At the IAdopt pet adoption event held recently in Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai, nearly 25 Indie dogs and cats were adopted by Chennai residents. More importantly, say organizers, for the first time, they didn’t face superficial inquiries as much as before such as, “Do you have a golden retriever?” or “Can I get a white, fluffy kitten?”Kowmari Krithika, founder of IAdopt, says this wasn’t the case in 2017 when she started rescuing animals. “It was hard to convince people to consider an Indie breed.”Rescuers say love for Indies caught on during the pandemic. “People started feeding street dogs as restaurants and shops were closed. Most were people who had never done it before,” says veterinarian Dr Lakshmikripa Jagannathan. “A kind of attachment to street dogs developed and slowly grew,” she says, adding that many not only adopted Indie puppies but got passports for them and took them with them when they moved abroad. “In 2020, we got 385 Indian puppies and kittens adopted,” says Krithika. IAdopt has held adoption events every few months since then. “It’s easier to get the puppies adopted now,” she says.“Ten years ago, I would be able to get 20 dogs adopted a year. Now, it’s 120,” says Shravan Krishnan, founder, Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary. “Organizations and celebrities have been consistently spreading awareness about the abandonment of dogs and the need to adopt Indies.”“Even when parents are still set on pedigree dogs, their children, who likely come across awareness posts online, encourage them to adopt an Indie,” says Krithika. Often, a family would have bought or been gifted a foreign breed and would take in an Indie as a second dog, saying they were unaware earlier.There was a time when celebrities showed off their pets’ pedigrees; the more exotic and expensive the dog, the better. But not anymore. On the contrary, an Indian dog is now a status symbol, an indication that you have adopted rather than shopped, are in tune with the times, and have done your bit to help the street dog issue.In the past decade, celebrities including John Abraham, Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, and, closer to home, Trisha, Vishal and Chinmayi have shown, by example, how Indian dogs make excellent pets. And the efforts seem to be paying off. Take a walk through affluent neighbourhoods in Chennai, and you would notice a good number of Indies being walked, unthinkable and even considered embarrassing once upon a time.Many of her clients, says Dr Lakshmikripa, have started taking home the street dogs they feed, fearing that the Greater Chennai Corporation might remove them. “Over the years, there has been a definite rise in our Indie dog patients, which means more people are keeping them as pets,” she says.Awareness through social media is not just about the benefits of Indian breeds, but also about the cruelty in the breeding industry and the need to adopt, not shop, says the founder. “People are now aware that female puppies are as adoptable as males, sterilization is a must and that dogs and cats must be fed species-appropriate food.” With increased awareness, people today are also ready to adopt specially abled pets. For instance, the adoption drive featured dogs and cats that were lacking limbs and eyes due to accidents, yet they were readily adopted. “Also, once they adopt an Indian dog, they view all street dogs in a more positive light.”The image of the Indian dog has risen for several reasons, says Chinny Krishna, founder of Blue Cross of India. “People have begun to realize that the Indie dog gives you the same kind of affection as a pedigree, with other advantages – lower medical fees from potential defects of inbreeding among so-called pedigree dogs due to a limited gene pool. Almost every golden retriever, for example, suffers from hip dysplasia, besides other congenital problems.”Blue Cross has been conducting ‘The Great Indian Dog Show’ in major cities for several years now, and it’s popular. “We use Indie dogs as therapy dogs for children on the spectrum as part of a doctor dog programme,” he adds.However, there’s a long way to go. At the All-Breeds Championship Dog Shows by the Madras Canine Club, Indie dogs were allowed in the obedience shows but not in the other competitive categories. The reason, says Siddhartha Sudarsan, secretary, is that the show falls under the Kennel Club of India, which is under FCI (Fédération Cynologique Internationale), an international canine organization that doesn’t recognize the Indian pariah dog. Few attempted to enrol their Indies in the obedience shows either. “We do have an Indian breed specialty show, exclusively for indigenous breeds such as chippiparai and Rajapalayam, and in that category, the participation has increased exponentially in the past few years,” he says. The canine club included a category to showcase Indian indigenous breeds and raise awareness among judges from other countries and it is also trying to include the Indian pariah breed in FCI’s recognized breed categories.However, taking in a dog of an indigenous breed is of no service to the cause, as they come from the same kind of puppy mills and breeder environments like any other thoroughbred, says Dr Lakshmikripa.Also, the number of adoptions is still far too low to have a significant impact on the street dog issue, says Shravan. “Firstly, adult street dogs find it difficult to be constrained after years of freedom, and are rarely adopted either. But more people are ready to give abandoned pedigree dogs a second home. That itself is a win.”The real solution to the street dog problem, says Shravan, is to do everything in parallel: adopt pups, do animal birth control (ABC), and move aggressive dogs into shelters. “ABC should be done scientifically, systematically. We would not have been in this mess if it had been done properly. Only dogs with a history of biting or chasing need to be moved to a shelter. As of now, only the friendly ones, which are easier to catch, will be caught,” he says.
