Indian pariah dog

The Indian Pariah Dog, also known as the Indian Native Dog or South Asian Pye dog and Desi Dog is a landrace of dog native to the Indian subcontinent.

Names

Indian pye-dogs have been used as Guard dogs for centuries.

The namesake of this breed was given during the British Raj in India after the Pariah tribe of the Madras Presidency.^[1] From the Anglo-Indian word pye or paë and Hindi pāhī meaning 'outsider', the Indian pariah dog is sometimes referred to as the pye-dog (also spelt pie or pi) and the Indian native dog.^[2] It is popularly known as Desi Kutta or Desi Dog (which derives from the Urdu word desi, meaning native), as well as the Indi-dog or In-dog (in various spellings).^[3] It was referred to in the works of Rudyard Kipling as the "yellow pariah dog".^[4]

History

A pet Indian pariah dog in Raigarh.

The pariah dog of India is an ancient autochthonous landrace that is found all over India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and even beyond South Asia.^[5][6] A pariah-like dog skull was discovered in the ancient Indian site of Mohenjo-daro and prehistoric rock art depicting a dog of similar type has been found in the Bhimbetka rock shelters.^[3] It was featured on National Geographic Channel's film, Search for the First Dog along with the other ancient types such as the Canaan Dog of Israel and the Australian dingo.^[3]

Indian Pariah dogs make for loving family pets and are great with kids and adults. They are high on energy and complement kids with an active lifestyle. Indian pariah dogs are one of the oldest dog breeds in existence today. Archaeological findings indicate that this dog was in existence some 4500 years ago. Excavations in the Mohenjo-Daro site found in the Sindh region of Pakistan (Indus Valley civilisation) revealed an Indian Pariah dog skull dating to 2500 BCE. Also, there are various cave paintings across the Indian subcontinent that hints at pariah dogs to be one of the oldest dog breeds in the world.^[7]