A Sorry Tail: Dealing with India’s booming dog industry
Simon Harding
During the day the dogs in my Delhi neighbourhood are playful, fun loving creatures. They chase motorbikes and dash after delivery vans, woofing the puttering intruders off their patch. They chew on scraps of food from the gutters and anything thrown out for them by kindly shopkeepers or maids. It is not unusual to see a dog wolfing down a packet of Rs.10 (15p) glucose biscuits at the side of the road. The residents of Jangpura arouse their canine curiosity and no doubt the hope of more biscuits, but little aggression. But after ten o'clock, it‘s a different story. When the streets are empty, the street dogs rule. They roam in packs, growling and barking at anyone out alone. If I am walking home late at night, I’m sure to keep two or three golf ball sized stones handy to counter any potential doggy anti-social behaviour. Jangpura is not unique. There are thousands of street dogs in Delhi – all strays, all native Indian breeds and cross-breeds. But they are not the object of middle class India's growing love affair with all canine kind, a love affair which fuels the nation's nascent $45m pet industry, which is growing at 10-15% per annum. Middle class India, buoyed by the benefits of economic growth, is constantly on the lookout for new outlets for its increasing disposable income. For a growing number of families, few things scream success better than a dog, but not any old mutt: it has to be a pedigree foreign breed.
People in Jangpura are no different. On my way to the office yesterday, a gate opened and a tall Sikh man in sunglasses and designer jeans stepped out. Before he could shut it behind him a small auburn cocker spaniel scuttled out at great speed and headed up the road, nose to the group, almost treading on its ears, on the trail of some interesting smell, no doubt left by the street hounds. The man gave chase: a lanky six-foot plus man chasing a tiny dog, which took great delight in doing a figure of eight around his long legs.
A spaniel is a relatively conservative choice. Boxers, Retrievers, Shi Tzus, Dachshunds and Great Danes are all available, to name just a few of the forty or so breeds offered by breeders listed on the Chennai-based website, Dogs India. Whilst an ordinary animal may cost a few thousand rupees, a top notch pedigree Retriever can go for as much as Rs.300,000 (GBP4,000).
Prices are vulnerable to sudden crazes. A cute Vodaphone ad campaign in 2008 spawned a mania for pugs, the flat faced, floppy skinned Chinese breed. The price of a pug puppy rose from Rs.8,000-9,000 to around Rs.35,000 as the wrinkly tyke became the object of desire for pestering pre-pubescents and trendy hipsters alike. As with all crazes, the fad is passing and the pug is no longer the “in” thing it once was as new and exciting breeds tempt the potential owner.
It is not just the animals themselves which are the object of growing business activity. “This is still a very virgin market for pet products, but it’s growing well,” says J. Prakash, owner of VS Associates, a leading pet products importer. Growth is visible on the streets as pet shops spring up, even in the more modest Delhi colonies. They sell everyday staples like dog food, flea spray and collars, but also a growing selection of high-end non-essentials like herbal dog shampoo (available in “Iced Mango” and “Ginseng” varieties), knitted coats, digestive tonics, designer beds and clothes, including the “Paws Luxury Pretty-in-Pink Party Dress” offered by one Delhi pet store. “(Indian) Families want to spend more on pets whether it’s branded foods or toys”, says Euromonitor researcher, Yvonne Kok. This is part of the “humanisation” process, she continues, in which the dog is treated like a member of the family. Good news for the Delhi's fledgling pet shops.
But the enthusiasm for posh pets has some unfortunate side affects. “In India, exotic foreign breeds such as Great Danes, Chihuahuas and Pugs are in great demand even though they are not suited to the Indian climate”, says Poorva Joshipura, chief functionary of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) in India . Heavy coated dogs and breeds with loose skin (like pugs) overheat during the scorching summers. There are also reports of working dogs like Retrievers and Alsatians becoming psychologically unstable in tiny, noisy urban flats.
Buying a pedigree for a huge amount of money is no guarantee of humane treatment. Once the novelty wears off, the fashion changes or the dog simply gets old or ill, many owners lose interest in their pets, paying them little attention and palming off the duties of ownership onto their maids and drivers. It is not unusual to see a member of the domestic staff of a large South Delhi house gingerly walking a big foreign dog, visibly puzzled by the unusual animal, of which he has been given charge. However, loss of interest occasionally gives way to neglect.
Tucked under a thundering flyover on the edge of Jangpura is Friendicoes animal shelter. Although they take in, treat and re-home all kinds of animals, around 18,000 of the 25,000 calls Friendicoes receives each year report injured, abandoned or mistreated dogs. Many of these animals are the impulse buys of poorly prepared middle class owners, swept along by the latest pet fashions and pestering children.
The shelter recently received reports of a mistreated puppy in a wealthy neighbourhood. The shelter team arrived to find a 3 month old pug shut in a bird cage outside on a balcony in 42C heat. The puppy had no water and the few scraps of food in the cage were rotten. Its leg was bound in a makeshift homemade bandage after being broken by a sharp kick from its owner. The bandage smelt terrible. Luckily the Friendicoes staff had little trouble in persuading the owner to part with the animal. She had never wanted the pug in the first place. Her husband had bought the dog on a whim and to placate the kids who wanted a pet. The dog was successfully rehoused.
More shocking still was a call to the shelter in February. The caller had spotted a fully grown St Bernard wandering along a busy main road. The dog was blind due to an eye disease. Less than perfect, its owners had abandoned it to fend for itself.
The prestige which comes with foreign breeds makes it difficult to re-home the many stray native dogs taken in by the shelter. This is a headache for animal shelters across India. “People blindly want to have one particular pure breed dog, which is in fashion. But they don’t realise that there are hundreds of healthy Indian dogs wasting away in shelter homes, waiting for adoption,’’ said Dharmesh Solanki, manager of PETA's “I love Indian dogs” campaign, which is encouraging animal lovers to adopt stray Indian dogs, just like the strays on my street.
But the campaign faces an uphill struggle as Indian breeds lack the allure of foreign dogs. It is the foreign breed, which has become a status symbol amongst the middle classes and with no regulations controlling commercial breeding, the number of breeding businesses supplying foreign breed puppies is increasing, much to the concern of animal rights groups who point to the lack of minimum animal welfare standards.
Unlike other middle class status symbols: the car, the all-singing, all-dancing mobile phone and designer sunglasses, the Alsatian cannot be changed, exchanged or thrown to the back of the cupboard when fashion moves on. As breeders and high-end pet shops benefit from the pet boom, donor-reliant animal welfare organisations are left to deal with the fallout of many a rash decision.