Category: Article

While more people fear snakes or spiders, with dogs everywhere, Cynophobia makes everyday public life a constant challenge

As a canine companion for 12 years now, I meet a lot of people who love dogs. I also met a few people who don’t. One such encounter happened recently just outside the side gate of our gated community. As I walked Bullet on the sidewalk one morning, we came upon a young woman in a purple robe walking briskly and listening to music on her headphones. I assumed she was on her way home from the main gate on the other side. It was one of those rare days when I didn’t have Bullet on his leash, and for whatever reason he found the woman worthy of further inspection. He galloped toward her, his head held high. The woman didn’t see or hear Bullet approaching, and he made it all the way to her side before she let out a horrified shriek.
“Get that dog away from me!” she screamed, pivoting stiffly to locate me, the irresponsible dog owner. I called Bullet back and apologized profusely. “I’m so sorry,” I said, as she fumbled to remove her headphones. “He’s friendly and just wanted to say hello.”
“You need to learn to control your dog,” she said, wagging her finger at me. “Dogs bite.”
“Bullet doesn’t bite,” I assured her. “He might lick you to death. But he doesn’t bite.”
She shook her head dismissively. “All dogs bite.”
I wondered if she really believed that. After all, Bullet hadn’t bitten her—even as she’d screamed and nearly fell on top of him. He’d simply backed away, his head down and his tail between his legs. As the woman walked off in a huff, I was sorry that we’d met this way. I would have liked to have a chance to speak with her about her cynophobia—her fear of dogs. Those who study animal phobias have found that while more people are afraid of spiders or snakes than dogs, living with cynophobia is considerably more challenging—especially today, as dog-wielding humans appropriate more and more public places. When I’d spoken to friends (and friends of friends) about living with a fear of dogs, they described a debilitating phobia that affects where they go and who they see. “For the longest time, I would never go to the park because I might come in contact with a dog there,” Nisha, a school teacher, told me. “I’d question everywhere I was invited. If there were a chance I’d meet a dog, I wouldn’t leave the house.” Nisha decided to face her fear only when she noticed her daughter mirroring it. “I didn’t want her to have to live like that,” she said. Nisha and her husband decided to get a puppy, and though Nisha initially kept her distance, she warmed up to the dog after a week or two. Today, she’s much less fearful when she sees a dog in public. “But I’ll still never be a dog person,” she told me. Like many women who suffer from cynophobia (men are considerably less likely to be afraid of dogs), Nisha can point to an early traumatic incident. When she was five, she fell and skinned her knees as a big dog chased her down a sidewalk. I heard similar chasing stories from others. Rahul Chaudhary, a law student, said a neighbour’s German Shepherd followed him for several blocks while he jogged as a young teenager. “But little dogs scare me now, too,” he said. “They can creep up on you and then start barking their heads off. You have no idea if they’re going to bite you or hump your leg!” Meghna, an Economics grad, who recently got her first job with an MNC, says, “Most people just tell me to get over it, as if it’s that easy.” She hates when coworkers bring their dogs to work. “No one bothers to ask if anyone’s bothered by it.”

 

How Does the Phobia Begin? Both children and dogs are naturally curious, and you may have been jumped on by an overexcited puppy or growled at by a large watchdog as you approached a fence. A large dog can make a major impression on a small child, even if no actual attack occurred. The negative experience need not have affected you directly. Many parents warn children about approaching strange dogs. A child’s fertile imagination combined with an incomplete or even erroneous understanding of dog behaviour could lead to a full-blown phobia of dogs. Or, even if you weren’t the victim of an unpleasant encounter yourself, you may have seen someone else being chased or bitten. If the person was physically hurt, and if he/she is a close friend or relative, you’re even more likely to develop a fear of dogs. Last of all, you may have acquired your fear of dogs indirectly—possibly from a parent with cynophobia, or from the media. A theory devised by evolutionary psychologists holds that a fear of dogs gradually evolved as a survival mechanism many years ago. It would have been useful, in the days when hungry wild predators roamed, to be afraid of dogs and to get out of their way! As with many other anxiety disorders, a person may have a genetic predisposition to developing a phobia such as cynophobia. But genetics do not necessarily mean that you will develop it. Your environment and experience can have a great influence on whether you develop a phobia or not. If you’re not sure if you have cynophobia or you simply don’t prefer dogs, ask yourself whether you go out of your way to avoid dogs whenever you can. Does the perceived need to keep dogs out of your life interfere with your daily functioning? Do you feel like you are having a panic attack when you see a dog? Do you recognize that your fear of dogs is not only excessive but also unrealistic? You may have cynophobia. The fear may begin with a German Shepherd or a Rottweiler, or something that is stereotypically trained to be vicious. But if you’re conditioned to think they’re dangerous, that fear gets generalized to, say, Pomeranians and Lhasa Apsos.
The symptoms: Like all phobias, the fear of dogs can vary dramatically in severity from person to person. You might fear only large breeds. Some individuals will start to have symptoms even when they are just thinking about potential contact with a dog, while the symptoms in another person begin only when the person is exposed directly to a dog. Typically, a person with cynophobia begins to experience significant dread, anxiety, and worry at the thought of being exposed to a dog. They will try to avoid any situation in which they might be around a dog. Common reactions include running away, freezing in terror, and attempting to hide. You might shake, feel nauseated or disoriented, or even begin to cry. Anticipatory anxiety frequently occurs in the days leading up to a known confrontation.

