Flabbergasted, angry, confused. These are the emotions flooding residents who own dogs like Mastiffs, Rottweilers, and Pitbulls. Ever since the Centre imposed a ban last week on the import, sale, and breeding of more than 20 “ferocious breeds, which are dangerous for human life,” panic has spread in dog-loving circles. Calcutta High Court on Thursday partially stayed the order but pet parents are yet to heave a sigh of relief.
The ministry of fisheries, animal husbandary and dairying, on March 12, cited cases where certain “ferocious” breeds had attacked and killed people. The move followed a report by a panel of experts in response to an order from Delhi High Court.
The ministry has banned these breeds (see list) and requested state governments to use necessary implementation guidelines in this regard. Calcutta High Court’s stay order, issued yesterday, applies only to the sterilisation of these breeds. It states that as per the circular even puppies would have to be sterilised, which would be fatal at their age. The court issued the order in response to a petition filed by a Tanmay Dutta, who owns two dogs. Dutta's counsel argued that all dogs bite and that merely biting was not enough to classify a dog a ferocious. The order shall remain stayed till April 30 or until further orders.
Pet owners, however, are hoping that the entire ban is lifted.
Gentle giants
“This rule is nonsense,” says Vivek Singh of FE Block. Vivek has two French mastiffs and a cane corso, all of which have got red-flagged. “My dogs are trained, socialised, and travel with me to hotels and resorts all over the country without ever having caused trouble.”
Vivek is now worried about the railways allowing him to travel with these breeds. “Ill-wishers can also harass us now for owning these breeds,” he says.
Tibetan Mastiff
Anyone who accuses Rottweilers of aggression must visit the Datta household in DL Block. “My year-old baby climbs our dog, pulls his ears, pulls his whiskers and all Kaizar does is lick him in return,” says Kajari Datta.
“If brought up right, Rottweilers love children. They won’t bite unless threatened,” says the lady who dreams of a house with four or five muscle dogs like Rottweilers and Pitbulls. “I will miss these breeds terribly if they get banned,” she sighs.
Kasturi Basu of New Town’s BB Block says the breeds are unfairly maligned. “When my father got hospitalised, when I lost a dear friend, and when I used to get nightmares a while back, Chewie would lick my face, stick by my side, and take care of me. Rottweilers aren’t the blood-thirsty beasts they are being made out to be, but yes, they need to be bred and brought up well,” she says.
To neuter or not
The order asks for existing dogs of these breeds to be sterilised so their kind dies out after this generation.
This clause has pet parents up in arms. Some do not want their loved ones to go under the knife, some say it is against nature and some simply want their puppies.
“It’s their fundamental right to survive and I am against getting him snipped,” says Suyash Todi of CG Block, who has a Pitbull named Brute. “Brute has been mated before but we didn’t keep his pups. But I want to do so now. I love muscle dogs and want a cane corso too. This ban is illogical.”
Brute has the power of a bull but Suyash has professionals to train and drain him out. “He plays with children in the green verge every evening. They love him and he would never hurt them,” he says.
Sourav Roy, a BE Block-based wildlife enthusiast and conservationist, is against neutering his Tibetan mastiffs too. “It’s against nature and Tcan harm their health,” he says.
Sourav is, in fact, working with biogenetic scientists at the Indo-China border to revive the breed. “I have a male and a female and would be donating their puppies to this project so the purebred line can be maintained. Unethical breeders have made Tibetan mastiffs ferocious and susceptible to diseases but we are trying to conserve them. How will that be possible if we are forced to neuter them?” he asks.
NRI pets
Kathika Das of BJ Block had an adorable Rottweiler Bozzo, who moved to Switzerland with her daughter some years ago. “They know how to respect dogs in Europe. Far from being considered dangerous, Bozzo would travel with us to parks and restaurants on buses and trams,” says Das.
Ujjaini Roy, who had a Lhasa Apso Kuchu in BC Block, has now shifted to Switzerland, where she runs a pet crèche. “No breed is banned here but dog owners muzzle their pets in public if the dogs are aggressive. Pets roam freely with their owners here but it might be obligatory to muzzle them up in certain places. If the Swiss authorities classify a dog as dangerous, they must be muzzled in public too. But they are not banned,” she says.
