September 25, 2026

It was a widely published news item, both Times of India and Indian Express carried the news item on 25 May 2026, accompanied by a picture taken by the famous photojournalist Tapan Mukherjee and a report written by Pinaki Mujumdar. It was about three stray dogs protecting a newborn baby girl next to a garbage bin in Kolkata until some local woman noticed and rescued her. Interestingly, it was reported that the dogs ran for some time behind the van that carried the baby to a hospital.

History was repeated in Nabadwip in Nadia District of West Bengal in December 2025. This report was from Times of India and Hindustan times. A few stray dogs protected a newborn baby in front of a washroom until a local woman named Radha Bhowmick discovered the baby and admitted her to Krishnanagar Sadar Hospital. Interestingly, it was reported that the dogs parted to give way to the lady as soon as she arrived and took charge of the baby.

Researchers in human animal relations agree that the first animal domesticated by humans; maybe about fifteen thousand years ago, is the dog. Since then, even though many other animals which are directly more useful to the humans like the cows or goats, were domesticated much later, the authentic fraternity between the humans and the dogs continued. Primarily, they were companions for hunting for the hunter gatherers. However, they were more needed as sentries for guarding the human habitations, especially after the humans settled down in certain areas where they cultivated wheat first and other corn, vegetables and plants later, maybe around ten thousand years ago. Dogs continued to be the best of the animals reared at home by larger numbers of people.

The companionship of dogs and humans are available from epics written more than two millennia earlier. Argos waits for twenty years and is the first to recognise Odysseus when he finally comes home as described in Odyssey by Homer, the Greek classicist. A Biography of Virginia Woolf refers to Snow White, her terrier. Buck is a famous dog in ‘The Call of the Wild’ by Jack London. Famous writer John Watson’s dog shows its character of being loyal at heart which it regularly exhibited. ‘A dog is a gentleman, I hope to go to his heaven, not mans’, wrote Mark Twain. He also said that if heaven went by merit, man would be out, and dog will be in; a cryptic statement; not so complimentary to the humans; as made by Winston Churchill, when he also said ‘dogs look up to us, cats look down on us and pigs treat us as equals’.

There is a recent newspaper report, 10 September 2026, about a dog becoming the ‘bestie’, to use a newgen word, in a place called Kunnamkulam in Kerala. The story is an exceptional friendship between Aghori Ganeshan, a domesticated elephant, and Kukku, a female dog, who started following him like a shadow. Kukku is always there as a sentry to Ganeshan wherever Ganeshan is taken to be a part of processions. Ranjith, the owner of the elephant from Calicut, reports that the elephant took the initiative to keep his trunk with affection on Kukku and since then Kukku was always with Ganeshan including even when Ganeshan is taken for a bath. The mahouts lift Kukku and put him in the lorry when Ganeshan travels in it for different festivals in different places.

I grew up in a village, this is some decades ago, in the company of more than four dogs, sometimes even a few more as the young ones grew up. They were constant companions and sometimes feeding them and looking after them were additional tasks which were given to me and I used to like them because it offered chances to play with them too, especially, the younger ones. As I grew older the fraternity and the interactions with dogs became lesser because the stress was on studies.

In the first house where I stayed in Mangalore for a decade, I had different breeds of dogs. There were Alsatians, Dobermans, Pomeranians, Dachshunds and country pups, though not all of them were there at the same time. When my daughter was young, I got her a mini Pomeranian which she could easily carry around. They became so friendly that the little dog found a place in her bed which could not be approved. However, when the dog was shut out of the door of the bedroom to prevent it sharing my daughter’s bed, it would slip into the mosquito net, after I got out from the room and the door remained open. Subsequently, though I knew the habit of the dog, I allowed it to happen for fear of displeasing my daughter every morning. Though much older by then, my daughter grieved for a few days without even talking to anybody else at home when this dog died of illness.

The eternal love for dogs and their love for humans were widely publicised recently during the world cup competition in Mexico City. Alejandra Garcia had a six year old female dog called Gorda who had gone missing a month earlier to the competitions. The owner posted the matter on social media and was waiting for some information. It was then, quite by chance that she saw on television Gorda being lifted up by spectators after Mexico's 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic. They shouted out that even a dog was celebrating the world cup. Alejandra reached the place wading through thousands of people. Alejandra was excited to get Gorda and she was only unhappy that the dog had gone thinner and had a few wounds on her body. Strange are the relations between humans and dogs.