How to overcome the fear: Because dogs are so popular as pets and companions, avoiding them can be nearly impossible. You might find yourself limiting contact with dog owners, even to the point of avoiding family gatherings. One way to minimize the risk of developing cynophobia is to interact with a dog as soon as possible after a personal or witnessed negative encounter with a dog. If you have a friend, loved one, or neighbour who has a well-behaved dog, ask if you or your loved one who has a fear of dogs might spend some time with him. Educate yourself. Read all you can about dogs. Just learning how rare it is to be bitten by a dog may be comforting, the same way it can be comforting to know how unlikely it is that something bad will happen to your airplane when flying. Also, try to get help. Share with your loved ones that you have an irrational fear of dogs. And ask your health care provider for the name of a therapist who treats phobias and who could help you overcome cynophobia. Recognizing your fear, discussing it with others, and seeking help will allow you to overcome your phobia.

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After more than 16 years of campaigning for animal rights, PETA India CEO exhorts everyone to turn vegetarian, says Stephen John

If you think a purebred puppy from a fancy pet store is a better bet than the desi, think again. Dr Manilal Valliyate, CEO, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), says, “Pedigree dogs sold in pet shops are typically deprived of proper veterinary care, adequate food, exercise, love and socialisation. Since they are bred for certain exaggerated physical traits such as long ears or drooping backs, many foreign breeds of dogs, including Boxers, German Shepherds and Pugs suffer from abnormally high rates of genetic and hereditary diseases.” Dr Valliyate says common health ailments found in purebred dogs include breathing problems, cancer, heart disease, bleeding disorders, skeletal malformation and eye problems. “In contrast, mixed-breed and Indian community dogs, including those whose lives are at risk living on the streets and those languishing in shelters are healthier and more robust than their purebred cousins,” he informs. As PETA India’s CEO, Dr Valliyate says he wants to build a more compassionate society that holds traditional Indian values of kindness to animals dear. “India has a long and strong history of revering animals that must be guarded against callous interests,” he says. “Protecting animals also means protecting human society, because psychologists and law-enforcement experts recognise that people who are cruel to animals are often violent towards their fellow humans.” Dr Valliyate quotes Article 51A(g) of the Constitution of India that makes it the mandate of every Indian citizen to have compassion for animals. “To stand for kindness is patriotic, to stand for cruelty is un-Indian. PETA India serves animals in respect of our country’s Constitutional mandate, its laws and its Supreme Court.” He says PETA India’s staff with the help of their volunteers, members and supporters has brought about countless victories for animals since our inception in 2000. ““We have helped to bring about a ban on the testing of cosmetics and their ingredients on animals as well as a ban on the import of cosmetics tested on animals,” he informs, adding, “We have released several undercover exposés of what happens to animals in the meat, egg, dairy and leather industries resulting in countless individuals deciding to eat and wear vegan. We have even got our humane education programme – Compassionate Citizen – endorsed and used by Central Board of Secondary Education and numerous state schools.” Dr Valliyate has chalked up some of the organisation’s greatest victories. This includes getting the live embalming of calves banned in veterinary education; encouraging the central Department of Animal Husbandry to issue a circular to animal husbandry directors in all states and union territories stating that cattle must be given anaesthetics prior to castration; stopping illegal bullock cart races, in which the animals are commonly hit with nail-studded sticks; replacing the bullocks who hauled heavy kerosene oil carts through Mumbai streets with motorised transport; rescuing several once-chained elephants from lives of loneliness in temples; removing numerous lame and injured horses from the abusive Victoria carriage trade; and much more. His expert testimony and reports have helped PETA India win numerous court cases that have helped prevent suffering to animals nation-wide, including the landmark 2014 Supreme Court judgment that banned jallikattu (later permitted in Tamil Nadu, which PETA India is committed to challenging in court), bullock cart races, and other uses of bulls in performances. Dr Valliyate lives and advocates a vegan lifestyle and started his career as a teaching assistant at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Kerala, and later worked as a veterinary surgeon for the Kerala State Animal Husbandry Department. He also worked as manager of veterinary services at Brooke Hospital for Animals, a leading welfare charity helping working equines, before joining PETA India.

