The Indian Council of Agricultural Research- National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (ICAR-NBAGR) has recognised the Gaddi, an indigenous dog breed from the Himalayas.
“Yes, we have given official recognition to the Gaddi along with 9 other livestock breeds,” B P Mishra, director of ICAR-NBAGR told Down To Earth.
The Gaddi will be joining the Rajapalayam, Chippiparai and Mudhol breeds that have already been recognised by the ICAR-NBAGR.
The move by the government body is expected to help in conserving the Gaddi, a species that is not recognised by any kennel club at the moment.
“It is a matter of great concern that this important germplasm is unknown to the masses as the Gaddi dog breed is not recognized by any major kennel club or agency to date. Furthermore, due to decreasing trend of a nomadic lifestyle, the population of Gaddi dogs is decreasing at an alarmingly high rate (Robert, 2021) and it has become difficult to find the thoroughbred Gaddi dogs,” authors Rajni Chaudhary, Abdul Rahim, Amod Kumar and Himanshu Chawla noted in their 2022 paper The Gaddi dog: A Lesser-known Treasure of Himalayas.
“As per estimates the population of Gaddi dogs is less than 1000 now. The Gaddi breed of dog, like many other indigenous breeds, is on the verge of extinction due to the dilution of the gene pool and lack of dedicated breeders and breeding programme,” the authors added.
The exact origin of the Gaddi breed is unclear. Chaudhary, Rahim, Kumar and Chawla stated that the breed was developed from the Tibetan Mastiff dog, with which is often confused.
However, there are differences between the two breeds. The Gaddi is less bulky and has a tufted mane like a big black lion, say the authors.
The Gaddi is spread across the Himalayan range from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. It is also known as the Bhote Kukur or Bhotia dog.
The breed is named after the Gaddi shepherds of Himachal Pradesh and has been used by them to guard their flocks of sheep and goats from predators. Its ability to fight and fend off carnivores such as the Snow Leopard has also earned it the nickname of the ‘Indian Panther Hound’ or ‘Indian leopard Hound’.
“Gaddi dogs are predominately black with occasional white marking on the feet, tail, or trunk region. One of their main attributes is their massive, arched neck that protects them from predators. These dogs have harmonious build, medium stature, moderately long, robust muscular body,” Varun Sankhyan, Rakesh Thakur, P K Dogra and Ankaj Thakur of the Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Agricultural University, Palampur noted in their 2021 paper, Phenotypic characterization and documentation of Gaddi dog of western Himalayan region of India.
Gaddi dogs have a litter size of 4-8 pups and their number of whelping in a lifetime was reported to be 8-12.