In memoriam

Lalee
15 March 2001 - 11 May 2011


Portraits by Heather Fener, 2009

Ester

Look at this beautiful INDog! So elegant, and I love tricolours!

She was born in Chaudi in South Goa, very near Palolem. She was adopted as a pup by Hillevi Sjödén and lives with her in Norway.

'Ester was found abandoned as a puppy in Chaudi,' writes Hillevi. 'When we found her she was only about three or four weeks old according to the vet.'

She was a very brave and curious puppy!

'I took care of her during my four-month long stay, found a family to take care of her for a couple of months while I had to return to Norway to earn money, so I could go back and take her home with me.

She has now been here in Norway for almost two years, and she is the sweetest, funniest dog ever!

Adopting her was the best decision I've ever made. She brings so much joy into my life.'



People often tell me she is so beautiful, and ask what kind of breed she is... I started to google around about Indian breeds and found pariah dogs, which I think looked a lot like my Ester! Not that the breed is that important to me, but it's always fun to know a little bit more about your dog!

Here are some pictures of her!'

Chuck the cat is an excellent sleeping buddy!

Here's the whole pack sniffing in the neighbourhood!

Photos and text: Hillevi Sjödén
Norway

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Not INDogs: The Dhangar Dog of Maharashtra

Time to highlight one of the 'not-INDog' village breeds I mentioned in my June post, INDogs and Not-INDogs: Village dogs of India.  I have some lovely pictures to share of the Dhangari Kuttra, sheepdog of Maharashtra, thanks to a few nice people in the doggy network!

























A bit of background: The Dhangar community are nomadic shepherds of this region, and kuttra of course means 'dog' in marathi.

Though the name Dhangari Kuttra is well known in Maharashtra, no-one seems to have consistently documented the breed or tried to preserve it in any way since W V Soman included it in his book 'The Indian Dog' (Popular Prakashan, 1963). That's the only book on Indian dog breeds till now, by the way.

Major Soman's description mentions a moderate coat, tufted tail turned over the back, weight about 25 to 30 pounds (that's 11-13.6 kilos), height of males about 20 inches, strong legs, mixed colours; '...occasionally met with tan mixture but very seldom...body not very long but with a wide chest and strong muscular legs. Face a bit long with small dropped ears...Very strong and can work for the whole day. A perfect watch dog.' 

Judging by the few Dhangar dogs and crosses I've seen, and the photos clicked by others, the weight and height estimated by Major Soman are rather low. These dogs seem on average larger than INDogs. For comparison you can read our Breed Description for the INDog (check 'size'). 

Even in 1963 Major Soman mentioned that the Dhangar Dog was threatened by mixing with other dogs: 'The breed is getting extinct as they are being crossed with local dogs forming mongrels.'

Ryan Braganza, of our INDog Project team, is an avid biker and has been looking for these dogs on all his trips in the Western Ghats. He and his friend Prafull Sakharkar clicked these photos below. I can't tell whether the dogs are naturally very varied, or mixed with other breeds as Major Soman wrote.






































































It's not always easy (or safe) to photograph these dogs from close quarters though. They are known for being excellent and ferocious guard dogs, and do not take kindly to strangers approaching too close or staring at them.

Here are some more wonderful Dhangar dog photos, clicked by Malaika Fernandes.













































































Gayatri Ganesh recently sent in some beautiful pictures including the one at the top of the post, along with this interesting description: 

'We do a lot of work with Dhangar shepherds, through the organization Anthra. 

The Dhangars migrate in small groups of three to four (husband, wife, mother-in-law or sister), with their flock, about 200-800 sheep, five horses and two dogs, across the Deccan Plateau for about six to nine months of the year...

These are some of their beautiful, intelligent and hardworking dogs. The spike collar they told me is to keep leopards away.

They won't let anyone they don't know touch the lambs or the horses. And the dogs learn from each other - they receive no special training from the shepherds in how to be sheep dogs.'















































What a shame it would be to let this unique breed get swamped out of existence! 

The fate of indigenous village dogs everywhere?

Photos: Prafull Sakharkar, Ryan Braganza 

Malaika Fernandes

Gayatri Ganesh http://www.anthra.org, www.nonsensegirl.wordpress.com

Maharashtra

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Mongolia with Champ and Jebo

Champ and Jebo are settled in Ulaanbaatar now, with Neha and Anoop at last! Neha shifted them there in May. 

They're loving all the long walks and new friends.

Soon after arriving in Mongolia they set off on a road trip with the family. 

No more text required. Enjoy the pictures and all the stunning dogs! It was hard to pick just a few from Neha's album, so there are lots of photos this time!

A cute local dog (maybe mix-breed) and a husky, at a highway restaurant about 50 km outside Ulaanbaatar.

