Greetings. I am speaking from Kombai Village, Theni District.
My name is Uma Shankar.
I am 42 years old.
I have grown up with dogs, since childhood.
That is because we have always had these dogs in our household.
That tradition continues from my grandfather to currently my children.
Now the Kombai, is a native Indian breed of dog, and is indigenous to Tamil Nadu.
This here is a male Kombai.
This is the maximum height that this dog (breed) attains.
The specialty of this breed, is that it is very maintenance-free.
It has no special or specific dietary needs or demands.
This breed is what can be termed as 'user-friendly'.
It forms a great attachment to the owner and is a very sharp and intelligent breed of dog.
We raise these dogs for the purpose of guarding our farms and home.
Apart from that, this breed is a reliable guardian and shepherd for goats and cows.
Owing to this, this dog has been an indispensable part of our lives.
The reason that the Kombai makes a fine guard dog, and is packed with a ferocious nature,
- is because long ago, the titular village was located at the foothills of the Western Ghats.
During this time period, our main occupation was shepherding.
We used to take dogs to accompany us on our shepherding trails.
Some of these shepherd/livestock guardian dogs had,
- crossbred with a local species of wild dog, known in Tamil as 'Sennaai'.
This is the reason for the ferocious nature, strength and vigour of this particular breed.
It is after this, that the Kombai breed started to become noticed.
As you can see, this fawn brown colour,
- the black mask,
- the folded ears,
- the faint black line that runs up until the tail,
- and the shade of black in its lower legs;
are considered the hallmark physical characteristics of the Kombai breed.
A very unique characteristic of this dog is that,
it barks to alert whenever someone approaches or enters (the property), but does not immediately attack.
These dogs effectively stall an incoming person in their tracks,
- until the owner can arrive to receive/intercept him.
But if the guest, were to pick up a stick to intimidate the dog; it would then immediately attack.
That is the special quality of this breed.
If the guest were to wait in his place, and try to calm the dog,
- he would come to no harm. (though the dog would continue to bark until the owner arrives).
But if the man were to pick up a stick, to scare off the dog,
- it will immediately launch into attack mode.
This is a very special attribute of this breed.
We believe that this trait, may have descended from the Sennaai (wild dog).
The main reason why we employ these dogs as livestock guardians, on our trails,
- is because, when we are tending to a herd of goat or cow,
- whose size is 50-60 in number, for instance,
- it is impossible for us, to have an eye on all of the animals.
We may be resting in the shade, whilst the herd grazes the land,
- and there may be the random cow that begins to unintentionally wander away.
To encourage this cow to rejoin the rest of its herd, without actually getting up to do it,
- and let us assume that this cow is red in colour ('Sevalai' in Tamil),
- all the shepherd has to do is, shout 'Sevalai !', thereby pointing at it,
- and the Kombai dog would coax that exact bovine to rejoin its herd.
This is how practically helpful this breed is.
Similarly, when we try to herd the cows into their pen,
the entrance, would typically be large enough,
- to let two to three cows enter at the same time.
And when a herd of 50, try to rush into the pen,
- a few cows would try to keep away from entering, because of this bottleneck.
When this happens, the dogs automatically,
stall the escape, bark and drive these cows into the pen.
We have not had to specially train the dogs for these activities.
These dogs observe what we do, our work,
- and instinctively act in ways that assist us in getting the work done.
We give high importance to this breed,
- since they are natural in this regard, and require no special or exclusive training.
But the thing is that, although this breed has now almost completely disappeared,
- currently, many youth who are interested in reviving native animals such as cattle,
are now focusing their efforts on this breed.
On that line, since we personally cannot pass off any native dog as Kombai,
- and since currently I do not have the capacity to do the revival at a commercial scale,
I hope that in the coming years,
- that I would be able to offer interested people pups, to contribute to the resurrection of the Kombai.
I currently have three dogs at home and four on my farm.
And all of these are Kombai that I own; and no other breeds.
However, I would like to mention that, anyone can keep these dogs,
even if you own other dogs - note that this breed can coexist with them without problems.
I currently have between 50-80 chicken on my farm.
Since these dogs have been socialized since pups, they do not trouble the birds or attack them.
They understand that they belong to their master; hence they are to be safeguarded as well.
These dogs have never attacked the poultry birds so far.
Though these dogs live amidst the chicken, and do from time to time,
- defend their food, they never catch the birds or try to eat them.
So my suggestion is that you can raise this dog, with ease,
- and not to worry if the household has any little children.
For instance, there was a dog I had before this,
- which when, birds of prey were on the prowl,
- would alert of an incoming raptor, to any hen and her chicks that were nearby; thereby saving them.
As long as that dog was around, I never had any losses of birds,
- but since him, predatory birds do snatch up a chicken or two occasionally.
These dogs are helpful these ways.
And so we do not want to lose them; and hence our efforts to save them.
Now as you can see, even with all the chicken around,
- the dog understands that this is my property, and tries to stay away rather than snap at them.
Even when I intentionally lead him into the middle of the flock, he keeps from attacking.
That is the basic nature (of the breed).
And finally, I request all to help in preserving native animals, namely dogs and cattle from extinction.
Thank you. Greetings.
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