When asked about their goals in 2018, Dr Valliyate presents some startling statistics about increased meat and dairy consumption that is plaguing animals like never before. “One of our biggest goals is to help individuals make the transition to turning vegan for the animals, their own health, and the health of the planet,” he says. “Globally, humans are consuming more than seven times the amount of meat that was eaten in 1950. In the ten years between 2003 and 2013, meat consumption has more than doubled in India. Some 77 billion land animals are farmed a year—more than ten times than the number of humans there are on the planet, most of them in intensive factory farming systems which deny them their natural behaviours—and trillions of fish are killed. And these numbers keep rising. In India alone, an estimated one million chickens are killed to be eaten every four hours.” Dr Valliyate says, “India now tops the charts in many diet-related ailments. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in India while stroke is also a main cause of death and disability in the country. India is also the world leader in diabetes, its cancer rate is out of control, and childhood obesity is at crisis point. Meat, egg and dairy production contributes more greenhouse gasses that exacerbate climate change than all vehicles in the world combined including through the methane emitted from cattle and other ruminant animals used for food.” He says that the production of animal derived foods to meet the world’s growing appetite for them is, in fact, so environmentally disastrous that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations describes animal agriculture as “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems, at every scale from local to global. In comparison to the production of plant-based foods, the production of meat, egg and dairy products is highly inefficient and water, food and land-intensive, the PETA chief maintains. Leather, too, has its own substitute and its fast becoming popular with technology major Tesla offering only vegan leather seats in their vehicles after being informed of the same by PETA, US. “PETA advocates the use of vegan (non-animal) leather made from mushrooms, tea and pineapple leaves. It is also commonly made up of polyurethane. Vegan leather is gaining popularity by businesses and designers around the world,” he says. Among PETA’s various ways of promotion via leaflet distribution, investigation videos and interactive events, the one that truly stands out is the virtual reality (VR) experience titled ‘I, Chicken’. Dr Valliyate explains: “It uses the VR viewers inspired by Google Cardboard to help students see the world through the eyes of a chicken. The goal of “I, Chicken” is to teach students that each chicken is an individual who has interests and needs, feels pain and fear and doesn’t want to die. In the experience, participants, as chickens, roost in a tree, socialise with other chickens and enjoy a dust bath – at least until the truck comes to take them to the slaughterhouse. In just three short minutes, students develop a newfound understanding of our feathered friends.” All said and done, a huge chunk of our population still remain meat-eaters, and this unavoidable deadlock can only be solved by turning vegan as diet, being a personal choice, no longer stays valid when we don’t consider the choices of animals we consume, believes PETA.

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The one thing that dogs and cats have in common is that they are both good for your health and the stroking of both animals reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and induces relaxation, says Maneka Sanjay Gandhi

Reading a book about human behaviour vis-a-vis animals, I came across an interesting comparison between cat and dog owners. It is true that one can make out (at least I can) whether a person is a cat or dog owner and further, whether a person is a large or small dog owner. But until now, I could never rationalize why I knew this. Desmond Morris has finally explained what I used to consider extrasensory perception.

Cat owners have a stronger personality bias towards independent thought and action. The “group loyalty” or “team spirit” phenomenon is missing in both cats and cat owners. Dog owners are much more sociable, much readier to be part of the gang. Company men, team sportsmen, politicians, these are less likely to keep cats. A cat person is more solitary, more peaceful even. Artists and writers like cats, soldiers like dogs.

Again there is a gender bias: cat lovers are more often female.

This Desmond Morris attributes to the division of labour that has evolved through the ages. Prehistoric men became the group hunters. The women stayed at home and reared children or gathered fuel and wood – all solitary exercises. The male, in consequence, developed the pack mentality that dogs have inherited from their ancestors, the wolves. The female remained an independent sort of person. Feline self-sufficiency and individualism versus canine camaraderie and good fellowship.

How about making other generalisations? Are cat people fastidious about cleanliness? Do cat people like “touching” – kissing, hugging, handholding etc – more than dog people? Are cat people less talkative than dog people, or maybe gentler in their talk?

Of course, in reality, there are many people who enjoy both animals. I, quite honestly, find them equally enriching to my life. This is explained as most people having both canine and feline traits in their personalities. We have times when we want to be alone and silent, and others when we wish to be part of a crowd.

The one thing that dogs and cats have in common is that they are both good for your health. There is a great deal of scientific evidence that the stroking of both animals makes the body systems calmer, reduces stress, lowers blood pressure and induces relaxation. Heart patients abroad are recommended pets as therapy, especially after studies on survival rates of patients with heart disease showed that those who kept pets were much more likely to survive and recover than those who didn’t. Both canine and feline therapy has been used in acute mental distress cases with amazingly beneficial results. In fact, animals have been made mandatory visitors by some hospital authorities in Europe and the USA. Similar results have been reported from prisons where the most anti-social repeaters have shown very positive signs of gentleness or a new desire to belong, merely by being given an animal to look after.

