A bow ‘wow’ move

A notification issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade banning the import of foreign breed dogs has been met with much cheer not just by the city’s animal right activists, but also pet owners who house the high-maintenance foreign breeds. This would mean, no longer patting St Bernards, Siberian Huskies or Alaskan Malamutes during a walk on the promenade, which pet lovers say is a small price to pay to ensure that the dogs are not subjected to hostile conditions in the process of making a home away from home.

Poor legislation in place to regulate the transport of these dogs, hostile climatic conditions and reckless treatment at the hands of the breeders are just some of the things that the directive will save the pets from, says pet owners who welcome the decision even as they pat their foreign furry friends.

Rupesh Thik Owner of a Neopolitan Mastiff — Ceaser I support the directive by the government. It is very important. So many of the imported breed dogs die of heat strokes and diseases because the climate is not suitable for them. Sometimes, people can’t afford to raise their dogs and buy them just for the fun of it. When it comes to taking care of their health, it becomes too much work. In nuclear families, the dog lives alone all day. If you want a pet, it shouldn’t matter what breed it is. Foreign breeds need high maintenance — something everybody can’t commit to and end up abandoning the pet mid-way. It’s best not to go for a foreign breed if you can’t take up the responsibility.

Abhay Singh Owner of an English Bull Dog — Ari Gold I think it is a great directive. Recently we were contemplating shifting to Dubai, but all the airlines refused to take the responsibility of Ari Gold. I tried getting in touch with pet agencies in Mumbai and Delhi but no one helped. This forces me to think that if these dogs are not allowed to be transported how do they come to the city in first place It’s obvious that the middlemen and the breeders are not treating them well.

Bulldogs tend to have a lot of joint and skin issues and the humidity and the climactic conditions in Mumbai would only add to their woes. We shifted to Goa recently and his health has been much better, there are many options for him to exercise on the beach with fresh air. There were times in Mumbai when we would take him down for a walk and he would come panting. We later had to monitor his timings and make sure that his walks were timed according to the temperature.

Nishant Joshi Owner of Old English Mastiff - Leo I think it’s an excellent directive. I have two old English mastiffs and I adopted them from Ambala. Their parents had a litter of 10 puppies and these two were left behind. The breeders would have killed them had I not brought them with me. The dogs were little puppies we brought them and today they have grown up to be huge 120-kg animals. I spend about '1,50,000 a month on their maintenance. They require about 40 kg of meat each month and when I take them out for a walk, no one walks on that side of the street.

Breeders in the city have created a breeding factory even when there are no buyers to support the maintenance cost of these breeds. When they can’t sell the puppies, they end up killing them, which is just so cruel.

Poonam Malik Owner of Chow Chow —Genghis Khan Breeders in Mumbai don’t have morals and they resort to unnatural and unscrupulous breeding of animals. I hope the directive will curb this. A pet is like a child and the owners should take complete responsibility of the new member in the family. We make sure that Genghis Khan is in an air-conditioned room throughout the day, his diet is regulated and he is fed cold curdrice. The grooming of these dogs needs to be taken care of. The instructions given by the vet are followed to the T. Considering the fact that he is a small breed, 15-20 minutes of walk in a day is enough for him. We make sure that we take him for a walk early in the morning or late in the night, because that’s when the temperature is low.

Nikunj Sharma, PETA Imagine staying at minus 35 degree Celsius and suddenly coming to a city with temperatures as high as 35 degree, it’s a huge shift. It becomes very difficult for the animals. They face severe health issues coping with India’s tropical climate, which remains hot and humid half of the year. Many of these dogs have thick coats to keep them warm in their native country's temperature so they become a misfit in India. Dogs stop eating if it gets too hot, so many of them suffer from anorexia. Common health ailments found in purebred dogs include breathing problems, cancer, heart disease, bleeding disorders, skeletal malformation and eye problems.

Drishti Naik , Owner of Lhasa Apso — Lyka Foreign breeds require temperatures that are suitable for their body type and India certainly doesn't fit the bill. Dogs here die of heat strokes and their grooming also needs to be taken care of. St. Bernards and Huskies require extremely cold temperatures and the soaring heat of Mumbai is certainly not fair for them. I have a Lhasa Apso and it’s a Tibetan breed. It’s a very small dog and that’s the plus point, considering the fact that we stay in an apartment. Maintaining big dogs becomes extremely difficult. Even for the Lhasa, I make sure that his hair is trimmed and he is groomed well in summer. Even vets recommend adopting a mongrel over foreign breeds because they suffer severe dehydration in our country.