At the Calcutta Kennel Club Dog Shows: Pictures of desolation and adulation. Pictures by Amit Datta

Our four-legged friends lead a royal life, thanks to the craze for imported pedigree. But local breeds wag a different tale

Asking questions runs in the family ? in fact, it practically gallops! Our three daughters never stop asking questions. Last Sunday was quiz-time again. After drooling over canine champs at the Calcutta Kennel Club, the eldest tossed a googly: ?Dad, if people care for dogs so much, how come whenever we talk about them, it means something bad??

Though I did get her drift, it was a Sunday afternoon ? when all you want to think about is whether it?s going to be a Breezer or a Beer! So, a trifle half-heartedly, I asked, ?What do you mean, Zasha??

Pat came her reply: ?When Raisa and I fight, Mum says we?re fighting like cats and dogs; when your friends are depressed, they say it?s a dog?s life; even when the weather is bad, it?s their fault, because it?s raining cats and dogs!?

?That?s right!? piped up Raisa, ?You blame the poor darlings even when you ask the waiters to pack up the leftover food in the restaurant, by asking them for a doggy-bag, when actually it?s for our breakfast!?

I realised that they were dead right in their ?doganosis? of the ills of being a dog in the English language.

The list of ?dog? expressions is as long as a dachshund?s nose ? from common dogmas like ?every dog has his day? to insults like ?she?s a dog?s mother? (a bitchy person).

Strangely, we love dogs, but our languages don?t ? not English, not Bengali and, if you remember Dharmendra?s standard yell, ?kut-tey? ? certainly not Hindi!

At the 139th and 140th Dog Shows organised by the Calcutta Kennel Club at its maidan tent, 355 dogs had their day. What was incredible was the dog-eat-dog competitive spirit amongst the owners. They were there to win the Governor?s Cup for the Best Exhibit or at least pick up a Championship Certificate. Three CCs and your dog gets the honour of putting a Ch. before its name and is entitled to participate in the Champion?s Category in future Shows. There are a whole lot of technicalities in the sport that I hadn?t a clue about.

Calcutta is one of the most important dog-centres in the country, after the south, and there are as many as three clubs affiliated to the Kennel Club of India ? the Canine Club of Calcutta, the North Calcutta Kennel Club and the oldest club in Asia, the Calcutta Kennel Club, established way back in 1906. Only certified judges can take charge, and this time, Doreen Powell from South Africa and D. Krishnamurthy from Coimbatore were invited to do the honours.

When I heard of price tags like 18, 32 and 43, I sniffed, ?Do you really have to pay through your nose as much as 43 thousand for a dog??

Imagine the shock I got when I was told that it was 43 lakhs and not 43 thousand! Imagine the greater shock I got when I asked how much was that doggy, pointing to Balkrishna?s Setty?s Afghan Hound, and was told that it was bought for a little over half-a-crore. The dog, Ch.Tahkira What The Hell, an Australian Champion, along with Setty?s Giant Schnauzer, are among the most expensive dogs in the country and won top honours here in Calcutta.

Calcutta owners too have started digging into their kitty. Take Michael Liu. The 28-year-old Chinese businessman has spent lakhs on his Dobermans, including Ch.Baden Baden Sarah, the only daughter of Lex Luthor, a super champ from Argentina. Liu, who owns restaurants like Kim Ling and Beijing in Tangra, and Tung Fung on Free School Street, keeps his Doberman pack for about four years, and then finds them a good home. Unlike, many others, Liu never ?sells? his dogs.

Sanjib Gupta, on the other hand, makes no bones about the fact that he?s in it to make a living. He took VRS from his government job after 34 years, to become a breeder. Though he has Dachshunds and Aphsos, he specialises in German Shepherds.

A.P. Chowdhury too dotes on GSDs. Fido, who has a perfect pedigree, set the Standing Counsel of IOC back a whopping 2.5 lakhs. The lawyer, who has only been ?off dogs? for the seven years of his life that he was posted in Mizoram ? ?it was too risky because of their eating habits? ? sacked his driver and dog-handler recently. He suspected them of injuring Fido after being paid off by a rival.

So there?s something fishy in the dog business too! But most owners and officials want to get on with the show. Take Sudipto Bhadhuri, one of only two licensed Ring Stewards in eastern India. He admits that ?dogs don?t like dog shows ? owners do!?

The show will go on, as long as there are the likes of G.C.Sil. He is all set to start his own export firm, travel in the bargain and look out for a super GSD. A bachelor, Sil now owns a Shihtzu he imported from the Phillipines, a Doberman, a Spitz, a Pug and two GSDs. He?s so fussy about his dogs that he takes them to three different vets, depending on whether the problem is skin-related, orthopaedic or general in nature.

Unfortunately, there aren?t enough people trying to mollycoddle the 39 existing breeds of Indian origin. People like Sanjay Tiwari, are a rare breed. His marketing job sends him into forests and villages near Allahabad. His fascination for indigenous breeds of the region has made him a crusader for the Rampur Hound. He wants to use his champion dog Jagga and about a dozen others he has tucked away in his homes in Howrah and Pratapgarh, to save this dying breed from extinction. He?s got dogged determination ? what he needs is land and support.

Can one man do it? Sure, he can! Prasad Mayekar, owner of Copa Cabana on Chowpatty in Mumbai, has single-handedly saved the Caravan Hound, another Indian beauty, from being wiped out. He?s been breeding them for three generations and now has 47 of them. Sanjay wants to do something similar for the Rampur Hound.

Apparently when the Afghans came to India in the 1760s, they brought their ferocious Tazis along. The British found these too deadly and brought in a couple of obedient greyhounds. Under the patronage of Ahmed Ali Khan Bahadur and some 14 generations down the line, the Rampur Hound DNA took shape and a unique breed was in circulation ? strong and ferocious like the Tazi, obedient and loyal like the greyhound. Apparently, only the other day, in Bahraich, near the Nepal border, a Rampur Hound tackled a leopard on the rampage and saved his master.

So, while wishing dog show-lovers all the luck as they spend away on imported champions, I?ll choose to stand by our Rampur Hound. Our climate suits it better than it does a St Bernard; it?s far more disease-free than any GSD; it?s more ferocious than any Boxer; yet more gentle with children than any Golden Retriever. If you want to join Sanjay?s pack, you can mail me at hrpl@vsnl.net and I?ll set you on his trail.