India, July 15 -- By Dr. R. Balasubramaniam

There is a peculiar arrangement in my neighbour's home that everyone there calls dog ownership. They believe they own a dog. The dog, a portly fellow named Bruno, believes something quite different and on the evidence, I would say the dog is the better judge.

Bruno arrived as a small bundle and within a fortnight had completed his survey of the household. He identified the softest member, the firmest member and the one who could be moved with a single tilt of the head. He learned that a sigh at the dinner table produced biscuits, that a mournful look at the door produced a walk and that lying down in the exact centre of the drawing room produced a family that tiptoed around him as though he we...