Dogs of India

No matter where you go in India, you’ll find dogs. The majority of them are strays, though occasionally you’ll find the odd pure-bred with an owner. In Delhi, the strays were everywhere: lying along the side of the street, sometimes begging humans for scraps of food, or fighting amongst themselves for territory. The neighborhood Danny lived in during my last trip was full of dogs that would bark and howl all night long – therefore keeping me up in the wee hours. They were pretty sad creatures, as most of them were skinny and many of them had injuries like limp or missing limbs.

In Shimla, the dogs appear hardier, many with thick coats, probably due to the fact that it gets cold up here in the Himalayan foothills. They are generally cared for better, insofar as many of them have been spayed or neutered (which is easily revealed by the notch cut into their ears). Plus people seem to adopt local strays by giving them leftovers.

Regardless of where they are, the majority of dogs tend to do the sorts of things that dogs do. By this, I mean that they will generally lie down wherever they please, sometimes block vehicle traffic with seemingly little concern for their own safety (in big urban areas like Delhi, this is where they get their injuries from), chase each other playfully, dig through the trash for tasty morsels, and look at you mournfully if you happen to be eating an ice cream cone.

Since Shimla is rather small, it’s easy to get to know the neighborhood strays. There are four that live up at Jakhu temple, who keep the monkeys in check and also spend a lot of time sleeping. There’s one who lives by the corner shop near our hotel that Danny often says hello to.

People here keep dogs as pets, too. Usually you see Labrador retrievers or little moppy ones like shih tzus or pomeranians, though I’ve also seen a pug. There is a dachshund named Magic, who is owned by a shopkeeper down at the Lakkar Bazaar (“wood market”), who seems to really enjoy chasing the monkeys that hang out by the shop.

While it may sound like there’s a lot of monkey-chasing going on, there really isn’t. Dogs and monkeys can be wary of each other, but often they will leave each other alone.