City gets bitten by 'rare breed' bug

CHANDIGARH: Chandigarhian's new-found craze for rare breed of dogs is growing stronger with each passing day. Latest entrants in city are 'Shih Tzu' and 'Chow Chow', which have been imported from Bangkok and Kuwait, respectively.
A resident of Panjab University campus, Saurav Chakarborty has imported a-year-old Shih Tzu, Fido and 10-month-old Chow-Chow, Terror, for Rs 4 lakh.
"Gone are the days when people preferred having a large breed dog, which used to bark and bite unnecessarily. I like owning small and unusual breeds because these never bite and remain centre of everyone's attention," said Chakarborty, the 27-year-old HR manager. "It took me several days and lots of research before deciding on the two breeds.
Another vital question was the purity of the breed," he added.
The proud owner is spending nearly Rs 2,000 a month only on of grooming Fido. Untangling of this rare breed's hair sometimes cost him Rs 3,000 to 4,000. However, charges on its diet are minimum. What makes Fido different are its double coloured thick and long hair, which need to be tied in a topknot.
Terror, which Saurav claims to be the only one in the northern part of the country, too is rare with its blue tongue and blue throat. It looks like a black lion and is equally costly to maintain.
Both the canines are being trained by the city-based dog trainer Vinod Kumar alias Sonu, who is preparing them for the forthcoming pet shows. Sonu said the trend of having rare and unusual breeds is increasing in city. About training, he said, once familiarize with their behaviour, these breeds can be easily trained.
Mohali-based veterinarian, Dr H S Grover, said, "People are going in for unusual breeds, which are not of our terrain and it takes at least two seasons for these breeds to become normal in our climatic conditions."