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Breeding success
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Geetha Nadkarni, a well-known breeder, loves her German Shepherds like family. The dogs from her kennel, Kennelkraft, are highly sought after.
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TOP DOG: Geetha with her pets.
GERMAN SHEPHERDS are hot favourites among breeders and pet lovers alike for their majestic mien, their intelligence and loyalty. Geetha Nadkarni, a well known dog breeder, is a case in point. A visit to her house would ensure a boisterous welcome by over have half a dozen German Shepherds of all sizes.
"They won't do anything. They all look huge but they are like little children," Geetha says. And she is right. The excited dogs settle down soon only to perk their ears as Geetha talks about them.
Her well- groomed German Shepherds are known for their good temperament and have won innumerable prizes for perfect bite, paw, length and breadth ratio, etc. at dog shows.
Punda, the top dog, is a Champion as he has been declared winner of a dog show for three consecutive years. Another of Geetha's dogs was declared the best in the universe.
It is no surprise then that the dogs from her kennel, Kennelkraft, are the most sought after. People from different parts of the country book in advance to buy pups from her.
While breeding dogs is a lucrative business, Geetha insists that she, unlike some of her peers, is into it because of her love for dogs. And it is apparent what with photographs of dogs pasted across the walls of their house and figuring prominently in family albums.
Pets were a part of Geetha's family since her childhood. But the passion for breeding dogs grew after marriage when her husband, Srikanth, envisaged the idea. She bred Dachshunds and Dobermans during their stay in Delhi and Chandigarh.
After settling in Hyderabad, she bought a high pedigree German Shepherd and took to its breeding. All dogs in her kennel are registered with Kennel Club of India and their pedigree is properly documented.
Any new addition to the family is registered and the sale of a pup is done on the prescribed transfer form. To ensure that her dogs are well looked after, Geetha provides the buyers with a handout on dog care.
Geetha says, "if you treat your dog like a family member, they love you back. I think dogs can gauge our state of mind. If I am depressed, they look at me enquiringly. Being with dogs relieves stress."
To have an extended family of dogs is not easy, as everyone in the family should love dogs. That is also not a problem for Geetha as her husband and children also love dogs and she is able to devote a lot of time to her dogs.
Srikanth corroborates when he says, "I love dogs too. Or I would have told my wife to choose between the dogs and me! However, I can't take care of dogs as much as she does.''
Indeed, to nurture high pedigree German Shepherds requires a great deal of commitment. Geetha takes the dogs to the vet, Dr Praveen Kumar, for their vaccination, surgery or if things are beyond her control.
Otherwise Geetha treats minor ailments like diarrhoea and kennel cough herself. She also decides the calcium dose depending on the growth of a dog. She knows her dogs so well that she accurately diagnoses the cause for an upset stomach whether it is due to an infection or indigestion. There are times when people call her up at midnight to consult her if their dog is not well.
Geetha is a personification of the proverbial what is bred in the bone will come out in flesh. And her efforts are evident in flesh and blood.
S. PAI
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