What is it about a dog that eats millet bread that it is being included in Modi's security force?

What is it about a dog that eats millet bread that it is being included in Modi's security force?

The Special Protection Group tasked with protecting the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, has decided to include the indigenous Mudhol Hound dog breed.

The greatest quality of these extremely agile dogs is that they can survive even on 'a piece of barley or millet bread'.

These dogs, housed at the Canine Research Information Center (CRIC) in Bagalkot district of Karnataka, eat food found in typical Indian homes.

Their work is supported by only half a kilo of maize, wheat, arhar dal which is given to them twice a day. Along with this, two eggs and half a kilo of milk are also given daily. Many private breeders also give them some chicken to eat every week.

What are the features?

Dull dogs have a deep head, neck and chest. The legs are straight and the stomach is thin. The ear is bent downwards.

The Great Dane is the tallest domestic dog after the Great Dane. Its height is 72 cm and weight is 20 to 22 kg. In the blink of an eye, Mudhol dogs can sprint for a kilometer. These dogs have the body of an athlete and are no match for hunting.

According to experts, some characteristics of Mudhol breed dogs are shocking. For example, their eyes can rotate from 240 degrees to 270 degrees. However, they have a poor sense of smell compared to some indigenous breeds. They may have difficulty adjusting to the cold weather. Dr BV Shivaprakash, research director at the University of Veterinary Animal and Fisheries Sciences in Bidar, Karnataka, says: “Mudhol breed dogs should not be fed branded food. At CRIC, these dogs can survive on whatever they are fed. If the owner wants, he can add chicken to his meal. They can survive even after eating barley bread.

Sushant Handge, head of CRIC and assistant professor at the university, told The Time News Today Hindi: 'You can't keep this dog on a leash. He likes to roam freely. By walking around for an hour in the morning and evening, he can do his work very diligently. It is a dog attached to a person. It doesn't trust many people. Generally these dogs are used for surveillance work.

At a rally held in North Karnataka in 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the indigenous dog breed. After that several security agencies got puppies from CRIC and started training them.

SSB Rajasthan took two dogs from here in 2018. Meanwhile, Central Reserve Police Force CRPF Bangalore took two puppies. CISF Harikota received one (2019), BSF Techanpur four (2020), Forest Department Bandipur two (2020) and Indian Air Force Agra unit (2021,2022) seven puppies. While earlier the Remote Veterinary Corps or RVC Meerut had taken six dogs in 2015.

Where do these dogs come from?

Mudhol dogs were first noticed during the reign of Raja Maloji Rao Ghorpade (1884-1937). Tribals used these dogs for hunting. Maluji Rao's attention turned towards this. The monarch also gifted some Mudhol dogs to King George V during his visit to Britain.

Says Sushant Handge: 'It is said that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's army also used Mudhol dogs.'

Dr. Shivprakash said: “Usually these dogs are found only in Mudhol taluka. Now they are taken by private breeders from CRIC. Now dogs of this breed are being bred in Maharashtra, Telangana and other states as well.

Last year the National Bureau of Animal Genetics Resources (NBAGR), Karnal recognized and certified the Mudhol breed as an indigenous dog. After this certification many private breeders started selling these dogs to residents of various states around Mudhol and Bagalkot.

Lokapur Venkappa Navalgi of Mudhol taluk told The Time News Today Hindi: 'They have 18 dogs. 12 of them are female and six are male. We breed them once a year. Females can give birth to two to four and even ten to fourteen cubs a year.

Some people don't vaccinate dogs or even register them. This is a time-consuming process. So they sell a dog for 12 thousand rupees. But those who get the certification by injecting the dog, sell it for 13 to 14 thousand rupees. These dogs usually lived up to 16 years. But now it has remained 13-14 years.

Rashmi Mavenkarve, from Bangalore, told The Time News Today Hindi: 'We have a Mudhol dog here. He is very loving and gets along very well with my three year old daughter. He is so friendly that children start mistaking him for a teddy bear.

People say that they are quite hot-tempered, but this is not true. It all depends on how you take care of them. It's not aggressive at all. We used to have seven such dogs at a time.

She says of one of her furry dogs, Murphy: 'He gets bathed once a month. Still, his body doesn't smell like other dogs. We groom her once a week. It is also easy to eat. We feed him 250 grams of raga gunji and curd daily. They also have egg and about 100 grams of chicken. He is given 100 grams of rice a week. We give him vaccinations once a year. It's very easy to care.'

In New Zealand Amrit Hiraniya, a trained certified canine behaviourist, told the The Time News Today: 'Mudhol hounds (dogs) or greyhounds are generally thought of as hunting dogs. If they are being carried in the Indian infantry for the purpose of attacking and returning after detection of danger, they are perfectly suitable. In the world, only Mudhol breed dogs can rotate their eyes at 240 to 270 degrees.

"These dogs can run very fast," he says. They can run long jumps because their bodies are very thin. They can be very useful for infantry patrols as they can see even in the dark. Their ability to hear is more than the ability of humans or hearing aids.

He added: 'But if they are used to investigate crimes such as explosives detection, drugs or theft, they won't be as effective because the scent hounds have the sniffing ability of a Labrador, German Shepherd or Belgian. Less than Melanos.'

Hiraniya says indigenous breeds of dogs such as Kombai or Chapparari have a better sense of smell than Mudhol. But their vision is not so good.

He says that this is not the only quality of Madhol. Its skin is such that it survives well even in dry weather.'

Hiraniya says her skin is suited to the climate of Maharashtra and North Karnataka. A slight change in weather can cause rashes or fungus on their body. When you can breed such dogs privately with 10-30% better performance, then why not use these dogs with public money.

He says: 'All over the world people are moving towards adopting German Shepherds or Belgian Malinois. There are many reasons for this. One, the Belgian Malinois can withstand any climate. And it's smaller than a German Shepherd.

"You may remember that it was the Belgian Malinois who tracked down Osama bin Laden by sniffing," says Hiraniya. Even a second's delay in detecting explosives can be very dangerous. So it can be dangerous to involve Mudhol in such work.

He says: 'In the last seven to eight years, the Belgian Millenois must have sniffed more than 5,000 kilograms of drugs. These dogs were trained at the dog breeding center of the CRPF training center near Bangalore.