For retired people, household animals provide a focus of activity, and a sense of purpose to get through the day. Dogs or cats, both give their owners a psychological lift. Both make them feel wanted and loved – and increase self esteem!

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An inspiring Jayesh Shah opened his heart to a stray puppy, and landed up converting his Mumbai office into a hospital to provide 24/7 medical, surgical care to the homeless dogs and cats, finds out Supriya Bhonsle

There a very few hospitals for animals and birds in Mumbai and the ones that there are generally cater to the rich, or those four-legged whose caretakers can afford to pay. These hospitals don’t take in-patients and send them home for the night only to continue the treatment the next day as the residents in the neighbouring buildings could get disturbed by the wailings of the animals in pain. Recently I got to know of a hospital in an inconspicuous part of the city at Masjid Bunder, which admits the homeless brought in by animal lovers. Three dedicated veterinarians visit the hospital regularly for medical treatments, including surgeries and to prescribe medicines. At least two or three badly injured dogs or cats are admitted to the hospital daily. It can accommodate 40 dogs and an almost equal number of cats in its small, but well designed area. The hospital has an operation theatre, and an outpatient department with all basic facilities. Still, facilities like sonography aren’t there as of now and for that the patients have to be taken to other centres for such detailed investigations. There is an ambulance, too, for picking up injured animals and with a minimal fee. Almost 60% of admissions here are accident cases. The most run over by cars etc., are puppies and kittens. Some die and yet others suffer for the rest of their lives. The person who started this non-profit hospital, Jayesh Shah, is not a veterinarian himself, but a good hearted business man. He converted his office which used to sell air conditioners into a haven for the sick and injured animals. This was the result of an epiphany he felt after the female puppy that he used to feed disappeared one day and he could never find her. He felt helpless and decided to do good to as many animals as he could. The strays that are brought here for treatment are taken back to where they belong after they are fully cured, i.e. back to the streets. The difference between this and other hospitals is that it is not only providing treatment to those who live on the streets, but is also giving shelter to those who can’t go back on the streets. There are some who don’t want to return to the streets and have made it their home. One such case is that of Kaani the cat, who lost one eye to maggot infection. Though she is now fully cured, she stays here. She has become a part of the dog gang and is happily living with them. Some of the puppies are even put up for adoption to get them responsible homes. The animals are also vaccinated and only pet parents of pedigree dogs are charged if they want to avail of this facility. Tasks ahead include sterilization of as many cats and dogs as possible as strays are prey to a lot of hardships on the streets and most lose their lives in the bargain. In spite of all obstacles faced in the creation and execution of this hospital, the work goes on without a pause. All that is needed is more manpower and loads of support from benevolent people. In the near future, Jayesh wants to introduce a proper ventilation system that provides UV- purified air to each cage and creation of space for birds as well.

We encourage all Good Samaritans to help and contribute towards the good cause so that so that maximum number of animals in need could receive medical attention and have the chance to be put in front of families who are looking to adopt a new pet! If you want to support and donate towards the hospital, please contact Jayesh on his mobile: +92 2333 3338.

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The four canine heroes of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai – Sultan, Max, Caesar and Tiger – are no more, but for animal activist Fizzah Shah, whose Virar farm was home to the sniffer dogs, work goes on as usual, says Supriya Bhonsle

“It was the most beautiful experience of my life to have our brave soldiers on my farm. I am fortunate,” says Fizzah Shah, the gutsy animal activist, whose Virar animal farm was home to four 26/11 sniffer dogs before they passed away last year. Shah adopted the four – a first for bomb squad dogs – following months of meticulous paperwork and site visits by the Mumbai Police in June 2015. “I had a lot of running around to do for adoption, but I’m glad that the Mumbai Police was so thorough in their background check,” she says. The hero dogs – Ceasar, Max, Tiger and Sultan – all aged between 11 and 12, had comfortably settled in at the farm before losing their respective battles to old age blues. “They played a key role in the terror attack operations in 2008,” remembers Shah proudly, adding, “They were part of the dog squad that helped the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) detect RDX and other explosives and minimize casualties in the 2008 terror attacks that left more than 160 people dead and 300 injured.” In fact, the four were part of each major investigation of bomb blasts since 2004. This included the 26/11 terror attacks, the 2006 serial blasts as well as the blasts in Zaveri Bazaar. During 26/11, Max recovered 8 kg of RDX on both sides of the Taj. “Before they were moved in here from their Goregaon and LT Marg kennels, we had freshly earthed their homes with a mesh to separate them from other rescued strays and abandoned pets,” informs Shah. “They were given small cubicles of their own, a shed under which they could rest and a thatched shelter too.” Meeting Shah you realise what must have prompted Mumbai Police to agree to her adoption request. She has the aura of a strong person, but soft at heart – someone who has always loved animals and whose objective in life is to take as many needy animals under her care as possible. Shah’s farm in the bustling Virar area of the city homes an ensemble of birds and animals, all of them rescued from various tough life situations, but now living peaceful lives far from harm.