More importantly, Ujjaini says there are strict rules for dog owners. “No matter what the breed, training them is mandatory. It was also a must for the owners to get training on handling their dogs but that rule has been relaxed now,” she says.
Once bitten, twice shy
The ban may be supported by victims of dog bites but even they say it is not fool-proof.
“My daughter got bitten by a street dog two weeks ago and still can’t walk,” says Mahasweta Sil of AB Block, who mentions a family that has recently moved into a flat above them and which comprises a “biter” Rottweiler. “The dog has bitten several people in their old neighbourhood and the family has warned us about him. They are giving the dog away as they are unable to handle him,” says Mahasweta.
Cane Corso
“Such powerful dogs are fine for the forces but if regular households cannot train and socialise them, it may be better off to have them banned,” she says. “But most attacks are by street dogs and this ban does nothing to control their population.”
Anindita Dutt talks of the time her friend was attacked by a Golden Retriever and about how as a child, her sister had once joked about hitting Anindita. “Our little Spitz lunged at her and sunk his teeth so deep that the cat’s eye on her finger ring broke in two,” says the resident of New Town’s CE Block. “So why ban my Cane Corso alone? Will they also ban Spitz and Retrievers? Cats are way more ferocious than dogs so will they ban cats as well?”
Tapas Sengupta, a dog owner of AE Block, was associated with the dog show of Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation till two years ago. “Both my wife and son have been bitten by German Shepherd Dogs (GSD), who the owners later confessed were biters. It was the fault of the owners, not dogs, and this does not call for a blanket ban,” he says.
Symptomatic solution
At this year’s Jamshedpur dog show, the obedience round was aced by a Rottweiler, who also won the best companion dog prize.
The dog’s owner is Jay Biswas, who runs the Burning Eyes K9 dog training centers in Mumbai and Jamshedpur and frequents the township for workshops. “I must have some 60 dogs enrolled now for aggression issues and 50 of them are Indies, so why shame any specific breed,” he says.
“Rottweilers aren’t for everyone and the government needs to monitor their breeders and buyers. The dogs need space to chanelise their energy and scope to socialise. Else it’s like handing a 10-wheel trailer to someone with a scooter’s licence — a recipe for disaster.”
Paramita Das, canine trainer and behaviourist, says regulations should be right through. “We need ethical breeders who will not breed dogs with temperament and health issues, who keep them in hygienic spaces and who do not mate the females season after season,” says the FE Block resident.
She also asks dog lovers to study a breed’s nature and requirements before bringing one home. “Without training, even a Labrador can be vicious. These days I’m getting calls from owners complaining that their Cane Corsos and GSDs are not aggressive! I refuse such clients and explain that even a guard dog must not be aggressive without reason,” she says.
Misuse of ban
“This ban is being weaponised by dog-haters,” says Kumar Krishna Basu Roy, who runs Corona, the oldest pet shop in the city that now has a branch near Chingrihata.
“I got an SOS call the other day from a man who was accosted by neighbours for walking his ‘banned’ Rottweiler.”
“Critics must realise that at shows the judges — who are strangers to the dogs — put their hands into their mouths to check their teeth. They don’t get bitten. And when such good-natured dogs are bred their puppies inherit this nature,” says Basu Roy, a breeder of 17 dog breeds, but none of which have come under the scanner.
Market dynamics
In what may come as a surprise, the price of the ‘banned’ breeds is expected to rise now due to the perceived scarcity. “I’ve started getting calls for Mastiffs. People want puppies before they get banned,” says Krishnendu Chowdhury, a breeder who has supplied many a muscle breed like Rottweilers to the twin townships.
“Prices may rise for the best quality dogs as genuine breed-lovers want them. But if fly-by-night backyard breeders have any ‘without-paper’ puppies, they’ll panic-sell them dirt cheap at Hatibagan,” says the breeder who is mulling a protest meet around City Centre soon.
