Pit bull for a traveling companion

ZombieDharmaChick

Hey there. I am going to be traveling through out India for an indefinite period of time, but no less than one year. I have a 4 year old female Pit Bull that I just can't part with for that length of time. And even if I could I have no one to take care of her for such a great length of time. I was hoping for some advice from anyone who has traveled with their furry companions. She is an extremely mild mannered dog & has never had any problems with other animals or people. But obviously with this being an extremely unfamiliar environment, I dont really know what to expect. ALSO I am curious as to whether or not there will be any necessary vaccinations required by the Indian govt for her to get. I know some countries we will have traveled to have required a separate passport for her. anyone know the laws on this?

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camelgirl

Occassionally people ask about bringing and traveling with a dog in India. I also have a dog & would never subject her to the rigors of travel, which is the primary reason why our trips are never more than a month to India or anywhere, because she is used to staying in a nice kennel for that long.

First things first. You CANNOT travel for a year in India, no matter what kind of tourist visa you get. As a U.S. citizen you can apply for the 10 yr. tourist visa BUT the longest you can stay at any one time is 180 days. Then you have to leave, generally flying to another nearby country--and you would have to find out what requirements they have about dogs. Then you can come back again for another 180 days.

If you use the search box above & type in Travel with Dogs, you will see threads that address the type of shots, etc.

I would strongly recommend that you do not bring any kind of animal but especially your dog as your companion when traveling in India. It would be horrible for your dog. Unless you are a very wealthy person who can travel with a private car & stay in fine hotels, your dog will be very, very unhappy. I've never seen a pet dog on any kind of public transportation, like trains or busses. I'm not saying no one has ever brought one, but it is not common and I don't even know if they are permitted.

What would you do with your dog when you are traveling from place to place? India is very crowded & there is alot of pushing & shoving. Your dog could even get separated from you.

India has hundreds of thousands of street dogs. Rabies is common in India. I know your dog would have up-to-date vaccinations. Indians do have pet dogs, but I can't imagine them traveling around with them.

My final word--opinion. Don't think about taking your dog with you to India as your travel companion. It has nothing whatever to do with the breed or the personality. It has everything to do with the rigors of travel. The dog would hate it & you'd probably not be too happy either.

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Haylo

I strongly suspect that you have not yet visited India, and have no idea what you would be letting yourself and your dog in for!

Taking a dog with you when you are settling in India is a big decision, travelling round with a dog is an entirely different business.

Camelgirl has a good point about your having to leave India after 180 days - what would you do with your dog when you go?

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Nick-H

She says as much, although it would seem to be a well travelled dog already.180 day stay... dog... going and coming... I wondered that one too.

My take is not to subject a dog to flying; it is bad enough for those of us who do understand what is going on and can talk to our fellow passengers.

martinez

Another consideration for you is that there are too many stray dogs in India and they are very territorial.They tend to hang out in packs of various sizes and see off any other dogs that stray into their space.The problem is that your bulldog is not gonna stand for any shit,so she will have to take on the whole pack all of the time,and none of these dogs will have been vaccinated.She WILL get badly hurt and she will certainly pick up all sorts of diseases including rabies. Another consideration is how you gonna feed her? That is a big hussle.

Nick-H

It's true that is a risk, and the risk exists even with single dogs. When I first saw dog walkers, carrying sticks, i used to think they beat their dogs! Then I realised that they carry them to protect their dogs!

I am generally OK with the street dogs, and feel no risk from them, but I would not like to meet up with the pack after, say, a late evening out. That could be very dangerous, and quite probably would be to a stranger with a strange dog. Could you fight off five or six, or more dogs? In the day they tend to hang around and wander individually; it is in the night that the packs get together, and take to sorting out such issues as membership and territory.

Diseases including rabies --- inoculations needed, for sure; I don't know to recommend, but rabies is would be an absolute must. She might not pick up anything worse than a few flees and ticks.

Food --- dog food available at supermarkets, certainly the dry stuff. Pet shops, even, at least in the metros. Not a big hassle.

People here keep dogs; all the practicalities are perfectly possible

Accommodation and travel: probably the show stopper. People do not much travel with their dogs, and when they do they must make special arrangements like hoping that the one dog cage on a train is available, or booking an entire 1AC compartment if they want the dog to travel with them.

Drivers may or may not accept a dog in their car. The over-riding reason for keeping a dog is protection; people expect them to be fierce. More often than not, when opening the garden gate to a stranger, the first question, apprehensively, is... "Is there a dog?"

indiaddict

I second all the above advice.

Who want's to get into dog fights? I still got a trauma from childhood when my dachshounds quite often got attacked by Boxers.

She will get bitten and so might you, in trying to help your dog. You might be in and out of Vets and hospital. And there might be a few badly injured strays. A bite from a pit bull is no joke. They won't get Vet treatment. I certainly could not handle it.

