Before we begin, a message from all the dogs barking at us to relay to you, our readers…
Woof – woofwoof – woooooooooof…woo-woofwoof!
– Dogs
Is it a threat? A promise? A deal? Or just a goodbye?
We will perhaps never know, we don’t know dog language here in our office, one did, but she was let go!
People are only taking up the foreign breed, which hurts all of us.
How? The many foreign breeds like the Siberian Huskies and Saint Bernard, ARE NOT MADE FOR THE HOT INDIAN ENVIRONMENT!
The tropical climate of ours, the humid atmosphere and the myriads of singing competition programs – are causing a great deal of health problems in these foreign breeds!
This is why we are here to show you the equally appealing majesticity of our own Indian dog breeds that don’t have any problems with our climate, humidity and singing competition programs!
1. Rajapalayam Dogs

Rajapalayam Hound by Nithinm / CC BY-SA 3.0
This is a hound. What’s a hound? Well they are not to be kept as your usual home mascot. They need to be moved around, given orders and require strict masters.
They are guard dogs, developed in the town of Rajyapalam of Tamil Nadu, they were only accompanied by royalties, back when royalties were a thing.
And boy, it is a huge dog, measuring around 25 to 30 inches towards the withers (dogs’ height is measured by the distance of their shoulder blades from the ground, any ground.)
It is a heavy boned dog with Milky White body and Pink Nose, lovely innit? However the whiter mutations of dogs usually have a higher tendency to be deaf!
But that doesn’t matter to a dog, especially this one, it’s a site hound, relies on eyes for all the hunting and fun however it can be turned into a scent hound as well with little training!
Currently, a favorite of our Indian army to patrol around Kashmir borders, this is for the tough guys in uniform.
2. Rampur Greyhound
The Rampur Greyhound is a native breed from the Rampur region falling between Delhi and Bareily in Northern India.
It’s a sight hound, and these particular animals are the superheroes of dogs, built with exceptional endurances and able to cross great distances. It was a test of courage and honor among royalties if their Rampur hound could take down a Golden jackal all on its own. They were used to control the jackal population back in the days and were even used to hunt for lions, tigers and panthers – wow.
They are human friendly, in fact too friendly, so much so they can hurt the uninitiated in their play fun.
They are one person dog, so if you are a lumberjack living alone in a jungle fighting off the rampaging monsters and invading aliens to protect your garden and unknowingly thus, our planet.
Get this dog man!
3. Chippiparai
Another royalty favored dog breed, good lord, there are so many loved dogs out there, and so less loved of us…
Shudder at that, puny mortals.
Anyway, discomforting laws of realties aside we must say this dog has earned the love it has got, bred by the royal families of Chippiparai of the Madurai district in Tamil Nadu – this is a sighthound.
A hunting dog used to go after hares, deers and boars. It’s a tough middle sized dog with a length of 65 cm at withers. It has a small coat of fur which makes it less prone to fleas and ticks.
A good dog for Indian homes and families with a little training, it loves human companionship, loves exercising and moving around a lot.
A very intelligent breed and a very good watch dog, it needs less to no vet care. Although cold weather does make it a bit slow and a bit ill.
Joseph C -
Thanks for the exhaustive and wonderful information and photographs on the beautiful Indian dogs I live in America and now I can see the stupidity of the Indian people showering all their love on “foreign ” dogs whether it is a German Shepherd or Cocker Spaniel or any damn foreign breed at the cost of the majestic domestic breed which once ruled the land before the Europeans started coming into colonized India with their own Terriers and other poodle dogs . The situation is just like the movie world where any woman from any place on earth , as long as silky white skin and a beautiful face and shape , like Amy Jackson for instance, will be given preference to average lookingl Tamil actress who is far below in ranks than women from Andhra or Kerala or even North
Here in America I remembered how we mistreated and abused our two Rajapalayam Combai dogs more than 70 years ago and preferred to adore the two black Spaniels ,Punch and Judy. It was all due to childish stupidity nurtured by idiotic cultural practices. Even now I regret those days . I am pretty sure same sad story exists in the closet of every family in India
Narendra -
Kanni & Chippiparai are same breed their are differentiated by color. Missed Ramanadapuram Mandai which is find in south tamilnadu in Ramanadapuram which look similar to Bully dog.
Prabhakar Chaganti -
I have a Kanni female in Hyderabad.
Get in touch to see the pics.
Anandhi Sridharan -
This is a good list with pics sourced from Wikipedia and other articles. However what would be really useful is to actually speak with owner’s of Indian breeds to popularize them – there are really no useful resources in the article for a dog lover who would even want to work with Indian dogs
drtanmaysharma -
Term pakistani mastiff is a misnomer as this breed of dog existed long long before pakistan was created..
So for future reference please use term indian mastiff or bully kutta..
Thanks
nslb -
We referred several sources including some major publications while writing this article and most of them also called it the “Pakistani Mastiff” among many other names.
We too will follow the same and so will not be making any change in here.
Basant Jaitly -
As an old dog keeper and registered kennel club of India breeder I feel that good specimen are very difficult to procure. Moreover there is no demand, unfortunately, for the native dogs. I have known about these dogs from the days I was young but due to no existing market I never thought of breeding them and since I never got a good specimen of Chippiparai or Combai I never even kept them as pets. May be if we have special guarding, obedience and breed class for them in K. C. I shows they get popularized over the years. I do not mind keeping one or two dogs, breed them and distribute the pups to good dog lovers but for that I have to have real good specimen. Rest is only idealism.
Nirmala -
The Bully Kutta is a breed that originated in Alangu in southern India and is now again known as Alangu.
Good collection of pictures of the different breeds but as someone suggested it will be good to get in touch with very knowledgable and experienced owners of the different breeds and get more information for each breed male and female characteristics and physical stats, range etc.
Breeders who are breeding just for the market will never really care who they sell the pups to.
People who are serious about the conservation of each breed can do much to breed and promote the breed to serious dog lovers who can ensure the dog gets the necessary training and food it is meant to have. In my opinion, breeders who tell you to feed the pup kibble should not be considered as the pups will end up as poor specimens of the the original. I currently have a mongrel who was born of an aggressive stray. I adopted her at the age of 5 months. She refuses kibble of any kind even of the very best available internationally. I then began with home-cooked food but had to deal with allergies. I changed her to raw non vegetarian food and she bloomed in every way. Shiny coat, very agile, trimmed down, allergies disappeared, and she is calm and confident. She is now 8+ years old.
Breeders who are breeding just for the market will never really care who they sell the pups to and that will not be the right way to revive our Indian breeds.
Bharat -
Hi, I’m from Vizag, Andhra Pradesh. I’m planning to develop our country side farm and thinking about shifting there very soon. Our farm is locted in the eastern ghats. Mostly the wild animals that can be seen during nights are foxes, wild boars(rarely) and bears(very rare). May expect thieves at times. Since I’m the only male person in the family, I’m thinking about getting two powerful dogs. Previously I had a Doberman which was terrific at protecting. But after Modi Ji’s mann ki baat, I decided to get Indian breeds this time. I’m thinking about raising two combai dogs. Anybody please suggest me where I can get good breed of these dogs and also advice me if there are other dogs that can serve the purpose better.
Gade Veera reddy -
live in America and now I can see the stupidity of the Indian people showering all