There are some 350 rescued animals at her farm, all of which are diligently cared for, including birds and marine life. “I have so many abandoned dogs under my care and almost all of them have had traumatic lives. They can’t speak, but they express their turmoil through their eyes and behaviour. They have to be comforted and given time to adjust to new surroundings. At my farm, we give them their freedom and love to heal their wounded spirits,” she informs. Though she can’t be at her farm all the time, she is in constant touch with her assistants to discuss with them about the various items needed for the upkeep or the upcoming activities to be organised at the farm. She makes sure all animals and birds are given prompt medical aid and she personally supervises and provides that loving touch to each of them with no discrimination. Every weekend she checks on them and treats her assistants at the farm as her extended family. “They are the ones who tend to the farm and the animals in my absence,” she says.

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Hotel for Dogs founder to set up wildlife rehabilitation centre in Chennai to treat sick, injured and orphaned animals and later release them to their natural habitats

Even as the Chennai dog, Bhadra, whose pictures and video went viral a year ago for being thrown off a rooftop by two MMBS students, still awaits justice, we introduce you to Shravan Krishnan, animal activist and founder of Hotel for Dogs. “How are the two things connected?” you ask. Well! Krishnan, who has been in the forefront of animal cause in Chennai, was also instrumental in Bhadra’s rescue. “When I first spotted Bhadra last year, I thought she wouldn’t make it. But even with the all the injury, she was still wagging her tail. It was hardly a few days after the story went viral and the demand to adopt her was overwhelming.” She’s one year-and-six-month-old now, and after being treated for a year, can walk and run around perfectly. The puppy initially stayed with Krishnan, after it was found that she had spinal injury. “People would stand outside my house hoping to meet Bhadra or take a selfie with her because of how popular she had become,” Krishnan said. “There was a lot of media attention. Every day someone would come to take photographs of Bhadra, so my friend took the dog in his care.” Karthik Dhandapani, a friend of Krishnan and long time Blue Cross volunteer, took the stray under his care, two months after the incident. Soon, he decided to adopt her.

The 35-year-old has never had a pet in his life because his mother was never in favour of keeping one. But Bhadra has worked her charms on both. Krishnan said they received hundreds of adoption requests from all over the world. When the video went viral, Krishnan shared it on his Facebook timeline, offering to pay Rs 10,000 to anyone who could identify the culprits. At the same time, independent animal activist Antony Rubin got in touch with the police, and helped them identify the abusers. It’s been a year since an FIR was registered against the two medical students – Ashish Paul and Gautam Sudarshan – under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act 1960 and sections 428 and 429 of the IPC. The police filed the chargesheet in March this year but the case against animal cruelty is still pending in the court as the two medicos were let off on bail. For Krishnan, however, it’s work as usual. He dedicates all this time to working with animals, wild or domestic. During our chat, Krishnan reveals he has started a shelter close to the location of Hotel for Dogs where he takes care of injured and abandoned animals, especially dogs and cats. The shelter is said to be self-sustaining as 15% of his income from the hotel is used to maintain the shelter and the animals that are there. “It can only host about 15 to 20 animals at a time. Moreover, it is quite far away from the city. But since I do a lot of rescues and know a lot of people who rescue animals, I realise one has to take them to private clinics because there are no shelters in the main city. That’s a costly affair. Therefore, I have been working to open another shelter and clinic where people can get good medical treatment at a lower cost as well as treat street animals for free. It’s something I have always wanted to work on,” he says. Krishnan also feels that he can also contribute to the rescue of wild animals that are found around the city. Chennai has a wide range of wild animals due to places like Guindy National Park, IIT, and Theosophical Society. He says, “Since our city boasts a lot of forest cover, there are a lot of animal species found here such as Black Bucks, Spotted Deer, Pangolins, Jackals, over 30 varieties of snakes and 200 varieties of birds. With a city like ours that is expanding, there is conflict of wildlife on a daily basis.” Krishnan wanted to start a rehabilitation centre for these animals where he could nurse them back to health and then let them free in the wild again. The purpose of a carer’s work is to raise or rehabilitate orphaned or injured native wildlife so that they may be returned to the wild, and live the natural life that was intended for them. They’re not pets; they simply need love and care to help them on their way. Caring involves feeding, keeping them warm or cool depending on the weather, providing a safe space to live, and making sure they receive any attention they need from a vet. “This is when I decided to approach Theosophical Society as it has a lot of untouched forest cover with extremely strict rules about wildlife protection in place. This place is very quiet and seemed like the ideal place for a wildlife rehabilitation centre,” he adds. The Theosophical Society asked him to revamp their existing animal dispensary first to get it running and funding.

