With such a skewed sex ratio among pedigreed dogs in Mumbai, it is almost impossible finding your dog a mate

On the fifth floor of Phoenix Towers, a posh 24 storey highrise in Mumbai’s Lower Parel area, lives a lonely dog. Coco the Labrador is a bumbling, panting mass of 48 kilos, and with his eighth birthday just two months later, much of his life is behind him. And while he has led a happy life—earlier in his Bandra residence he had a terrace to himself, and now in Lower Parel he lops around in the building’s garden on the second floor chasing birds when he is in the mood—he has also been immensely lonely.

Coco is a virgin and not by either his or his master’s choice. His owner, Taru Suri, who along with her husband Sumit Suri runs a software development firm, started searching for a mate for Coco when he turned three. But she soon realised what owners of many male pedigreed dogs are learning—there just aren’t enough bitches of pedigree in Mumbai.

Far from giving up, Suri doggedly pursued the matter. She spread the word through dog trainers, veterinarians and pet shops. When nothing came her way, she randomly started approaching female Labrador owners in parks and roads, and returned dejected. Either the bitches were spayed, or their owners were unwilling. Owners of three Labrador bitches eventually agreed on different occasions, but by then, Coco had started to gain weight. He was unable to stand on his hind legs and mate.

“We really wanted Coco’s line to continue,” says Suri, “But we just found it so difficult to find a partner. And when we did, he wasn’t able to do it.”

Coco is not alone in his predicament. Go to any park or jogger’s area, and you will notice that there just aren’t enough females compared to male dogs. According to Anu Sethi, a canine behaviourist, most people opt for male dogs. This gender preference arises from the fear that a bitch may deliver a litter, and that when she is on heat, she may dirty the house. “Also there is a myth that male dogs make better watchdogs. And even if they opt for bitches, they mostly get them spayed. In comparison, very few male dogs are neutered, and this creates an unhealthy imbalance.”

Anil Kadha, whose company Kapspets supplies dogs of various breeds to pet shops and individuals across the country, claims that male dogs make up almost 90 per cent of his sales. “Most customers go for male dogs,” he says, “Later, when the issue of mating arises, they realise that they are in for trouble.”

Rajesh Deshpande, a 45-year-old Andheri-based builder who owns three male dogs—a five-year-old German Shepherd named Major, a four-year-old Doberman named Captain, and Snowy, a four-year-old Pomeranian—rues the fact that he didn’t keep any female bitches. “Can you help me?” is the question he poses anyone who asks about the welfare of his dogs. Deshpande has been trying to get his dogs mated for the past two years. “Can you believe it? Not a single response from anyone,” he says, “And my dogs are exceptionally good looking.”

Unable to find a mate through either word-of-mouth or the posters of his dogs that he has put up at nearby pet stores, he has now turned to the web. Six months ago, he put up advertisements in the ‘mating section’ of Petsburgh, a popular pets’ website that operates from Mumbai. “I had heard that this was the best possible way for getting a mate,” he says, “But after a few months, I realised that almost all the dogs on the section were male.”

Deshpande is particularly perturbed because his pets, unable to have sexual intercourse, have now turned to furniture and sometimes even human legs. “This often becomes very embarrassing when people are around. They start humping table legs and sometimes ours. I feel sorry; I understand their problem. But what do we do?”

For those interested solely in furthering their pets’ filial line, a few owners are now opting for artificial insemination. Dr Sarita Kelkar-Gulavane, a bespectacled veterinarian, is one of the few medical professionals in the city who perform this procedure. “Most owners spay their bitches,” she says, “And a lot of male dogs are unable to mount females that are fit for mating because of issues like obesity. So, when a bitch is found, we cut out the chances of a male not being able to mate her.” According to her, this becomes necessary because not only are unspayed females far too few, they are fit for copulation only twice a year—when they are on heat. Each of these periods lasts for only around 15 days. So far, Dr Kelkar-Gulavane has handled over 100 artificial insemination cases at Parel Veterinary Hospital and her clinic in Santacruz. While initially it was used mostly by breeders, now an equal number of patients include pets.

According to Dr Kelkar-Gulavane, if a dog cannot find a mate, it is best to neuter the animal, male or female. This is because while male dogs often turn to furniture for sexual relief, bitches start suffering from pseudo pregnancy, a condition in which they start lactating and think of themselves as mothers. Andrea Cyrill Khuranam, who runs Petsburgh, had her pet Tinkabell, a female Golden Retriever, spayed two years ago. Khuranam had found a mate for her when she came on heat, but he had weak hind legs and was unable to mount her. “After that, Tinkabell started suffering from pseudo pregnancy. She took rags and scraps of paper and built a small warm area in a corner of the room. There she placed a soft toy and started treating it like a child. She would not allow anyone near it.”

Coco’s condition isn’t very different. Two years ago, he was also neutered. The dog was emitting blood from his penis (because of a possible infection) and veterinarians had advised that he be rendered impotent. According to Suri, the decision to get Coco snipped was a difficult one to make, but there wasn’t a choice. “Coco was a wedding gift from my friend, who knew that we both, Sumit and me, wanted a pet. He was our first ‘child’ and we wanted him to have his pups. But there are just no females, and he is often overweight. And then we couldn’t wait any longer.”