Are you a Pariah Dog fan?: Dogs and jackals in the Black Hills of Kutch

Friday, April 3, 2009

Dogs and jackals in the Black Hills of Kutch

The Great Rann of Kutch is one of my favourite places in the world. Spectacular white salt marshes that resemble a lunar landscape, rare wild species, ruins of the Indus civilization...it's hard for me to describe this unique spot without sounding like a tourist brochure.

And now Yashesh Shethia has made it even more interesting, with this amazing jackal story and pictures.

On a recent road trip he and his wife came upon a temple in the Black Hills where there is an ancient tradition of feeding jackals. Every evening at sunset the priests give them "prasad" (food that has first been offered in worship).

Above: Jackals waiting to be fed. For those interested in wildlife, jackals are classified as Canis Aureus and live on carrion among other things, though they also hunt small animals and poultry. The species is related to the domestic dog but is not its ancestor. However, jackals and domestic dogs can interbreed.

Above: The tradition is explained on this board, along with the legend that when there was no food, the god Dattatreya offered the jackals a part of his body.

Below: The priests are very humane, and they are equally kind to the jackal's domesticated cousin, the dog. This one is kept as a pet in the temple and is very popular with all the visitors there.

Below: This long-suffering mother and her pups were in Anjar

Below: Another dog in Anjar

Yashesh, thanks for these pictures. I now have yet another reason for running off to the Rann!

Photos: Yashesh Shethia
Great Rann of Kutch
Gujarat

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This is an informal, unofficial group of Pariah Dog enthusiasts. It is not a welfare or animal rights group, though health and welfare are discussed sometimes. It is not about any organization. It is not about the "stray dog issue." There are many other sites dealing with such topics. Moreover, Pariah and stray are NOT the same thing, though these dogs often are both (see the glossary below).

This blog is focused on the Indian Pariah Dog as an aboriginal race/breed - its origins, characteristics, appearance, temperament, behaviour, and the sheer fun of keeping it as a pet.

Joining the Indian Pariah Dog Club: Membership of the Club is free, but open only to Pariah dogs (also called INDogs or Indian Native Dogs) adopted as house-pets. Sorry, the building dog who comes up for his dinner can’t be enrolled. Pet mix-breeds (or mongrels) are allowed. In fact, if you live in an Indian city, your dog is most probably of mixed lineage and not a pure-blooded native dog. I call these dogs INDog-mix.

If your dog meets these criteria, mail me at rajashree DOT khalap AT gmail DOT com with details about the dog and a photograph. Give a phone number so I can call you if necessary to get details. I send all members a certificate and a collar tag.

I also have a group on Facebook called INDog Club. Please join if you find this topic interesting. Click here to see the group.

Why I created the Club: I had the idea of setting up this Club after adopting my own dog, Lalee. My pet peeve is the general confusion and misconceptions about Pariah dogs. My pet project is to get this ancient natural breed the respect and recognition that is its due.

The Indian public is not particularly dog-savvy and the common third world mindset affects perceptions about dogs. As in many of the poorer countries of Asia and Africa, pets are still selected according to an outdated colonial-era ranking order which perceives anything foreign as superior to anything native. The growing middle class also seeks to display its spending power by purchasing expensive Eurobreeds.

If you too believe that artificially developed modern breeds are superior to indigenous ones, read no further. This blog is not for you.

In a slide presentation on stray dogs I created for The Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) in 1994, and in the WSD website, I pointed out that the Indian Pariah is NOT a mongrel but a primitive breed in its own right, evolved by natural selection over many centuries. This is based on the theories of canine biologists and experts worldwide. True pariah-type dog populations have probably suffered minimal or no genetic contamination by foreign breeds. To read more about this, click here . You'll see my post of May 11, 2008 on the "long-term pariah morphotype," and my slideshow of photos of pure Pariah-type dogs taken around the country.

Major W.V. Soman pointed out the difference between Pariahs and mongrels way back in 1963, in his book The Indian Dog. It's time Indians got the message.

The Pariah or INDog is the blueprint, the prototype for our best friend canis familiaris. It’s what Nature intended dogs to be.

Why I created this blog: My friends and family are sick of this topic and I have to find some new people to pester!

