Not INDogs: The Dhangar Dog of Maharashtra
Time to highlight one of the 'not-INDog' village breeds I mentioned in my June post, INDogs and Not-INDogs: Village dogs of India. I have some lovely pictures to share of the Dhangari Kuttra , sheepdog of Maharashtra, thanks to a few nice people in the doggy network! A bit of background: The Dhangar community are nomadic shepherds of this region, and kuttra of course means 'dog' in marathi. Though the name Dhangari Kuttra is well known in Maharashtra, no-one seems to have consistently documented the breed or tried to preserve it in any way since W V Soman included it in his book 'The Indian Dog' (Popular Prakashan, 1963). That's the only book on Indian dog breeds till now, by the way. Major Soman's description mentions a moderate coat, tufted tail turned over the back, weight about 25 to 30 pounds (that's 11-13.6 kilos), height of males about 20 inches, strong legs, mixed colours; '...occasionally met with tan mixture but very seldom...body...


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