The days of Tommy, Kalu and Moti are a thing of the past. Pet dogs are no longer confined to the bracket of pomeranians, labradors, alsatians or adopted street mongrel.
More and more people are looking for foreign bred dogs such as the pit-bulls, cane corso, dogue de Bordeaux, chow-chows, saluki and St. Bernard. Most of these are imported from countries like Thailand, Poland, America and Germany. Thus, don't be surprised at the cosmopolitan canine club when you go job in the park …it seems dog lovers in Ahmedabad will leave no bone unturned to have the pet of their choice.
"People have realised the importance of pedigree. I have sold pups from champion families that cost up to Rs6 lakh," says Akram Khan, a dog breeder and owner of the social networking website for dogs called www.dogsvilla.com that assists people in buying, selling and also finding mates for their pets. Akram owns an American pit-bull terrier named Scarface and a champion rottweiler called Don Vito.
Shachi Pathak, another dog lover, owns a great dane, named Drako and a dense coated, wolf-like dog, the Siberian husky named Ivanka. "I got Drako from a top kennel in USA and Ivanka was flown down from Canada, they both belong to a family of champions. They always seem to turn heads in pet shows and have been awarded champion breed certificates by the KCI (Kennel Club of India).
A sled dog Ivanka has a lot of stamina. Drako is very active as well. It isn't humanly possible to keep up, so I just let them run on the tread mill instead," says Shachi.
How does the Siberian husky survive the hostile climate of Ahmedabad? "The dogs have their own air conditioned room for warm weather. The city climate isn't ideal so we do the best we can to keep them comfortable," says Sachi.
Pet lovers in the city also keep hounds and mastiffs. A fully grown English mastiff can weigh up to 110kgs and can be eight feet from nose-tip to tail-end making them the heaviest pet dogs in the world. "The mastiff is a family dog. It has a calm temperament and it isn't aggressive and great with the kids and other small dogs," says Abhijit, the owner of Rider, a 3-year-old mastiff.
Ruchi Ramani owns a basset hound, a short legged dog from the hound family, originally used to hunt rabbits. "My family got a basset hound because they are extremely lazy and perfect for us as we live in an apartment. We got him from Coimbatore. He sleeps 80% of the day," said Ruchi. Dr Ruchir, a veterinarian who acknowledges the diversity of breeds off late in the city, says that many of these dogs require some prior experience with pets.
Rottweilers and pit-bulls especially need to be trained properly and socialised as pups. In the absence of this they can become aggressive and hostile.
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