Sixteen-month-old gentle giant Jack, a Great Dane, hogged the limelight at the dog show on the second and final day of the Yelagiri Summer Festival 2013 on Sunday. The show, which turned out be a crowd puller, witnessed more than 15 different foreign breeds of dogs, besides the Kombai, a native breed.

Jack retained the overall championship, just like his father Apollo, who won the title last summer for its majestic look and traits. This harlequin Great Dane, one of the world’s tallest dog breeds, not only won the title but also brought moments of happiness and pride to its owner A Yuvaraj of Jolarpet.

“The calm characteristic of Great Dane that looks massive among other breeds of dogs has earned them the name of gentle giant,” said Yuvaraj holding the four and half-foot-tall (shoulder height) Jack with the trophy. His pet dogs have been winning the overall championship for the eighth consecutive year.

Yuvaraj engaged a professional trainer, T L Suresh Babu, to train the dog. Jack was calm and let out barks the minute its master yelled ‘Charge’. “It will never attack anyone until its master or trainer says ‘attack’. It is such an obedient animal. It will grow to the maximum height of 40 inches,” said Suresh.

Apart from the Great Dane, foreign breeds such as Golden Retriever, Neapolitan Bull Mastiff, Dulmison, Siberian Husky, Boston Terrier, Irish Setter, Doberman, Basset Hound, Labrador Retriever, French Bull Dog, Pomeranian and Miniature Doberman also featured in the show. “A total of 60 dogs have been brought to the show. Boston Terrier, French Bull Dog and Siberian Husky are unique breeds and for the first time they are participating in the show,” Additional Director of Animal Husbandary, Ranipet Circle, Dr T Manoharan, said. He hosted the show and provided interesting information about the origin of the foreign breed dogs to the spectators. Among the native breeds, only the Kombai was present.

Next year, the department would take initiative to bring more native breeds such as Kanni, Sippiparai, Rajapalayam and other breeds, which are on the verge of extinction, to the show.

R Nithyanandam of Vellore is the proud owner of a Boston Terrier that won the special first prize in the small dogs category at the festival. This breed of dog originated from America and is nicknamed ‘the American Gentleman’. “I have a pair of Boston Terriers. The male is imported from Thailand and is named Billu and the female is imported from Moscow and called Teena. I spent `2.25 lakh for the puppies,” said Nithyanandam.

He was the first person to import this breed, which is known for its intelligence and sniffing out explosives, he claimed.

The other interesting breed was the Siberian Husky, having its roots in the polar region and bearing a strong survival instinct. “One Babu from KGF brought the breed. It costs around Rs 3 lakh. This is the first time this breed has been brought to the show here,” said Manoharan.

Babu also brought the smallest breed, miniature Doberman. It is smallest next to the world’s tiniest breed of dog, the Chihuahua, which is from Mexico. S Kumar of Yelagiri paraded his two and half-year-old Dalmatian. It won the second prize in the medium category. He also brought an Irish Setter and a Golden Retriever.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by J. Shanmuga Sundaram / ENS – Vellore / June 11th, 2013