during his trip to switzerland last year shouvik ghosh a dog breeder bought an eightmonthold male german shepherd for rs 6 lakhs soon after the dogs future puppies were booked for the next two years seeing the huge demand he decided to add another male gsd to his collection but last months central government decision to ban import of foreign dogs came as a big blow for the likes of him the dog breeding industry will suffer heavily because of this decision but yes it will force dog lovers and breeders to shift focus to indian pure breeds which have been neglected over the years shouvik told us whats it all about in april the directorate general of foreign trade an organisation under the union commerce and industry ministry banned import of foreign dogs for breeding and commercial purposes it however allowed imports for defence and police forces and for rd organisations permitted by the committee for the purpose of control and supervision of experiments on animals according to the directive only pet dogs with a valid pet book and documents in the name of the importer can be importedwhile dog lovers and breeders are extremely critical about the centres decision the move has been welcomed by animal rights activists and pet loversactivists speakanimal rights activists believe that most dog owners and breeders do not even follow the basic ethics when it comes to raising pets they say while keeping expensive foreign dog breeds is more of a status symbol for many instances of unscientific breeding are rampant toonikunja sharma spokesperson for an animal rights organisation says that the recent ban will help prevent animal cruelty in a big way several dog breeds like siberian huskies tibetan mastiffs alaskan malamutes and st bernards are regularly imported into the country out of these many belong to extremely cold climates and develop severe health issues while coping with indian weather she saysshatanu banerjee a dog lover who runs an ngo that takes care of the street dogs feels the physical and psychological ordeal a foreign dog has to undergo in india is cruel just like swimming pools are not an apt place to keep blue whales india is not suitable for a siberian husky or a st bernard dogs are beautiful animals its our responsibility to look after them he sayswhat breeders saydog breeders however have a different take on the issue altogether according to them the gene pool available in india is not just limited but also of poor quality bringing highquality foreign breeds from outside the country enriches the gene pool hereforeign dogs born in india suffer from a number of diseases because of poor gene quality for instance great danes are quite prone to hip dysplasia in our country whereas in the us the disease has almost disappeared from the breed similarly indian pugs do not have a natural delivery which also is a genetic disease said vinay jaiswal who owns 14 dogs including four imported labradors