Homeless in Vancouver: This dog still dreams of summer in Iran

Shab the dog is neither mad nor English (“Shab” being short for however one says “nightlight” in Farsi—possibly Shab nouri) but all the same she loves to go out in the midday sun. She particularly loves to just lay on the sidewalk and soak up the blazing heat.

That was exactly how I found her Wednesday afternoon—blissfully sunbathing on the hot pavement; so hot to the touch herself, that she might’ve been a black cast-iron stove, while the fellow who was ostensibly taking her for a walk, was happy just watching her while he cooled his heels in the shadow of a fence.

“Nightlight” just loves her sunlight

That fellow’s name was Steve and if he clearly wasn’t the boss of Shab, he also wasn’t her owner; his friend was. Steve was only taking Shab for a walk.

But he knew her ways and her history. He explained that Shab was a rescued Iranian street dog that has been living in Canada for perhaps five years now.

When she was six months old and living in the streets of Tehran, Shab was hit by a car and very seriously injured.

However it happened, an animal rescue group brought her here to Canada, where she received medical care and a new start at life.

But just because Shab now has a loving home and a better life in Canada doesn’t mean that she forgets where she grew up. She will always remember the car that hit her when she was young and permanently crippled her back right leg and, apparently, she will always miss the heat of an Iranian summer.

In case you’re wondering, this week in Tehran the high temperature is a perfectly normal 36° to 38° Celsius; meaning that as hot as Wednesday’s high of 26° Celsius in Vancouver may have felt for some of us, it was still about 10° cooler than Shab would’ve liked it!