Another breeder, Subhajit Ghosh, agrees. “The uncertainty has created a fear psychosis in the market. Ninety people may be unwilling to buy banned puppies but 10 are willing to pay more for their favourite breed,” says the man who breeds two dogs under the scanner - Rottweilers and American Staffordshire Terrier.
Basu Roy is scared that backyard breeders will starve the unsold puppies to death.
Legal action
Pan-India organisations, including the Kennel Club of India, are moving court against the ban. “The three biggest clubs in town — Calcutta Canine Club, Calcutta Kennel Club and North Calcutta Kennel Club — are in talks to file a joint court case on this issue,” says Amit Bose, vice-president of the latter.
“We get a huge number of these dogs in our shows, especially Rottweilers. There are even dedicated Rottweiler clubs. “Such a ban will also depress dog owners and hit the economy as it employs very many handlers and trainers,” he says.
The order does not specify if clubs can continue to exhibit existing dogs, what the fate of newborns would be if they cannot be sold and how the rules will be enforced. The list mentions “Mastiffs” so does it include the indigenous Bully Kutta that classifies as Indian Mastiff? Emails sent to the department concerned by The Telegraph Salt Lake with these queries yielded no response.
Mayor Krishna Chakraborty does not support the ban. “Trying to eradicate a breed is akin to genocide,” said the CJ Block resident who has two Siberian Huskeys and a Labrador but neither of the breeds is on the list.
The Corporation has provision to issue pet dog licence but since it is not mandatory, no figures could be obtained about the number of the said breeds in the township.
When told about neighbours protesting these dogs from taking walks, Chakraborty said it was unfortunate. “It is inhumane to jail a pet indoors. He has the right to roam outside, at least to answer nature’s call. We have received no notice from the state on the issue and so it’s a status quo for now. We trust that dog owners to act will responsibly and hope that their neighbours are compassionate,” she said.
Banned in life, adored in pop cult
The order bans more than 20 breeds- Pitbull Terrier, Tosa Inu, American Staffordshire Terrier, Fila Brasileiro, Dogo Argentino, American Bulldog, Boerboel, Kangal, Central Asian Shepherd Dog, Caucasian Shepherd Dog, South Russian Shepherd, Tornjak, Sarplaninac, Japanese Tosa, Akita, Mastiffs (boerbulls), Rottweiler, Terriers, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Wolf Dogs, Canario, Akbash Dog, Moscow Guard Dog, Cane Corso and every dog of the type commonly known as a ‘Ban Dog’.
Unfamiliar with these breeds? Here’s where you may have seen them-
l Akita – the most famous Akita is Hachiko, who greeted his owner at a train station in Tokyo every day. The owner died at work one day but the dog continued to visit the station and wait for over nine years, until his own death. The Akita’s devotion is a beloved tale in Japan. He has a statue built outside the station and the 2009 Richard Gere film Hachi: A Dog’s Tale told his tale.
l Neapolitan mastiff- In the Harry Potter book series, Hagrid’s dog Fang is said to be a boarhound but in the films he is shown to be a Neapolitan mastiff. The giant, muscular dog has wrinkly skin, and jowls that droop from his face but in Hagrid’s words, he is “a bloody coward”. Fang is loyal, playful and accompanies the gang into the forest for their adventures.
lWire fox terrier- There are several types of terriers and Snowy, from The Adventures of Tintin, is a wire fox terrier. The character was modeled on a fox terrier that Belgian cartoonist Herge would watch at a café he would frequent. Snowy is Tintin’s sidekick, brave and loyal to his master.
l French mastiff- The giant dog that initially bewilders but then endears Tom Hanks in the film 1989 action-comedy Turner & Hooch is a French mastiff. The dog, Hooch, witnesses the murder of his owner and then helps Hanks find the killer and finally dies saving Hank’s life.
l Parson Russell Terrier- Not only was a terrier an important character in the 2011 film The Artist, but he also stole the show on Oscar night dressed in a tuxedo. Uggie was rejected by his first two owners for being too wild but was adopted by a trainer and turned into a movie star. Fans had also led a “Consider Uggie” campaign to seek for him an honorary Oscar nomination.
Additional reporting by Sudeshna Banerjee
Write to saltlake@abp.in