Indian Pie dogs' have their day

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090831/jsp/frontpage/story_11430397.jsp

Desi dog has his day, with an ‘Om’

- Pat for the unusual pet

G.C. SHEKHAR

 

Chennai, Aug. 30: There were only two conditions to participate in this dog

show: your pet should be non-pedigreed and on a leash.

 

The unwritten rules were many, though. You should love them, and not care if

they were undisciplined or stopped by to pee on a potted plant before walking up

to the judges.

 

In its 25th year, Chennai’s very own and probably India’s only dog show for

mongrels and cross-breeds on Sunday proved a barking hit.

 

The prizes were not for behaviour or breeding but for other loveable attributes,

like having the curliest tail or wagging the tail the most, or the great

survivor, or the lickiest tongue.

 

Lineage, grooming and kennel registration did not count. It’s perfectly okay and

even welcome if like Dusty, your dog too had been rescued from a shoebox left on

the road.

 

Take the arthritic Whoopie, for example. She could still walk with a proud strut

and when the owner asked her to say “Om”, she yawned producing exactly that

sound.

 

The loudest cheers were reserved for Dusty, a seven-year-old brown mongrel, for

being the hardiest survivor.

 

“We rescued him from the street as a pup after he had lost his right eye in a

road accident. Because of the handicap, he met with one more accident and barely

survived, disfiguring his jaw. And yet he has proved a hardy guy and survives

mostly on love and fresh air,” declared Dusty’s owner Anjali Bhatia.

 

Even Chennai’s Airport Authority of India sent its candidate, the sprightly and

well-trained Asha, discovered by the railway tracks but adopted by AAI officials

and trained to be a sniffer dog.

 

“It’s a misconception that non-pedigree dogs cannot be trained or imparted

special skills,” said R. Sivashankar, a vet. “This is probably the only dog show

where the owners will ask each other from which street they had picked up their

dog,” said Chinni Krishna, chairman of animal welfare charity Blue Cross, which

conducts the show.

 

“Although we have nothing against the foreign breeds, the sense of pride in

owning and loving Indian dogs is what gets recognised in our Well Dog Show. That

this is our 25th edition is proof that our people are proud to own the mongrels

and display them.”

 

Admitting that the judges’ verdicts were purely subjective, Krishna explained

that the idea was not to win but to participate and probably inspire others to

adopt a stray mongrel. This edition of the dog show was unique since 30 of the

80 entries were done through Twitter and Facebook.

 

“Now that our dog show is known in the cyber world, we expect the next edition

to be even more crowded,” hoped Narayan Hariharan, a marketing consultant in the

blogging sector who has among the highest Twitter followings in India.

 

By the time the prizes were announced, the 20-odd cute mongrel pups kept in

baskets by Blue Cross had been adopted by kids who pleaded, cajoled or threw

tantrums to get their reluctant parents to take them home. So they will be back

next year as participants.

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Man’s best friend

A little hope for stray dogs. The Foundation for Animal Welfare and

Environmental Studies inaugurated an animal shelter and clinic at Hariharpur,

Khas Mallik (South 24- Parganas) on August 12. “Currently we are taking care of

six dogs and we plan to start mobile camps soon in nearby areas,” says Bonani

Ghosh, the commissioner of income tax and a trustee member. Outdoor facilities

are already available at the clinic.

 

Two days later, a discussion was held at the Indian Council for Cultural

Research. Green activist Subhash Dutta stressed how everyone has to make daily

life more environment-friendly. Filmmaker Sekhar Das spoke of the stray dog Kalu

in his locality who with his friends keeps the area clean by eating roadside

leftovers and guards the area.

Saugata Roy, the minister of state for urban development, said strays that bite

humans and cause rabies should alert us to the poverty of the people who cannot

afford anti-rabies injections.

Hence while animals are important so are human lives. This was met with some

resistance from dog lovers who claimed many rodents cause more dangerous

diseases.

A short film, Life on the Street, was screened. There are plans to open a

crematorium in the city if land is available.

