The Chippiparai of southern India is well known for its gentle temperament, hardiness, minimal feeding requirements, speed, and keen hunting instincts. What the books forget to mention is that it has heavy duty compression springs for feet.  Check out the video below:

Some sites indicate that like many Indian breeds, the Chippiparai is very rare and in danger of extinction. In his publication, The Book of Indian Dogs, however, author S. Theodore Baskaran writes that the breed also known as the Tamil Greyhound is gaining in popularity, and that pups are in demand. We hope it’s the latter as this quiet breed is a marvel of canine aerodynamics.

The Chippiparai is currently recognized by both major Indian Kennel Clubs, but most dogs remain unregistered or without papers. This isn’t surprising as the notion of breeds in India hasn’t been common. In fact,  in some areas, the word “caste” is used instead of “breed,” and pedigreed bloodlines took a back seat to working ability up until the last 50 years. Add to this a mindset promulgated by European colonial rules of India that Indian dogs were inferior to European breeds, and most Indian breeds were largely ignored.

Our sense is that India is slowly discovering its breeds.  While this is a marvelous development, research into the origins of India’s native breeds is in its infancy, and this makes it challenging to ascertain the origin of most Indian dog breeds such as the Chippiparai. A unified Indian Kennel Club didn’t exist until 1956, and not until 1982 was there an effort to promote native breeds by the KCI (Kennel Club of India).

This much about the Chippiparai is known: It was kept almost exclusively kept by the ruling class and those of a higher caste, the only people who who could afford to keep a dog or hunt with them.  In particular, the Chippiparai was a favorite of Madurai, Thanjavur, and Tirunelveli royals who used it as a coursing dog to catch small deer, hare, rabbit, squirrels and pheasants.

The breed’s own nature kept its bloodlines pure.  When not on the hunt, Chippiparai had to be tied or chained at all times to keep it from running off to chase more prey (wood fences were impractical and pricey in India), and being tied up prevented random breedings.

The Internet – and sites like this one – are increasing public awareness of the Chippiparai, and in turn, we hope the Indian people are inspired to save one of their ancient native breeds.

Image: Female Chippiparai by Richie2089 shared under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.