A couple of weeks back, I woke up in the morning to much commotion and discovered that a dog I had never seen before was standing at the gate of my house. My boy, Aru, obviously didn’t like it because he was barking loud enough to bring the entire neighborhood down.

One thorough look at the dog made me realize that he was a young male of pale yellow complexion. He was actually quite remarkable to look at because although he had all the common traits of an INDog – the erect batwing ears, the sickle like tail, he also possessed some of the traits one would find in a Rajapalayam dog. Yes, he had a pink nose and golden eyes.

He was also very friendly. Aru’s barking did not deter him one bit. He was still wagging his tail gleefully at Aru. When I approached him, he let me pet him and once I did, he absolutely melted. Obviously he had run away from someone’s home because he had a collar on him, but no tag. He stayed on around my home for a couple of weeks and then he was gone.

What happened here is not new. I see strange dogs in the neighborhood twice every year, and at about the same time some of the more familiar doggy faces of the area go missing… sometimes, I never see them again.

In India, hundreds of thousands of dogs live on the streets. They are neither neutered nor spayed. So twice every year, the young males in the packs are driven out by hardened adults who try to protect their females from mating with other dogs… even their own pups.

These young males then have to venture out on their own to find themselves new female companion(s) and to build themselves a new pack. To do this, they obviously have to go into territories of other dogs, subdue them in battle and take control of their packs.

Some times these lone castaways meet and bond to form powerful alliances that can overpower any small-sized pack.

A second scenario happens when they find a lone female, bond with her and together they begin  packs of their own. Of course, there is no guarantee that come mating season, the male will get to mate with his companion. He may be driven out of his teritorry by the other males out to test their luck for themselves.

It is quite a fascinating thing to observe, this changing of the pack dynamics. The migration pattern of the dogs, and how nature takes its own course to prevent inbreeding amongst the dogs in this way.

As humans of course the other marvellous thing is to come across a familiar dog in a strange place far away from home who would welcome you with a wagging tail and a sparkle in his eyes.