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There is no doubt that people all over the world love their dogs, however various cultures have developed some interesting obsessions and customs pertaining to their pets. The current situation in India was explained to me by a social scientist who was visiting my university. Farha Singh knew about my work with dogs and we managed to find some time to speak and during a reception held at the home of a faculty member. As we sat there, she dug through a small purse and produced some pictures of her dog. He was a handsome Dalmatian named Lalit, which turned out to be an appropriate name since she later told me that the translation of Lalit actually means "handsome."
"Unfortunately he is a problem for me right now because I am having trouble trying to find a bride for him," she told me.
Her use of the word "bride" when talking about her dog was unexpected and seemed a bit strange to me, however it turned out to be quite deliberate, as became clearer when she explained to me, "I have been looking for a mate for him for nearly a year, with no success. Perhaps it comes from my religious beliefs, but it seems very important to me that he should get married so that he can complete a whole life cycle. Some scientifically minded people that I know strongly believe that dogs must be mated or it may have bad psychological consequences for them. Other people insist that he must be married to prevent bad karma that might affect its spiritual life and existence now and later."
Farha's ownership of a purebred dog is part of a trend going on in India today. Apparently pedigreed dogs have now become an important status symbol among India's middle class, with Labrador Retrievers, Pugs, Poodles, Cocker Spaniels and Dalmatians being the most desirable breeds. Poodles have a special status since a single haircut by a dog groomer can cost more than the wages that a lower class Indian earns in a month, thus making the cost of the prestige conveyed by that breed quite high.
However, owning an expensive purebred dog involves more than simply using it as a status symbol. As happens around the world the dog becomes a member of the family and therefore becomes a target for all of the family's cultural beliefs and practices. Given the importance of marriage in the Indian culture, it thus becomes important that the family dog should be wed to another of its own breed. Nonetheless, since her Dalmatian was among the sought after breeds in India I found it hard to understand her why it was so difficult to find him a mate. Farha looked at me and sighed.
"It is because of the mentality of my people. Everyone wants a male dog. After all the dog is like family, like a child, and as in human families in my country, it is still the case that male children are more prized. If you ask many of the dog owners I know in Delhi they will tell you that they prefer a male dog because females are messier-they are talking about their menstrual periods. They may also tell you that female dogs are more difficult to keep because you must always shield them from having an affair with a stray dog with no pedigree, which might result in mongrel puppies which are of little value. They view this much like the way parents have to shield a daughter from casual affairs that might shame the family. But, regardless of what they say, it really has to do with the fact that males have higher status and value in our culture. Even for me, when I got Lalit I insisted on a male dog. I wasn't really thinking about why I was doing so, it just seemed proper that my dog should be male
"Now, because of the difficulty of finding marriage partners, female dogs are rising in value. But we still have to do extra things if we want our dogs to marry-to have a family-or at least bond to a mate as fate requires. Just like in the case of people who have similar problems, we now seem to have need for matchmakers for our dogs. For example, there is now a website which was started in Delhi, which offers matchmaking services for dogs. It is very popular and many dogs are listed there, however very few are females."
She laughed and continued, "Last year there was even something like what you call a speed dating event here in North America. They advertised it as a sort of mass dog marriage, but it was really an attempt to find mates for dogs. It was held in a shopping plaza in Delhi, and I went to it with Lalit. There were a lot of dogs there. Some of them dressed very nicely with vests and coats and hats and fancy collars. The newspaper said that there were 500 dogs there but it was hard to know with all the milling around and confusion. There certainly were a lot of dogs of different breeds. Unfortunately I could not find an available female Dalmatian for Lalit, but someone that I know from my work brought his Saint Bernard dog, Tushar, to the event, and actually found a bride for him. A month or two later they got together and had a wonderful wedding ceremony. My friend invited 40 or 50 people and their dogs. They even found a priest who was willing to perform the marriage ceremony. There was music, dancing and lots of food. Perhaps later there will be Saint Bernard puppies.
"Sadly my Lalit is still a virgin, but there is still time-he is only three years old. My husband suggests that perhaps we can solve the problem by buying a female Dalmatian puppy and raising it to become Lalit's bride when she becomes an adult. This is probably a good idea and it would solve the problem. Still it feels wrong to me. Since the puppy would be growing up in our home with Lalit, she would, in effect, be like a sister to him. Somehow having them marry after that kind of upbringing, seems to me something like promoting incest among your children. The culture that we grow up in really does plant strange thoughts and practices in our heads-even about the love life of our dogs."
Indeed!
Stanley Coren is the author of many books including: The Modern Dog, Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? The Pawprints of History, How Dogs Think, How To Speak Dog, Why We Love the Dogs We Do, What Do Dogs Know? The Intelligence of Dogs, Why Does My Dog Act That Way? Understanding Dogs for Dummies, Sleep Thieves, The Left-hander Syndrome
Copyright SC Psychological Enterprises Ltd. May not be reprinted or reposted without permission.
