almond eyes and a curled rat tail, jumped out, her previous foster handed me her leash, instead of giving it to MV. 

Handed. Me. The. Leash. Of. This. New. Life. I. Thought. Wasn’t. For. Me.

Now of course, I have never walked a dog (reading about dog walking does not count). Lai wasn’t unsure, nor did she have any anxious energy and walked right next to me. She didn’t pull on her leash or lead me. There was no tension on the leash, but I could tell which way she wanted to go. Something was happening here. I was already learning.

 

 I have said this many times to people, that if Lai accepted the bed setup we had done for her, I would also somehow figure this dog-sphere out.

In my opinion, both bed and food should be of the highest care, of exceptional beauty and only then everything else somehow feels better. She fell asleep on that bed a few hours later and I figured it out.

 

Lai had walked into the house with a quiet confidence, rat tail sailing high, no fear, both eyes and ears were curious. She surveyed her land and belongings and her people, and decided something- that this will do for now. It’s not the size of the home, but the heart. It’s never the size of the dog I realised with her, it’s the size of the brave and brave she has in plenty. I am the same. 

Within 3 days, we told RockBottomAdoptions to take down her adoption post. The same day, Laika Lapshka’s adoption papers were signed by MV as her human. A decision I regret to this day and have tried to correct by registering my name at the vet clinic. 

The reason we named her Laika was to rewrite the story of the first dog in space, the street dog from Moscow, who never came back home. Our Lai, the one who will always come home and would never be left behind, changes that. She also brought two people home. 

People say you should never make emotional decisions, certainly not big ones which involve large amounts of money and debt. Our landlord asked to end our lease earlier and wanted ostensibly to move their “relatives” in (thanks to our many Whatsapp wars with RWA uncles who had issues with dogs, tenants with pets, community dogs and humanity in general). The easier more prudent solution was to lease elsewhere, but that might mean more such battles elsewhere and dismantling Lai’s current carefully curated infrastructure.

So we did what Dog-logic demanded: diluted our equity, took on an uncomfortable amount of debt, and co-bought Lai the exact house, on a different floor. Buying real estate in Mumbai was never on our bucket list, we didn’t want to live here long term enough for it. We therefore had to be angry enough to buy a house and the only reason that could make us angry enough to go against all financial wisdom, had to be linked to Lai and her potential displacement. 

The unwritten promise in her naming and rewriting the history of the original space dog who never came home, was now cast in stone. She will always be “Home”. Serendipitously of course, we moved into our new home, on the day of her 2nd adoption anniversary.

I usually take my time to like people. She danced out her personality first and I intuitively responded. The smartest, kindest, most beautiful, funny, and empathetic creature I know; every dog is, but she is mine. I am awkward to talk about love unless I am talking about my love for her. 

MV was pretty much instantly smitten by Lai (sometimes known as Pai Pai). Well before she arrived, she had him. He loves hard and fast and they settled that very early on between them. They have their own relationship which sometimes feels like siblings, and sometimes like playmates. He once got on his knees between an off leash dog on heat who came to attack Lai, and got bitten on his stomach. Everything should touch him first before it touches her. This is also how I discovered the version of MV I liked more, through Lai.

This is probably where my healing happened, from this fiercely independent person to this bonded pair with linked identities which now can never be separated. Sometimes you should let a dog, you didn’t think you want or need, come to stay in the middle of a raging pandemic. Maybe, just for a month. 

We have known each other for 5 years. She has turned me from dog-illiterate to completely dog fluent.

I do not enjoy small talk but my favourite conversations now are with the dog people I meet on my walks with Lai.

My favourite community of people are somehow linked to dogs. I am writing this story here because of one such connection.

People have mentors and guides in other humans, we have a North Star in this Indie-Border Collie mix and everything Good in this world is somehow linked to her, directly or indirectly. That much we know for certain. 

When you bring home a dog, you don’t just make space for one dog. You make space for the whole community in your mind and she has also taught us to pay it forward. We turned into feeders, rescuers, fosters, activists, lawyers, fund raisers, advisors, designers, artists, experts on poop colour, grade and quality, food nutrition, not all at once of course, but we are certainly there now.

3 years ago, a tiny puppy from Ranikhet came on the train, in a basket, to our friend AD. Another picky eater, anxious about fireworks, a pahadi indie with the same tri-colouring as Lai. Penny is the perfect Louise to Laika’s Thelma. She was the sibling that Lai was waiting for, the one she had chosen and who Penny chose back immediately, from the very first moment they met. Lai has this special head tilt now that she only does for the name “Penny”. For Penny, if her parents need her to do something she doesn’t want to (like climb into a car), they yell out “Laika”. 

 So this is how the story goes. Like ♾️, it loops and curves and dips but joins together. It connects, it bridges, there is no beginning and no end, there are blind turns and hairpin loops. Nothing makes sense at first, and yet like any good jigsaw, once you step back and look, it’s the only thing that does make sense, cosmically, just like her name, Laika. 

Sidebar please: 



Laika is currently running a fundraiser for her 5th Gotcha Day from August 20th to August 31st, 2026, with all proceeds going to feed the dogs of Madh via @dogsofversova and to support the rescue, TNR, and feeding of community cats via @crispycrunchycutlets. 

Full details and updates are available on the Instagram pages @pawffles, @laika_lapushka, @dogsofversova and @crispycrunchycutlets.