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A dogged pursuit

 

Neeta Bavdekar cares for 60 abandoned dogs in her small flat

 

Niharika Mandhana

Posted On Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 06:03:30 PM

 

“It’s a doggone life, but a blessed one!” exclaims Neeta Bavdekar with a chortle

and a twinkle in her eyes. Given that the backdrop of our conversation is her

house in Jalahalli West, which doubles as a shelter for nearly 60 abandoned and

battered dogs. Manoeuvring through the shelter can be an overwhelming experience

- the entrance is flanked by numerous cage-like kennels; the alley leading to

the staircase is pinched to a narrow walkway by kennels that occupy an entire

wall; the washing area is crowded with tiny baskets wobbling with the restless

energy of the puppies inside; the stairway is lined all the way to the top by

dogs leashed to the railings; all other spaces look as though tiled with dogs.

 

THE STARK REALITY

“If I had my way, there wouldn’t be so many of them here,” confesses Neeta, as

she extricates an adorable brown ball of fur from a basket to replace the soiled

newspaper bed. But when she walks out of her house to stumble on a puppy wrapped

in a gunny bag, she can’t get herself to leave it to its own devices on the

streets where she knows its chances of survival are poor. In fact, owing to the

stories of her shelter being well known in the neighbourhood, most of its

inmates are dogs that were surreptitiously abandoned at her doorstep — dogs

whose owners preferred to dump them rather than cure their minor ailments, who

were seen as a nuisance once they grew out of the puppy phase, who were seen

strolling dangerously on the road and brought in by well-meaning boys, who were

rescued from cruel owners or from accident spots.

 

“People see dogs as a dispensable commodity. At first, they find them lovable.

After a while, they consider them a headache and dump them in a dustbin or

gutter. Many leave them outside my house because they know I will take care of

them,” says Neeta, being privy to stories of dog abuse like few others.

 

Petting Ramu, she narrates the incident of the lady who came to her pleading to

take in Ramu who was regularly beaten up by her sons. “While I was trying to

convince her that I was strapped for resources, Ramu got on his hind legs and

put his arms around my neck. He made the decision!” she says.

 

THE DEVOTION

Neeta’s passion for dog-care began eight years ago when she took into her home a

litter of puppies lying forlorn in the gutter outside her house, the rain

beating down on them. Little did she know that years later, her B Sc. degree and

MA in literature would, as she says in jest, have gone to the dogs! Her days go

by in a swirl of cooking for her dogs, feeding them and tending to their medical

needs, rushing them to hospitals when they fall ill and cleaning their mess. Her

nights, till 5 am, are devoted to walking them and allowing them to play in the

open before people start coming out of their houses.

 

THE STRUGGLE

Neeta contributes the little money she makes on the stock market for the upkeep

of her dogs and has a small support system of donors who contribute in cash and

kind, benevolent veterinarians who assist her free of cost and sometimes

compassionate street vendors who provide her with eggs, coconuts and fruits at

subsidised rates. Here is a lady who, despite a severe financial crunch, cares

for dogs who have been discarded by society. She is doing everything in her

power, at the cost of her own meals sometimes, to take care of them, say donors

Jyothirmayee, Roland Gokuldas and Abhishek Nayak.

 

Pointing to the pictures of her dogs taken during their fit and healthy days,

Neeta recollects how, about a year ago, she could give them three full meals a

day and tend to all their medical needs. However, all her resources as they are

stacked up today are just about enough to provide for only one solid meal per

dog per day, she laments, explaining their emaciated structures, failing health

and desperate cries when she brings out a packet of buns.

 

She has found herself running to veterinary hospitals all the way in Vijaynagar,

RT Nagar and Hebbal, sometimes spending upto Rs 7,000 a month on rickshaw fares,

to attend to life threatening emergencies and requirements for drips,

vaccinations, sterilisations and medicines.

 

THE EARNEST APPEAL

“If 365 people from among the teeming millions donate 500 rupees a month, I will

be able to provide enough for these dogs,” says Neeta. She wants to treat Savali

and Sunny’s scabies, provide her dogs with at least one more meal a day so that

they are not dangerously malnourished, build more kennels on the terrace so that

the dogs can move around and get sunlight, hire help to clean the house she

describes as a kabadkhana.

 

Neeta is in dire need of donors who can contribute in cash or kind. Kindly

contact her on 28379156 to offer support.

 

Thank you for your compassion !

With best regards,

Debasis Chakrabarti

Compassionate Crusaders Trust

http://www.animalcrusaders.org