The Rajapalayam, Kanni and Chippiparai dogs are more familiar among the pet owners and breeders as guard dogs due to their delightful appearance and hardy nature. These dog breeds are found in the southern district of Tamil Nadu (Virudhunagar, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli district), India. History is replete with information about the origin of these dog breeds but no solid evidence exists to prove its exact origin. The increased demand for indigenous native dogs breeds like Rajapalayam, Kanni and Chippiparai, leading to flourishing of more kennels in and around the breeding tract of the above breeds. Lockdown and work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic gave more leisure time to the public and this led to more interest among the public in rearing pets including dogs and these all will result in more demand for indigenous dog breeds. The breeders without an experience in dog breeding are also involved in this dog breeding business and some of them face a number of problems in running the business and meet with fiscal loss. Individuals who run the kennel with successful managemental practices and marketing tactics can only survive in this business. Considering the above problems in mind, a study was carried out to list out the major constraints perceived by the kennel owners of the indigenous dog breeds so as to sketch out a package of practices in indigenous dog breeding business.
The present study was carried out in 39 randomly selected kennel owners maintaining the indigenous dog breeds like Rajapalayam, Kanni and Chippiparai dog breeds in Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts of Tamil Nadu. The constraints perceived by the breeders were collected by direct interview and Garett’s ranking technique was followed to rank the constraints perceived by the breeders of indigenous dog breeds. The breeders were asked to rank the factors that were limiting the breeding business of the above dog breed. These orders of merit were transformed into units of scores by using the following formula.
Where
Rij= Rank given for the ith factor by the jth individual.
Nj= Number of factors ranked by the jth individual.
The per cent position is converted into scores by referring to the table given by
Garett and Woodworth (1969). Then, for each factor, the scores of the individual respondents were added together and divided by the total number of respondents for whom scores were added. These mean scores for all the factors were arranged in descending order, ranks were given and the most influencing factors were identified.
The problems faced by the kennel owners are listed in the Table 1. Difficulty in getting KCI (Kennel club of India) registration is perceived as a problem by 58.23 per cent of the surveyed population and due to this their pups are fetching a low price. KCI (Kennel club of India) registration is essential for tracking the pedigree of a dog in India. Apart from this, KCI registration is compulsory to take part in any dog shows organized by KCI.
Unethical business tactics by the competitors is ranked in 6th position by the breeders. Many of the breeders doing this breeding business did not follow the animal welfare recommendation and scientific managemental practices and the pups purchased from these sources may develop some behavioral or health issues (Mention specific behavioral disorders and health issue with relevant references). Experiences during the socialization period (3-12 weeks of age) are known to play a vital role in shaping behavioral development
(Scott and Fuller, 1965). “Dominant aggression” (aggression directed toward people, especially the dog’s owner and owner’s family members) was more common among dogs acquired from pet stores (11/20; 55%), compared with animal shelters (34/129; 26.4%), breeders (119/394; 30.2%), friends or relatives (21/99; 21.2%), or bred at home (10/49; 20.4%,
P= 0.02). Pet store-acquired dogs also more often demonstrated social fears (fear of strangers, children and unfamiliar dogs) compared with dogs from other sources
The findings of
McMillan (2017) revealed that the source of the puppies seems to be correlated with the prevalence of behavioral problems. According to
McMillan et al. (2013), dogs coming from unknown sources are more likely to develop behavioral disorders later in life as fear and aggression.
Urfer et al. (2007) revealed that, Irish Wolf hound is increasingly susceptible to early death, low fertility and inheritable diseases that correspond to their incredibly high genetic Coefficient of inbreeding (COI). This is caused by the unique history of their creation from a small population and inbreeding to quickly gain certain characteristics. Inbreeding depression has been detected in many species in the form of reduced fertility like sperm abnormality
(Fitzpatrick and Evans, 2009) and increased incidence of congenital disease
(Khlat and Khoury, 1991).
Ignorance about scientific management is ranked at 11
th position and only 17% of the respondents considered this as a constraint. In contrast to this, the study of
Sakshi et al. (2017) revealed that lack of knowledge on scientific dog rearing management was the prime constraint and ranked at first place.
Unavailability of vaccine against all diseases was perceived as a problem by 56% of the respondents and this was supported by the findings of
Selvakkumar (2021), in which only 60 per cent of the dog owners were vaccinated their dog against all diseases due to the unavailability of all vaccines with the nearby sources.
