From a status symbol to a liability: It really is a dog's life, after all

Matt's eyes simply follow the people scurrying around at the Bombay Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA) Hospital in Parel. There is little else the emaciated Great Dane, who is on a saline drip, can do.

“Any other dog would have been been muzzled to stop him from using its teeth to pull out the IV drip,” explains hospital secretary Col JC Khanna. "But, Matt is so weak that he can't even raise his head. Muzzling will only traumatise him.”

Matt was brought three nights ago. “Two people got him in a taxi. They said he wasn't eating and had collapsed. After giving us a fake address and phone number, they have neither returned nor called.”  

Around 20 pedigrees like Dalmatians and Dobermans are abandoned at the facility every month. “People get puppies as gifts and don't know what to do with breeds which grow to be particularly large,” says Col Khanna. He explains that many owners get rid of dogs when they pick up 'bad behaviour', like biting and destroying furniture, or when they become too aggressive.

Such pedigrees are also looked upon as a liability when they get sick or develop a wound. Or, worse, owners tire of them and wish to get another dog.

Neville Dixera can't wrap his head around such “barbaric” abandonments. He wonders why people would spend nearly Rs1.5 lakh on getting a pup and then give it up when they get bored of it. “By then, the dog becomes emotionally attached to its owners and learns to trust them. To be then abandoned like this must really come as a blow.”

The Thane resident, who is an honorary animal welfare officer, says he was shocked when a neighbour, Ananya Kulkarni, 29, brought a Newfoundland she found on the street at Vaishali Nagar. “His fur was matted and dirty, and he was limping due to an injury, which had left a cluster of maggots on the front left paw.”

Under the right care, Rudy (the Newfoundland's name now) was cured and has found a home in Lonavla. “A Parsi family with a big home had the space and means to take in a dog that huge,” says Dixera. “ Newfoundlands are meant to be in really cold places. So, it becomes mandatory to have 24X7 air-conditioning for them here.”

Abodh Aras from the Welfare of Stray Dogs is too familiar with the toll that a rough clime can take on non-indigenous pedigrees. His organisation had found a Newfoundland abandoned at Goregaon a few years ago. "He was like a baby and wanted to just sleep in our laps. Although we treated him and got him adopted, he lived only for five years,” he says.

Aras explains that humidity and heat lead to several health complications in Huskies, Newfoundlands and Tibetan Mastiffs, “which were never meant to be in India”. “Such conditions just reduce their lifespans drastically.”

Anuradha Sawhney of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says she has found Xoloitzcuintles, whose origins can be traced to Mexico, being bred by some well-to-do families. “These are hairless breeds which end up with a lot of skin infections," she adds while recalling saving one from Shivaji Park. “Actor Isha Koppikar had alerted us to its plight and its festering wounds were maggot-infested. It succumbed mid-treatment.” 

But not all agree that such breeds cannot be raised in Mumbai.

Breach Candy resident Kabir Bhogilal, 32, says his five-year-old Huskie, Akeera, is well-adjusted to the weather. “She was born in Pune and has been brought up in India. So, this is the weather she knows and understands. I sometimes let her enjoy the air-conditioning sparingly in May if I see that she is uncomfortable." As if on cue, Akeera barks, looking at a pedestal fan in the drawing room. Once it's switched on, she sprawls out, playing with her ball.

Bhogilal says the scheme of things can only change if owners see their dogs as a family member and not as a mere status symbol.