As of now, Krishnan is working on the dispensary while putting the wildlife centre on hold. Currently, he is generating funds to help the process of revamping the centre. To contribute to the project, you can donate at the following website: https://www.bitgiving.com/besantmemorial. He has also started an aviary on his terrace as a space to nurse injured birds before letting them free again. With the sky as the limit we can’t wait to see what this young lad dives into next. Driven by his passion, there is no stopping him from helping all kinds of animals.

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Ferrying your furry friends around town becomes more convenient as pet friendly Kolkata couple – Manisha and Nitesh – launches taxi service exclusively for dogs, says Jimmy Arora

 

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Manisha Chowdhury is born to serve the canines. Her strong determination to serve the sick animals is evident from the fact that even during advanced stages of pregnancy, she went out of her house to rescue ailing dogs! Even the doctor’s warning and her husband’s strict rule not to step out of the house in that state could stop her. The gusty woman says that she feels sick whenever she spots an unwell dog in the streets and can’t eat for days if the animal dies. Nothing makes her happier than the dogs gambolling and giving her a hug. Manisha, a government school teacher in Kolkata has now come up with a unique concept of pet taxis to shift pets from one place to another in the city. “Both the private cab operators and the yellow taxis hate letting pets in their vehicles,” she says, adding, “They either refuse to carry them or fleece the animal companions demanding extra money for carrying the pets.”

The couple started the Pet Cab GO service in April with four private cars. “We put our own cars to use for the service. The main purpose is to offer timely treatment to the animals and also to help their owners in shifting them from one place to another without any hassles,” says Nitesh, an entrepreneur. He says that the rate is Rs 25 per km, while Re 1 is charged every minute as waiting time. “The first five minutes are free and then the charges apply. We also levy Rs150 as garage expenses. Our service is quite different from private cab operators and the rates are higher because our cars travel long distances and often return vacant. It is not like private cabs and taxis where they manage to get passenger after dropping one,” says Nitesh.
Manisha chips in adding that often they lower the prices if the customer can’t afford it. “We have our own FaceBook page through which bookings are made. We are not rigid with the rates and often scale them down to ensure that no pet suffers because of delay or lack of treatment. They should not also face inhumane treatment from other cab drivers. We ask customers to make the bookings at least 24 hours in advance. We get calls even 3-4 days in advance,” she says.
She hires only those drivers who love animals, “It is not like any other driving job, but the person who is at the wheel must have sympathy and love for the pets as often they jump inside the car and smell when suffering from severe disease. The basic priority is that the driver should be an animal lover.”
The duo claims they are not there to make a profit, “We get other cab arranged for the pet owners if our cars are not available. We often end up paying the transport expenses for those who are too poor to pay to the cab operators. We are also planning to extend our services for those who want to take their pets on long tours,” says Nitesh.
The passion has already cost them their rented flat in the city. “We had to vacate our last flat as the house owner didn’t like the feeding and treatment of canines. We refused to part with the animals and decided to search for a new flat. Luckily, the new owner doesn’t have any issue,” Manisha smiles.
But her love for animals is not just confined to canines; she loves rabbits too. “My sister was gifted a rabbit by her friend in 2012. She bought it into the house. We sisters began to take care of him. We named him Pucku. His name was printed on my wedding card,” she chuckles. Manisha wants to do more for the animals, “My dream is to open a shelter house for the stray and pet animals that are sick and dumped by their owners and have no place to go. I hope to achieve my dream someday,” she says.

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Think before you go out and adopt a dog because it is extremely difficult to find abandoned canines a home and even more difficult when they are giant breeds, says Maitreyi Vasudevan

Dogs getting abandoned has become so common now that in our three years’ journey of running Indian Center for Animal Rights and Education (INCARE), we have rescued and rehomed 100s of pedigree dogs. Bheem and Simba’s story is no different. Bheem is an English Mastiff, who was abandoned on Vettuvankani beach, East Coast Road, Chennai. One of our teammates had gone that side and heard people saying that there was this huge dog and they were scared. He went close to Bheem and he was unable to even lift up his head. We immediately took him in and got him hospitalised. He was approximately one-and-half-year-old back then, was a gentle giant and loved being pampered. During the initial days, we pulled out cloth and paper from Bheem’s poop as he had eaten whatever he could find. After months of treatment, Bheem turned into a new leaf. Healthy, loving and gentle. He had also become healthy and the next challenge was to find a home.

