Tamil Nadu: Love desi dogs? Pick up native Kanni pups soon

CHENNAI: If you are a lover of native dog breeds, there’s good news. The Dog Breeding Unit (DBU) of the Animal Husbandry department in Saidapet is set to breed Kanni, also known as sighthound, after 15 years. Puppies will be available for sale in the next three months.
In November 2016, three Kanni puppies — each one month old then — were procured from a breeder in Virudhunagar. Now, the dogs are ready to reproduce.At present, the unit has a male and two female Kannis. In addition, there are seven Rajapalayams — a male and six females — and three Chippiparais — a male and two females.
The DBU will breed dogs as per the rules laid down by the central government. Animal husbandry director A Gnanasekaran told TOI that the department has developed a standard operating procedure for the native dog breeding programme.
The mating of male and female dogs is allowed only when they are one-and-a-half years old. Incest is avoided at the unit, he said.
To keep the canines healthy, ready-to-eat feed is provided to the Kanni and other breeds twice a day. The quantity is according to their body weight, said Gnanasekaran. The unit maintains a breeding history of all the dogs bred. Treatment sheets are also kept for reference, he said.
The three hound breeds are allowed to socialise in a 5,500sqft fenced play area in the morning and in the evening.
The dogs are also taken out on a 30-minute routine every day. Tick control measures have been adopted to keep parasites at bay, Gnanasekaran said.
Dogs at the unit breed once in two years. A female is allowed to breed till it turns eight.
Read this story in Bengali