I once stayed in Pragpur, Kangra Valley, at the Judge's Court, a lovely private mansion/hotel. One morning, I thought it would be a nice idea to go to the village with the owner's dog, a black labrador. In fact, it was the labrador who had the idea and I was just following him, didn't even have a leash. I can tell you there was quite some excitement among the canine population of Pragpur. I was all shakey when we got back. It hadn't been such a good idea after all.

Strays are tremendously territorial. I got a taste of it one night in Mumbai in Sprott Street. And I did not have a dog with me! I was walking in the middle of the road and a pack of strays closed in on me. I dont't remember when I last had been so scared. And I am a dog lover. I just didn't know what to do, just freeze or continue walking. I think it was the grandson of the owner of the Britannia Restaurant, who chased them away. I just continued like a zombie, there were more dogs all taking too much interest in me. I never took that road again at night time. I later asked a dog expert what I should have done, he said, to absolutely stand still, no eye contact, let them get close and sniff at you and eventually they will loose interest. So if someone gets panicky, they have had it. This just for any IMikers in case they get into such a situation.

I think, if one has a dog, one has a responsibility and just can't do everything. This is not meant as a criticism at all, absolutely not ZombieDharmaChick. It just explains why I don't have a dog. I'd love to have one and if my circumstances would allow it, would immediatly adopt a stray or abandoned dog.

birds

I am sorry to say but to bring a dog to travel is absolute madness!

All the above warnings are indeed true dangers.

If you love your dog DO NOT bring her to India!

Thank God the India government now requires people to who want to bring dogs to have an NOC!

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Of the estimated 500 million dogs in the world, approximately 75% are strays, of which about 25 million live in India.

Haylo

Good to have some input from someone with so much direct experience of dogs in India, but I must confess, I have no idea what an NOC is!

dzibead

Where are you getting this? ZombieDharmaChick didn't say one word about whether her dog had done any traveling.

Yes, a person WITH a dog would actually be at much greater risk of attracting unwanted attention from a pack of street dogs that a person without a dog. And I don't care how well-mannered this pit bull is, they are often aggressive with other dogs, even if they seem docile and well-behaved with people. Pits are also often very protective of their owners, and because public spaces in India are often crowded, chaotic and unpredictable, it's a place that's going to bring out the dog's strongest instincts in that regard.

The fact that people who live in India keep dogs as pets should offer no comfort to a person who wants to travel around with one. You never see dog owners walking their dogs on the street in India; actual pet dogs are generally kept at home. The dogs you see on the street are completely untrained, uncontrolled, and unpredictable. I love my dog and I would never in a million years travel with her in India. Never. If I were to move there, I would bring my dog only if I could keep her strictly confined safely on my own property, and would not even take her out in the street on a leash.

Traveling with a dog isn't even a piece of cake in the U.S. Traveling with a dog in India would be a nightmare for both the dog and the owner. For your sake and your dog's sake, don't do it.

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dzibead

Isn't that a "no objection certificate" or something like that?

Nick-H

Here:Except I failed to notice the tense "will have travelled to". You catch me out again. Twice in a week, I think?

I agree with everything else you say, except this
which is completely wrong, at least for this city, as per my comment about people with dogs on leads and sticks. People are often to be seen walking their dogs (or sending their staff out to do so). I have often thought that the walking these dogs get is not nearly enough exercise, though, according to my limited doggie knowledge.

One does sometimes also see lone dogs on the street wearing collars. Obviously not street dogs, but (I can't say) maybe domesticated street dogs. Certainly stree-wise dogs!

dzibead

Well, I do spend my working days poring over documents with a fine-tooth comb, you know.

I bow to your superior knowledge and experience on this one, since you actually live there. I guess I shouldn't have said you never see it. I guess I just never noticed it, but then I've only been in India as tourist. But it's certainly not like the U.S. or the UK where lots of people are out and about with their pet dogs, either on or off leash (without a stick to fend off others!)

birds

Indeed it is a No Objection Certificate. It allows genuine pet owners to bring their pet with them when they move to India but hopes to keep people out who bring in pups & adults in for breeding.

Puppy-farm pedigree pups used to be brought into India with 10 to 20 in each box. Of course more than half of them where dead before they reach India . The ones that survive are generally in poor health but are nonetheless used for breeding (especially for popular breeds like the Pug, thanks to the Hutch Vodaphone ad ), resulting in off spring with lots of inherit health issues.

Hopefully the NOC will help to limit this trade.

As a side effect it may also keep people out with unrealistic ideas about traveling with their dog through India.

Paleface

Never know when you may need a stick - Once spotted up the road one of those small truckloads of kavarwallahs (they that carry water from Gangotri back home) trying to steal one of our dogs (it happens a lot). Had to rush home and find a stiff lathi to intimidate the would be thieves, of course they also had lathi's and we had one of those stand off moments, is my lathi bigger than yours. The dog, stupid bitch, on seeing me came a running..

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