In The Wonder That Was India, A.L. Basham wrote, "A divine bitch, Sarama, plays an important part in a legend which cannot be fully constructed, but the dog did not mean as much to the people of the Rig Veda as it did to a kindred Aryan pastoral people, the ancient Iranians... The dog is only once mentioned with respect and affection in Indian literature, and was rarely if ever treated as a pet." The exception that Basham speaks of happens in the Mahabharat, when Yudhisthir refuses to enter heaven without the dog that had accompanied the Pandavas and Draupadi on their last pilgrimage. And even then, we know that the dog is not really a dog; it is Dharma.

With the exception of a handful of royals and a few hunting tribes, Indians have not traditionally been a dog-loving people. The practice of keeping dogs as pets arose from a desire to emulate the colonizers. This 'love' of dogs is inherited; and, as is their wont, Indians have made a mess of this inheritance. Dogs have swiftly gone from being companions to being used for making money. In India, the unethical breeding of dogs for sale is a booming industry. Most breeders operate without a licence. The Dog Breeding, Marketing and Sale Rules, 2010 has been lying for the past six years with the Union ministry of environment and forests to "be notified and implemented at the earliest". Puppy mills are thriving. These cruel breeding facilities are all about maximizing profits, to the detriment of the physical and emotional health of the dogs, all of them imported breeds. Neither the breeders nor the buyers care about the millions of starving strays and abandoned dogs in India who will die in shelters or on the streets. Puppy mills keep dogs in crowded, filthy conditions without socialization or proper medical care. Females are bred multiple times, with no recovery period between pregnancies, till they are no longer of any use. Then they are either killed - not euthanized - or abandoned. Puppies bred within a closed gene pool are born with deformities. It is unlikely that ordinary citizens will see any of this; breeders are notoriously adept at covering their tracks.

In the light of this, it ought to be a relief that the Indian government has finally banned the import of foreign dog breeds into India for commercial purposes. It is a progressive step in a country where cruelty to animals is perpetrated with impunity in spite of being a crime, where even police horses can be maimed and killed without the fear of lasting consequences. However, the ban only means that the thriving industry will go even deeper underground; in India, the implementation of laws is so shoddy that people circumvent rules with ease. Importing foreign breeds to be kept as pets is still permitted - here is a gaping loophole that can easily be exploited.

At the root of the problem lies the inexplicable willingness of the rich Indian city dweller to pay whatever is required to own an expensive breed. Alaskan Malamutes, Siberian Huskies, St Bernards - these names clearly indicate the breeds' unsuitability to Indian climates, and yet they are visible in alarming numbers in cities such as Delhi and Calcutta. The owners soon realize that keeping dogs is hard work, and before long there are abandoned, emaciated dogs roaming about the streets in panic. Even ethical breeding would contribute to the crisis: the irrational demand for purebreds would still be catered to.

In order to end commercial breeding, illegal breeders need to be identified and heavily penalized. The government must actively restrict the import of foreign breeds to be kept as pets. Finally, people must be educated about the horrors of puppy mills; they should learn that it is advisable to adopt dogs - even pedigreed ones - from shelters. The demand for expensive breeds has to go down for the industry to die, and for existing dogs - Indian and foreign - to be adopted.