Dhoni with great heart
Krishnnya Guttedar has a special job at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. He is one of the 24 trainers who have been assigned to supervise their own dogs that serve as guards for the stadium. Loads has been written about the stadium that has dogs for guards, but Krishna, who has been Sunny - the Labrador's - trainer for the last five years, tells us a slightly different story in his native Marathi.
"We are 24 trainers, who are assigned one dog each. We have been trained at the police academy and in turn have trained the dogs that have been assigned to us. I have been taking care of Sunny since he was a few weeks old. He is five now," he says as a playful Labrador is as excited as ever.
"We are assigned the job of walking them, feeding them, ensuring their vaccinations are done on time. They only listen to us. On match days, while 5-6 dogs are guarding the gates, the others are along the boundary lines with their trainers."
Just then Prince, the Golden Retriever walks in, and wants to be pet. When asked if all the dogs are as playful, the question is answered by howls and barking in unison from the enclosure where the dogs are caged.
The kennel comprises of three Malinois, a variety of the Belgian Shepherd (Veer, Killer, Zanjeer), two German Shepherds (Hank, Rock), one Golden Retriever (Prince), seven Labradors (Sunny, Prince, Don, Cash, Flash, Axis, Champ), four Dobermans (Rex, Teja, Bruno, Leo) and three Rottweilers (Lucky, Oscar, Chester).
Even for a dog lover, the enclosure can be quite intimidating with the breed of herding dogs clashing with their cages, wanting to be freed to get a measure of the visitor. "Never has anyone been attacked, so far," he said. "A lot of cricketers come to visit the dogs. MS Dhoni comes very often. He loves Prince, who is everyone's favourite." Just then, Piyush Chawla exits the kennels and affirms that he's on the Prince bandwagon as well.
"The labradors are the harmless ones; they only sniff around and ensure the VIPs are brought in unscathed. The rest of them, that are along the boundary lines, are the more intimidating ones. When the ball comes towards them sometimes, they are a bit jumpy, but the trainers take care of them well.
"They don't eat raw meat; only eat dog food. We have to feed them twice a day - once at 12:30 and next at 7. They are so disciplined and well taken care of that even if you feed them some bread crumbs or anything else, they won't eat them. And they're also trained so well that they only eat out of their own bowls," he added with pride.
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"We are 24 trainers, who are assigned one dog each. We have been trained at the police academy and in turn have trained the dogs that have been assigned to us. I have been taking care of Sunny since he was a few weeks old. He is five now," he says as a playful Labrador is as excited as ever.
"We are assigned the job of walking them, feeding them, ensuring their vaccinations are done on time. They only listen to us. On match days, while 5-6 dogs are guarding the gates, the others are along the boundary lines with their trainers."
Just then Prince, the Golden Retriever walks in, and wants to be pet. When asked if all the dogs are as playful, the question is answered by howls and barking in unison from the enclosure where the dogs are caged.
Even for a dog lover, the enclosure can be quite intimidating with the breed of herding dogs clashing with their cages, wanting to be freed to get a measure of the visitor. "Never has anyone been attacked, so far," he said. "A lot of cricketers come to visit the dogs. MS Dhoni comes very often. He loves Prince, who is everyone's favourite." Just then, Piyush Chawla exits the kennels and affirms that he's on the Prince bandwagon as well.
"The labradors are the harmless ones; they only sniff around and ensure the VIPs are brought in unscathed. The rest of them, that are along the boundary lines, are the more intimidating ones. When the ball comes towards them sometimes, they are a bit jumpy, but the trainers take care of them well.
"They don't eat raw meat; only eat dog food. We have to feed them twice a day - once at 12:30 and next at 7. They are so disciplined and well taken care of that even if you feed them some bread crumbs or anything else, they won't eat them. And they're also trained so well that they only eat out of their own bowls," he added with pride.
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