A Taazi. Telegraph picture

Motihari, Jan. 4: Think of good breed of dogs and the names of Alsatian, Doberman and German Shepherd instantly come to mind. But very few are aware of the indigenous breed of dog available in India — Taazi.

Trusted friends of the butchers of Akhta village in Sitamarhi district, this breed of dogs were bred for various purposes. Believed to have originated in the village 200 years ago, they were known for their special features, even outside the country, till the mid-1980s. But now all that is left of these dogs are their tales.

The residents of Akhta village, situated near the East Champaran border, reared the Taazi dogs — the name given by the villagers themselves — to guard the unsafe and inaccessible terrain like sentinels. Unlike the care and maintenance of Alsatians, which is quite expensive for their masters, taking care of the Taazi dogs was easy on their pockets.

However, in the absence of proper breeding facilities and care for newborns, the breed gradually lost its fame.

The ferocious breed, once known for their bravery and loyalty, turned incontrollable with time and degenerated into mongrels that saw people preferring to kill them. The pedigree features that distinguished them from other dogs — erect ears, wide chest, slim waist and extra length — deteriorated.

Akhta, which literally means slaughter, justifies the name of the village. Cattle flesh and blood were found in abundance in the village and its availability to the dogs made them much more agile and violent than other dogs. The few remaining butchers in the village like Mohammed Mumtaz Khan and Budhan Quereshi said the dog trade was quite beneficial to the people. They said for the past 25 years, a Taazi puppy, between six and eight weeks old, was sold for up to Rs 5,000.

Mohammed Mumtaz Khan said: “The breeders used to keep three-week-old puppies in 3x3ft deep ditches with scraps of cattle flesh and blood to specially train them.”

Following spread of education, the trade of dog breeding started to be considered anti-religious by Muslim butchers. Noor Alam Khan, a farmer in the adjoining Chakwa village, said: “By end-1980s, many of the 350 butcher families in the village started to migrate to also adopted other professions.”

Mahanth Brij Kumar Das, a Akhta resident , said: “Because of lack of encouragement and financial assistance, the butchers quit the breeding profession and relocated for other lucrative pursuits.”

Till 2000, a few remains of the crossbreed were considered as the sole survivor of the Taazi breed.

Even now, the elders of the village are proud of their glorious past. The Taazi dogs were once considered as a good revenue earner and were also frequently imported to England during the pre-Independence days.