A dog who was weighing around 60kg cannot be housed in an apartment, however loving his parents are, it simply wouldn’t do any justice to him. We had put out a newspaper ad in an adoption space which runs in a popular newspaper on a weekly basis. We got a call from Samyuktha Sunil, who really liked Bheem and wanted him to be a part of their family. They had this huge independent house on Taylors Road, Kilpauk, with a lot of space to run around which was perfect for Bheem. He went as their perfect Christmas gift and Bheem is now close to 90kg and is the big adorable baby of the family. Simba was found at a park near Grand Mall, Velachery. He was less than a year old and was found with a terrible skin infection (Mange) at his back. He had been tied to a gate in the park, then he freed himself and was running inside the park. It took a good one hour to catch him, he didn’t let us get near to him and when one of my team mates said sit to him, he sat down and we put the leash on him and took him in. Skin infections don’t get cured overnight and requires meticulous treatment. After few months of follow up checks with the vet and becoming perfectly healthy, he was ready to be homed. We got tonnes of calls for Bheem and Simba but unlike Bheem’s case, we didn’t find the perfect home yet and we somehow weren’t satisfied. Samyuktha pitched in yet again asking us if she can foster Simba for a few weeks to see if Bheem and Simba got along. Well they had their differences like all brothers have, but eventually got along. It was time for Samyuktha to decide if she wanted to adopt Simba or not and it was her mom who decided she cannot part ways with our adorable baby. Love happened the second time around and both our babies got very lucky. It is extremely difficult to find abandoned dogs a home and it is even more difficult when they are giant breeds. It is extremely important for dog owners to see if a dog would do well in their house before bringing him home. Bheem and Simba got noticed by us and got their fairy tale ending, but it isn’t the same case every time. Think before you bring a dog home. It’s a lifetime commitment!

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Breeding dogs is no joke and must be done with utmost commitment and knowledge, says Bengaluru-based Siberian Husky breeder Smithha Iyengar

I’m a Siberian Husky breeder. I have grown up around dogs and volunteering, rescuing and rehoming dogs since the time I was 11. I bought and showed my first show dog – a Labrador Retriever – when I was 16. Although she didn’t win much at the dog shows, I knew then I was permanently bitten by the dog show bug. Professionally, I have worked with various IT companies with experiences across business and competitive strategy, risk management, social media and technology service management. I think this exposure has given me skills to manage many of the canine projects I’m heading today.
A lot of my energy as a dog breeder goes into educating people about what breeders really do and appropriate animal ownership. Thanks to lack of information and biased propaganda by radical animal rights groups, people have a misconception that breeders are just a bunch of uneducated, uncouth, greedy people who breed dogs and live off that money. A lot of misinformation about canine ownership and breeding has resulted in higher abandonment of dogs today. The causes include people lacking basic understanding of the difference between a puppy mill owner and an ethical breeder, who to buy from and what factors to consider while buying a pup or choosing a breed. It results in families buying dogs that are either not suited to their households or they are unable to handle them. Such dogs are unfortunately abandoned and breeders are blamed. There are also many of us who own dogs and want them to “mate just once” falsely thinking they are satisfying the dog’s biological urges. There are many websites inviting pet parents to mate their dogs randomly without realising the level of disasters they are creating. The resulting pups from such ill-planned breeding are often sick or have behaviour problems. These pups are placed for adoption or sold for chump change (making people believe any breed dog is easily available for 5-10k) with no background checks on the potential homes which also results in abandonment of these dogs. Again breeders are blamed for no fault of theirs.
Due to this, there is also a belief that any breed of dog is available for adoption for free. People don’t understand that adoption is for dogs that are abandoned and need a home. For some families, adoption may be the right option, for some buying a young pup is a better option considering their situation. The skills and time required to manage an adopted older dog v/s a young pup are quite different.

Pet parents who want to buy a certain breed of dog are often bullied, instead of being educated on the above factors. So they end up buying badly bred pups available for cheap from puppy mills or home breeders (because they believe since breeders are greedy, they must buy the cheapest dog) not realising that they are further aggravating the problem. Breeders often get a bad rap, sometimes deserving, but many times they are taking the fall for traders. Again, while not all traders are “bad”, many sadly are in it for a quick buck. I’m part of multiple breeder groups and several of these people who call themselves breeders are really just traders, most uneducated, uncouth even verbally abusive. Many are 17- 20-year-old kids who never whelped or bred a litter, who never dealt with hip dysplasia, many are 40-year-old drunks who bully breeders and pet parents alike for money. Today, breeders are maligned because pet parents don’t know (or don’t care and won’t research) if they are dealing with a real breeder or a trader. Only when the shit hits the ceiling do they come out and accuse “breeders” of fleecing their money for a sick puppy. Many of the ugly trading practices are also severely damaging good breeders, health of the puppies, encouraging unhealthy pets to be bred by clueless pet parents (because more and more breeders are backing out of selling through them) causing an increase in number of sick pups being produced and even pushing them into dangerous territories. So, for all pet parents today – please make an effort to understand who you are buying from. You may think he/she is a breeder, but 99% of the time, they are really just a trader. You owe that much, at least to your dogs.