Seriously, where else can we besotted pariah and mongrel owners meet up and show off our beloved pets, without those pets attacking one another?

Pariah owners, please use this space to share your experiences, dog photos and videos, useful information for other dog-owners. Owners of mix-breeds (or mongrels) are also welcome, as long as the dog is at least part Indian Pariah. Mail your dog stories, opinions and dog images to me at rajashree DOT khalap AT gmail DOT com. They will be moderated but everything relevant to this topic will appear here. No objectionable or offensive posts please.

Must-know stuff

Pariah: An indigenous and ancient race of domestic dogs which evolved a distinct appearance and character without human intervention. This appearance is called the "long-term pariah morphotype" - click here to see photos of the type. The dog was named after the Pariah tribe of Tamil Nadu which was considered outcast. While the original usage of the term is derogatory, it has been commonly used by cynologists for many years and has no negative connotation in the canine context. Pariah dogs across continents have the same basic physical characteristics. Enthusiasts consider such primitive breeds to be superior in most ways to artificially developed breeds as they are perfectly adapted for survival. Pariah breeds are not only extremely hardy, they are also very alert and have the high-order intelligence required for a free-roaming life under circumstances which are often difficult and even hostile. In biological terms, the pariah dogs of Asia and Africa are of the highest value for study of genetics and origin of the dog.

Cynology is not well-known in India as a field of study and in the early days there were no Indian experts in this area, so terms coined by western scholars tended to stick. Some Indian scholars feel the name Pariah Dog should be changed. I personally am neutral on this issue but am quite open to promoting a name-change if necessary. The name INDog is already being used by some experts and would be perfect for this indigenous breed.

(We should remember that even the words dog, its Hindi equivalent kutta, and bitch are used in a derogatory way although they are obviously perfectly acceptable when used in reference to dogs alone).

Pariah breeds in some parts of the world have now been officially recognized by kennel clubs and are being selectively bred. The best-known are the Canaan Dog of Israel, the Carolina Dog in the US, and the African Basenji.

It is now generally accepted that most of the free-roaming dogs in Indian cities and towns are actually mix-breeds (mongrels), though some certainly look more "mixed" than others. Pure Pariah dogs are more common in rural and remote areas where there are no Eurobreeds or other types of dog to interbreed with, and minimal or no genetic contamination has occurred. In the Club and in this blog we will go by appearances and refer to the "pure-looking" dogs as Pariah dogs or INDogs.

People sometimes use the words "Pariah" and "stray" interchangeably. This is an incorrect usage.

INDog: A dog which perfectly conforms to the true pariah-type. Another name for the Indian Pariah Dog.

Mongrel: (called mutt in the US) A dog of mixed but indeterminate breed, whose lineage is not known. Earlier pariahs were considered to be mongrels but for the last few decades it has been recognized that pariah dogs are a pure, natural breed in their own right. In India almost all mongrels have Indian Pariah mixed in their lineage.

Mongrels exist thanks to irresponsible dog-owners who let their pets mate with strays. This practice not only exposes the pet to serious health risks (including venereal disease), it also increases the already huge street dog population, and lessens the number of genetically "pure" pariahs.

(I've nothing against mongrels - in fact, I think they are adorable - but the reason for their existence is poor pet ownerhip, which is regrettable to say the least. It would be a pity to lose the unique character of the ancient Pariah race because some silly people let their pets roam and breed on the street.)

Pi-dog, pye-dog: A term used by the British. It also means pariah dog.

Stray: There is a lot of confusion about this word and it is frequently used incorrectly. “Stray” does NOT refer to breed but to the legal status of the dog. In India it means an ownerless, unlicensed free-roaming dog. Since most strays in India happen to be Pariahs or mongrels, all these terms are often used interchangeably. This is wrong. Purebreeds abandoned by their owners become strays. Pariahs and mongrels adopted into homes are no longer strays but pets.

Purebreed: A dog of only one breed, born of selected parents. Most of the commercially recognized “pure” breeds have only been created in the last two centuries, as strict breeding norms were not followed earlier. In actual fact, almost all modern “pure” breeds have been created by mixing two or more breeds.

Pedigree: A recorded line of descent.

This group is informally linked to the NGO The Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) where I worked for many years.