“I’ve already sold three today,” stated Tek Bahadur Giri on Tuesday to a small crowd that had gathered around him in front of Bishal Bazaar in New Road. It was 3 pm, and the little pup in his hand shivered every now and then, at the passing winds, yawning occasionally.
Giri, a resident of Helambu in Rasuwa district, located at some 72 kilometers northeast of Kathmandu, has been selling Tibetan Mastiff puppies for the past four years. Locally, these heavily built furry dogs are known as Bhote Kukurs.
“How much?” asked a potential customer. Giri glanced at him and decided on Rs 6,000.
Depending on the customer and the size of the puppy, Giri charges anywhere from Rs 3,500 and above. But of course, there’s always bargaining, and Giri is only one of dozens who come to sell Bhote kukurs, hoping to make some money during the arid winter months when production of crops in the highlands is at its low.
At Durbar Marg were Giri’s competitors – Kumar Pandit and Hem Raj Puri, both 23 years of age. Pandit, Puri and Giri are all farmers.
“They call our village Bhote Namlang,” put in Pandit as Puri displayed a month-old puppy to the gathering crowd. Their village falls in Sindhupalchowk district, also to the north of the Valley, but not as far as Helambu. With Tibetan Mastiff puppies, these farmers also sell carpets.
“We make some money that helps us buy clothes and food for our family,” Pandit went on and added with a grin, “And we also get to roam in and around the city.”
Married with two kids, Puri boasted, “Last year, I sold a puppy for Rs 17,000.” Most buyers, according to him, are (British) Lahure families. On average, the puppies, which are brought to the city when they are only a month old, sell anywhere from Rs 3,500 to Rs 6,000.
“It all depends,” Giri shrugged his shoulders, as another onlooker expressed, “This one doesn’t look like a Bhote Kukur. Look at his paws, they are small.”
Known for its huge head and paws, finding a pure-breed Tibetan Mastiff is indeed rare these days. It is also the reason why professional canine care companies such as Mt Everest Kennel Club (Mek Club) at Purano Baneshwor, Kathmandu, stopped buying puppies from such seasonal sellers.
“The pure breed of Tibetan Mastiffs are found in higher altitude areas and are used as sheep and yak herd dogs,” explained Suresh Shah, the Managing Director of Mek Club. With more than 14 years in the profession, Shah said, “Since these herds keep moving around, and when they come down to the mid-hills, the pure-breed dogs mate with other dogs, thus creating crossbreeds of low quality which are more common in the streets of Kathmandu.”
Mek Club couldn’t guarantee their clients that these puppies would grow up to the size of the purebred Tibetan Mastiffs, i.e., around 24 to 28 inches in height and 60 to 70 kilograms in weight. With no proper system to monitor its authenticity, Mek Club stopped offering the breed.
In contrast, Puri, who has been selling puppies for seven years now, pointed out, “Kennel clubs didn’t give us enough money, so we started selling them on the streets.”
Even so, Shah agrees that some of them may be of pure breed and those puppies could cost up to Rs 20,000. “The scope of Tibetan Mastiffs is very high if one is to breed them professionally,” he stated, on a positive note.
Although its name carries ‘Tibet’, the origin of the Tibetan Mastiff is not defined, clarified Shah. Traditionally used as guardian dogs, they are found across the Karakoram Range, which borders between China, India and Pakistan. These dogs are known for their loud echoing barks.
“The worldwide expansion of the breed, however, happened from Nepal, as it was taken to Germany, America and other countries from here,” Shah outlined. These days one can find better quality pure-breed Tibetan Mastiffs abroad because they have been professionally farmed, he also highlighted.
While one seller dubbed his per-year sale, in two months, at an average of 60 to 70, another said it was no more than 40. That still is a huge number of puppies.
Each person brings a maximum of five puppies when they come down to the city, each trip costing them around Rs 500. “We all stay at a lodge in Ratna Park,” informed Puri. The puppies are left there, and a seller goes back to get another puppy, after making a sale.
Puri, Giri and Pandit aren’t the ones who breed these puppies, though. “They are bred by the Sherpas, Tamangs and Newars,” said Pandit. Each puppy, also depending on its size, costs them anywhere from Rs 300 to Rs 2,200.
And that’s how these Tibetan Mastiffs, whether pure or hybrid, end up at the homes of either pet-seeking or guard-seeking Kathmanduites.
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