In India, where dog has found mention in religious texts, none can imagine that people would not love dogs. It is associated with different forms of Lord Shiva. Lord Dattatreya is associated with four dogs that symbolize the four Vedas. It is associated with Kaal Bhairav.
The story from The Mahabharat says that Yudhisthir, known for his righteousness, refused to board the chariot of Lord Indra that was to take him to heaven because Indra refused to allow his companion dog to accompany him. Yudhisthir refused to go to heaven unless the dog was allowed too.
This is what he argued with Indra: “The dog was my faithful companion and I cannot abandon it. It sought my help and gave me unconditional love. The pleasures of heaven will mean nothing to me in comparison to the grief that would come from abandonment. It has done nothing to deserve abandonment and had none of the weaknesses of my wife and brothers. If it does not deserve to go to heaven, then neither do I.” The dog was given entry too since the dog was dharm in disguise.
The love of man for dog has been captured in Yudhisthir’s love for the stray dog that had started following the Pandavas when they began their journey to their last breath. None disputes that dogs are men’s best friends. All across the world people keep dogs as pets to ward off loneliness and anxiety. Dogs are also used by therapists to cure certain mental disorders.
But love for dogs does not necessarily mean keeping dogs as pets or exposing oneself to ferocious dogs and getting bitten in the process. Dogs are loved and cared till they don’t bite. If they bite, humans have the right to avoid the canines or keep a safe distance.
The new rule announced by Noida authority on compulsory registration and vaccination of dog and fine on owners in case of dog bites must be seen as a course correction to dog menace. This is extension of the Uttar Pradesh government’s order of May this year where the law was introduced in Lucknow and was to be extended to other cities as well. A series of incidents have come to light where children were mauled to death by ferocious dogs and of people in gated society getting bitten by dogs. There are two kinds of issues one faces. One is from stray dogs that roam the streets and lanes within the gated societies, and the other is the threat posed by varieties of dogs that are kept in family, but are not social with other members of the community. They serve more as status symbols than the love of the owners.
Keeping Pitbull, Rottweiler, Bulldog, Doberman, and also German Shepherd is dangerous since these dogs are not kept in an apartment or a flat. They serve different purposes and keeping them in confines of the four walls is being unfair to their nature. For their owners, they are status symbols. The status of dog owner is directly proportional to the height and variety of the dog breed. But for others they become a menace. Not only they scare, but they also become dangerous if owners do not keep tabs and take them out without a leash. The creature of love becomes symbols of hate by those who get the bites. The reason is they are not exposed to human beings as community dogs and when they get unleashed, they may create a ruckus in their freedom to roam.
Dogs have a special place in India. None of the villages would be complete without a stray dog that keeps guarding the villages and barks at the sign of danger. These dogs are social and stay as family and community dogs fed by villagers. There are hardly any complaints. Dogs and humans live peacefully.
Similarly, none of the urban streets would be complete without stray dogs. But it is not that every stray dog bites. They are territorial and bark at the approach of other dogs but they are very pally and playful with residents. Even the poorest of the families who may spend their nights on the streets make friendship with dogs by feeding them. They do not own the dogs but the bond is too deep to be ignored.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had surprised everyone by urging people to adopt Indian breed of dogs as pets. When the country had begun opening up after the corona lockdown, Modi in his 68th edition of “Mann ki Baat” in August 2020, exhorted the virtues of local breed of dogs. Experts endorsed this by attesting that local breed are more mixing, intelligent and with better immunity.
Stray dogs in most societies must have been vaccinated due to action of municipal authorities who take the dogs away, vaccinate them and bring them back to their local habitat. Every society is supposed to earmark a place for dog feeding so that dog lovers can go there and feed them instead of feeding at various places.
The same cannot be said about the varieties of dogs that come out for morning and evening walks with their owners making task of other morning walkers difficult. The dog owners are supposed to take special care of the hygiene factor when they take the pets for a walk. But most do not take care causing a lot of inconvenience.
If you keep a dog, you must maintain discipline. Take these dogs for natural calls to designated places. Ensure that our display of status symbols do not adversely impact independence of others. If you scare children and the elderly, you are not doing any good to society. And in case of accidents, one must take the responsibilities. You cannot shirk away your accountability just because the law is not strong. The dog gives pleasure to your family and is a member of your family; hence, you must know the nature of the dog and take care that it does not become a nuisance.
Registration of dogs would ensure better compliance such as vaccination, better medical care and also enable authorities to know if you have kept a hunter dog in a flat. Society living demands greater responsibility. So far as stray dogs are concerned, every such dog that has become ferocious are identified in society and they must be removed to better habitation lest they spoil other dogs. As society evolves and faces new challenges, it must evolve and ensure better compliance. It is time to empower RWA to devise their own rules for creating awareness among dog lovers.