Dogs have special affection for those who feed them. I have always been a disciplinarian when it came to the routine life of the dogs. They would be fed at fixed times and I made sure that the dogs would not waste food. Bruno, the best Alsatian I had, had wonderful habits. He would not eat even when rice and meat were provided to him, unless he was asked to eat. Even in that asking, he demanded certain amount of courtesy. Unless the provider of the food looked at him and pushed the bowl a little forward and asked him ‘Bruno please eat’, he would not even look at the bowl. Similar behaviour patterns were also noticed in other dogs. The Pomeranian, his name was Puff, because he was a bundle of white hair, would stand in between my daughter and I and bark at me if I raised my voice while speaking to her.

When Geetha, the police dog, passed away in 2023, after a decade of service to the department, Mangalore police honoured her, who participated in about 800 cases as a sniffer with a rank of the captain. A couple of years earlier, Sudha, yet another dog, also was given the same type of salute for her service when she died. Sniffer dogs are of immense help for police forces. Leon, a Belgian Malinois, who used to track wildlife crime suspects for many years retired from the forest department of Assam. The exceptional feature of this animal was that it followed a suspect’s scent trail for nearly twenty kilometers across several forest camps. On 17 August 2026, Leon retired, with official honors in recognition of his service for eight years. Recently, the Maharashtra government established a new system of looking after the older police dogs when they retire from their active service. No other animal in the world got a designated position or status like what is given to a dog.

Recently, Jinny Lu, a four year old female dog, attracted worldwide attention. She was a South Korean White Pug and was abandoned in a box on one of the hills of South Korea. After she was saved and after the news spread out, an American lady, Michael Grandy from California adopted her, and the four year old presently lives with her. Recently, she was registered for a competition in Sonoma County Fairgrounds in California to identify ‘World’s Ugliest Dog’. Rounded projecting eyes and a long hanging tongue contributed to her ugliness which led to her winning the first prize. She also got a chance to be a model of the Mug Root Beer Company to enhance their sales.

There are a few countries which are known for eating dog meat. South Korea, for centuries, considered dog meat as a desired item on their dining tables. There were types of kennels which were meant only to breed dogs for meat. In 2024, there were 1150 dog farms and 1600 dog meat hotels. The stew with Bosintang and dog meat was considered one of the finest food items. However, in January 2024, the government of South Korea banned killing dogs and using their meat for food with a minimum sentence of three year imprisonment. It is to be remembered that in the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Indonesia dog meat dishes are popular.

An interesting story emerged from Chellarkovil Mettu in Kerala Tamil Nadu border, where a dog and a tiger fell into a dry well. Though the tiger hunted the dog before both fell into the fifteen feet deep well, this was witnessed by the villagers, the wild animal did not try to attack the dog while in the well. Forest officials darted to sleep the wild animal and carried it to Thekkady Wildlife sanctuary. The dog which was also brought up with the sedated wild animal to the top of the well ran away without giving a chance for the forest people to catch it.

Recently, the Supreme Court came down heavily on the officials of the states and the union territories for their failure to comply with its directions it gave them for sterilisation and immunisation of stray dogs in accordance with the new Animal Birth Control rules 2023 under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960. The three judge bench found fault with the state administrations for their failure in protecting people from stray dogs without killing them. In November 2025, a three judge bench strongly spoke against the units of government administration feeding dogs in their premises. The court directed the Animal Welfare Board of India to take greater interest in the matter of looking after dogs.

The most interesting report came on 16 August 2026 from the Kerala Veterinary University. It proposes to offer a Certified Professional Dog Training Programme for six weeks. It hopes to teach the admitted applicants how to feed dogs, how to train them and how to generally look after them. The course which costs Rs. 40,000.00 as fees has one unusual condition for admission. Every applicant should come with a three to five month old puppy which is a condition for admission. Strange indeed are the subjects, courses of study and minimum qualifications as required for admissions in universities.

These days, I miss my dogs after I had given the last two Pomeranians that I had to a person who promised to look after them as I had to move into a flat. Just as I miss my plants and flowers, I also miss my dogs and it took a couple of months to get rehabilitated to live without them.