I must tell readers that there is a lot that goes into breeding, right from considering the integrity of the breed, temperament, health history, genetics, a whole lot of money and backbreaking physical work! Sadly many puppy mills, pet parents, home breeders and animal rights groups have no idea of this. This is ruining dogs in general, increasing abandonment rates, affecting good knowledgeable breeders and impacting Indian breed dog breeders even more so! I am also collaborating with fellow breeders and a few respected, honest animal shelters on several educational courses across various aspects from basic canine care to choosing the right dog breeds, when to buy and when to adopt a dog and basic animal rescue courses, so they can all go out and rescue, treat the dogs in their neighbourhood instead of depending on their local shelters. We intend to use the money we get out of this to sterilise as many strays as we can.

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Singer-turned actor Mousumi Das takes her love for the homeless one step ahead by organising dog shows that not only welcome the old, but also the blue-blooded and the strays

Mousumi Das is a woman who wears many hats. She is a playback singer, an actor and a die-hard dog lover, not necessarily in that order. And she manages all of it pretty well. If singing and acting have been her lifelong passion, it is her strong desire to do something good for the four-legged that keeps her always on the move. Born in Tinsukia, Assam, Mousumi says right from her childhood, she was always fond of dogs as her parents were animal lovers and her house was nothing short of a mini zoo where different animals and birds were kept. “I was really fortunate to be born in a family of animal lovers. My father and mother loved and cared for dogs and the atmosphere in the house had a profound effect on me as I developed a liking towards animals,” she says, while sitting at her Baguihati house in the north-eastern periphery of Kolkata.

Mousumi, who began to learn classical singing when she was just five and soon started performing on stage, became popular as ‘Baby Mousumi’ in Assam. She first came to Kolkata as an 11-year-old in 1991 for a stage performance and later kept visiting the West Bengal capital quite regularly to attend shows. She finally settled in Kolkata in 1995 with her elder sister already residing here. Her life, says the blue-eyed, was a struggle for the next 14 years as she tried to build her career from a scratch. “Even during the days of my hardship, I never forgot my love for dogs and often fed the homeless on the streets. At that time, it was impossible to keep a pet as I was too busy in my work and was not willing to ignore him,” she says. After much hard work, success finally smiled and Mousumi got the opportunity to sing with such popular Bollywood singers like Kumar Sanu, Sonu Nigam and Udit Narayan among several others. She has also proved her acting credentials in Bengali daily soaps. Finally, in 2009, she decided to adopt a pet dog after managing time between her work and home. She got two golden retrievers and named them Guddu and Chhotu. Unfortunately, however, she lost both of them within a couple of years of adoption. In 2011, she got a St. Bernard pup and named him Gogul, who became very popular across the globe winning several dog shows. “Our lives have totally changed after Gogul came into our lives. It became the reason of our happiness. It has made us proud by winning umpteen number of dog shows,” says Manoj Kumar Sengupta, her husband. Gogul is also the brand ambassador of the Pet Wellness Society run by the couple. “We can’t stay a day away from Gogul and we take him along whenever we are travelling anywhere. People gather at the airports to click pictures with Gogol as he’s so handsome. There are several hundreds of followers of Gogol on Facebook,” says Sengupta. “We have even removed some of the furniture at our home to ensure free movement for our pets.

Gogul stays at home along with his son Memo. Bebo, another of Gogol’s child, passed away in April this year.” It was a tough time for the couple as Mousumi lost both her mother and Bebo in the same month. “We still find it difficult to come to grips with the tragedy. Bebo was very close to our hearts,” says Sengupta. The couple says it’s unbearable for them to see dogs in distress and the plight of the stray dogs that gave them an idea to start Pet Wellness Society. Says Mousumi, “We have dog shows where the pedigrees and cross breeds are a pampered lot. They are offered all comforts while none bothered about the strays and the physically disabled. People abandoned them and none cared to look into their deplorable conditions. So we began to devise a plan to save the hapless animals who cannot speak about the atrocities inflicted on them. There were no shows or competitions involving the strays.” So in 2011, she along with her husband finally came up with Pet Wellness Society that had eight members in all from different walks of life. “We decided to form the society and kept it open for all, whether stray or pedigree. We even welcomed the physically disabled and old dogs,” informs Sengupta. “Our main focus was the street canines that were meted out an indifferent attitude. Moreover, we wanted to create awareness for them with the motto that old is gold and dogs shouldn’t be thrown away from the houses in their old age.” He says that their society aims to bring the stray and old dogs on the same platform with other breed dogs. The society has been conducting dog shows, which are called awareness shows. “We started our first show in Assam with 75 canines, which swelled to 100 dogs of all breeds during the latest show held in Kolkata.” The organisation also conducts health check-ups, vaccination and nutrition guidance during the shows. “We don’t charge even a penny for participation in the show except from the pure breeds as they are professionals, who make money by selling dogs,” she says. Mousumi says that the stray dogs that participate in the shows are brought by dog owners and non-profits who keep them. “We make no disparity and there are prizes for all,” she says. “Our work is not just restricted to the dog shows, but our volunteers work across the year and pick up the wounded canines from the streets and shift the serious cases to different hospitals.”

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