Below: These teddybear beauties were at Orkhon Valley near a nomadic family ger. What a treat to see these two very different types in the same picture! The lithe INDog and these handsome furry giants. This is one of my favourite dog images ever.

And finally, here are some more Champ and Jebo pictures, in this very different landscape.

Do have a look at Neha's earlier photos of Mongolian village dogs, in case you missed that post. More adorable dogs to swoon over! (And read up on the first Indy invasion of Mongolia: LittleDog's!)

Photos: Neha Arora, Anoop Kayarat
Mongolia

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Village dogs of Khovsgol Nuur

Neha Arora and her husband Anoop Kayarat live in Ulaanbaatar now, and recently they went to the beautiful lake Khovsgol Nuur. It's known as the 'Blue Pearl of Mongolia' and is about 580 km away from Ulaanbaatar.

Neha is my top favourite dog photographer (have you seen her portraits of Kiba and Kimaya?) And she's a real dog person. In the midst of clicking the Ice Festival and horse-sledding, she managed to look out for the local dogs and get some beautiful pictures. 

Here are a few! 

Outside a 'ger'

I've never seen pictures of Mongolian village dogs before, so this was really interesting for me and other aboriginal dog fanciers in our network. These dogs seem to be of the husky/spitz type. Just as our tropical village dogs are usually of the dingo/pariah type. It's possible many North Asian village dogs look like this. (If anyone has photos, please email me!)
























'This big brown dog was at the beginning of Khovsgol Nuur in the town Hatkal,' says Neha.
(Perhaps mixed some generations back with the Banhar, a Mongolian molosser breed very like the Tibetan Mastiff?)






















'The other two dogs were 15 km down the lake at our Ger camp. That area was quite isolated.' 






























































'The dogs are owned in the same manner as Indian village dogs. They are fed leftovers and allowed to sleep outside the houses/gers. They did not bark at us, but may be watch dogs to alert people about the presence of wild animals. We were told wolves and leopards are seen in the area.

'During summer and events like the Ice Festival, the main occupations of the community are centred around tourism. The rest of the time it's predominantly herding (yaks, sheep, horses and some reindeer), and associated jobs.'

Thanks for the photos, Neha. Looking forward to more!

(Want to see some photos of the beautiful countryside around Ulaanbaatar? Check this post about cute INDog-mix LittleDog, who lived in Mongolia for a while with his humans.

And read about Neha's and Anoop's beautiful Indies Champ and Jebo here. They'll be travelling to Mongolia soon).

Photos: Neha Arora
Khovsgol Nuur
Mongolia

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Asian Dogs, by Lili Chin

Lili Chin is my favourite dog artist. I love her posters on dog training and behaviour. 

Her 'Dogs of the World' series is the most adorable breed directory ever. I particularly like that she's included aboriginal dogs along with the better-known modern breeds. 

Have a look at the full set on her Doggie Drawings website.

I have 'Asian Dogs' from the series, framed in our study. Look closely at the third row...! 

This is a terrible photo taken with my phone, with a flash reflection and all kinds of mess. The original poster is in her website.

You can follow her wonderful work on her Facebook page. 

Oh, and she does cats too!

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Dogs of Tioman Island, Malaysia

These handsome dogs could easily be mistaken for INDogs, and I think one of them looks quite like a dingo. They were clicked by Barry Drew on the eastern side of Tioman Island, Malaysia.

It would be very interesting to know what dogs in the neighbouring parts of Malaysia look like. 

Barry's description:

'Tioman's locals are predominantly Muslim Malay and due to tradition do not keep dogs; there are are a couple of pets owned by foreign business owners on the more "developed" western side of the island, something in stark contrast for those who are traveling from neighbouring Thailand.

So I was thrilled to see this pack of dogs coming down to the beach to drink from the river. Very beautiful, natural looking and I think larger than the famed Telomian. I asked a local how their existence was possible given the local attitude to dogs. He told me they were owned by a local man and used for hunting purposes.'

'They were in fantastic condition. There were also two pups accompanying them. 

Tioman is a small island with human habitation restricted to the coastline. The rest of the island is dense rainforest on rocky hilly terrain. A hunting dog there would have to be well adapted.

This is a Juara dog that was clearly a pet, he let me get quite close while the other dogs pictured were on high alert. Very powerful looking dog with musculature that would put my Akita to shame.'
























Note from Rajashree: The rainforest region of Tioman Island is a protected area, the Pulau Tioman Wildlife Reserve. However some of the protected mammals are probably being illegally hunted, using dogs. Aboriginal communities in India also sometimes continue to hunt illegally, often using INDogs, in areas where law enforcement is weak.

Photos and text: Barry Drew
Juara, East Tioman Island
Malaysia

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