When a Twitter user posted photos of her Indie dog with the hashtag #lovemyindia, she prompted several others to share adorable pictures of their own pets of the same breed.
The wholesome thread started with a post from the Twitter handle @KithRags, which read, “Indies aren’t aggressive. They’re not ugly. They’re not dirty. They are gorgeous and unique. They’re ridiculously sturdy dogs that adapt beautifully. They’re gentle & loving and literally perfect #lovemyindie.
Please feel free to share your gorgeous indie under this thread.”
The tweet from December 28 now has over 200 retweets and almost 1650 likes. Take a look at the pictures other users posted in response.
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The thread also encourages people to adopt Indie dogs instead of buying expensive foreign breeds. In one of his Mann ki Baat radio talks from 2020, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, had called upon people to support Indian breeds.
Dr Jacob Mathew, a veterinary doctor who runs Good Shepherd in Neredmet, told The New Indian Express, “It is absolutely safe to adopt street dogs. In fact, these have a better immune system than other breeds. They have more resistance to diseases.”
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Vasanthi Vadi, president of People for Animals (PFA), Hyderabad and Secunderabad, and a member of the TS Animal Welfare Board, also shared, “Firstly, all dogs are one and the same and every dog is heavily abused. Indies are extremely intelligent and they will love you profusely, with all their heart. They are easy to maintain because they are meant for the Indian climate. You do not need to spend too much on them either.”
“They are very smart and understand everything. If you have to train them, you need to do it at the correct age, which would be when they are six-seven months old. But most Indies are very dignified. Other breeds get anxious very easily, but these are calm, independent and know their way around,” Vasanthi added, The New Indian Express reported.
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“Indies or INDogs are pure breeds,” Nidhi Srivastava, canine behaviourist, told Deccan Herald, adding that these dogs have existed in India for ages. They have evolved but they are the ones depicted in cave paintings. They are low maintenance and they have fewer health problems.
Dog psychologist Amrut Dogguru was also quoted as saying that these dogs make great guard dogs and are easy to handle for a first-time dog owner.
