Above: Village Bandra, near Pench Tiger Reserve
Above, below: I took these in the village Usripar near Pench Tiger Reserve last week
Above: a village in Similipal Tiger Reserve
Above: Moharli, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
All around India you see village dogs co-existing peacefully with chickens, goats, sheep. Because they are habituated to the presence of these animals from birth, and are also actively discouraged from killing them. Villagers do not tolerate chicken or livestock-killers and I know of cases of such dogs being poisoned, both in Nagaon and Moharli. So the trait is probably rare in village INDogs.
These are dogs in Orissa that I know are used for hunting by the villagers (the villagers freely admitted it). But as you can see from some of the images, they live side-by-side with goats and poultry without showing any prey drive.
I'm reminded of a street dog (furry INDog-mix) that used to live in the Mumbai shelter where I worked. He was adopted by someone and taken to live in a farmhouse, where he promptly made himself unpopular with the locals by hunting the village goats. I don't know whether his behaviour should be attributed to the non-INDog side of his bloodline, or to his urban upbringing and the fact that he wasn't socialized to goats.
My INDog Lalee used to chase chickens when she was young, but soon got bored with the activity. My yelling must have discouraged her too.
Nature versus nurture...the eternal debate.
Usripar, near Pench Tiger Reserve,
Madhya Pradesh Similipal Tiger Reserve, Orissa
Moharli, Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve
2 comments:
Have no scientific backing, but in my observation based on one dog, it seems to be a nurture thing. Picolo was okay with chickens, cats etc around him when he lived in India. While he didn't play with them, it didn't bother him if they were sleeping next to him. Here in Denmark, he doesn't meet many cats and each time he sees one, he barks and chases them. He has only been living here for 2 years now!
That's interesting, thanks June! I have been wondering about Kimaya too. While she lived in Nagaon (2009, 2010) she was friends with my two cats and didn't play too many "chase the cat" games, though she always chased out the tom cat that came into our garden. But in January this year I shifted her to Mumbai and now Nagaon is her holiday home that she visits only every 2-3 weeks. She now chases the cats each time we go there. It's a game but obviously the cats don't like it and neither do I. I guess she's extra boisterous because she doesn't see them all the time any more, but it's potentially dangerous for the cats because she might injure or even kill them by mistake.
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