The stray dogs of India
Or the case of my pariah paranoia
India’s stray dogs seemed blessed with the gift of teleportation. I would see a dog near the hotel, and then across town I would see the very same dog, lounging on the hot pavement. The next day I’d see the dog again in yet another part of town, this time rolling around in a dusty alleyway. I was baffled by the omnipresent pooch, and after many days of deductive reasoning and multiple frantic calls to the American Embassy, I came up with a few possible explanations.
- My clothes stank of dripping pani puri, and the dog, thinking I might taste like tamarind chutney, was going to great lengths in hopes of having me for dinner.
- My employer hired a canine private detective to follow me with strict instructions to give me a good chew once its surveillance was complete.
- The dog was a ghost, haunting me for some past discretion. It wouldn’t be able to bite me because of its phantom gnashers but would never stop trying, causing me lifelong torment.
- They weren’t the same dogs at all, but “dogglegangers.” Each would take turns biting me until my flight home.
After some research, I discovered that the last option was correct. The dogs I had seen were pariah dogs, or desi kutta (Hindi for “native dogs” or “Indian dogs”). They are an old landrace breed, native to India, that have adapted over the centuries to the local environment. They were named “pariah dogs” because they were often seen around the homes of the lower “Paraiyar” caste, also the source of the English word “pariah.” The dogs are typified by their short, golden brown coats and thin, muscular bodies. Some can resemble foxes (or dingos) like the one standing deep in the background of this picture:
They can also be large, weighing up to 66 pounds, like this dog on a hot tin roof:
Although most are golden brown, some do vary in their coloring:
In addition to the pariah, India is also home to many other breeds you won’t often, if ever, find elsewhere. One is the Kombai, which tends to be aggressive and has been used in the past as both a guard dog and a war dog. This may be a Kombai here:
I saw it in the north, in Delhi, but Kombai dogs are more common in the south, named after the area in Tamil Nadu they came from. Other breeds of India include the intimidating Bully Kuttas, massive mastiffs that resemble a pit bull/Great Dane mix, the greyhound-like Chippiparrai, and the Pomeranian-like, Indian spitz.
Still, the pariahs are by far the most common strays around the cities. Although imported breeds are in higher demand, pariahs make for good pets — they’re smart and sociable. They are also healthy animals thanks to their natural evolution.
They don’t have the ability to teleport, nor do they typically have bad intentions. Sometimes you see people giving them a pet as they pass by, and you hear about violent pariah packs on the news. From what I’ve seen, however, people don’t bother them, and they don’t bother people.
With that mystery solved, I could finally relax back at the hotel with the resident black cat, who seemed to delight in crossing my path as much as I delighted in crossing his.
