"Women (respondents) in many of the villages would even voice their opinions around dog motherhood for example, and would say things like dogs also have the right to experience motherhood at least once in their lifetime."

At a time when our legal system views dogs as 'menace' on the one hand, and animal welfare organisations think about welfare as sterilisation and neutering of dogs on the other, Rashmi Singh Rana, PhD candidate at University of Technology Sydney & Nature Conservation Foundation India spoke to me about the vibrant personalities of the dogs she met for her research work. As dogs are sterilised as a form of protection, Rashmi asks crucial questions - who is really being protected, and under what circumstances.

References:

Donna Haraway's book titled 'The Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Significant Otherness' (2003): https://www.amazon.in/Companion-Species-Manifesto-Significant-Otherness/dp/0971757585#:~:text=%22The%20Companion%20Species%20Manifesto%22%20is,here%20just%20to%20think%20with.

Krithika Srinivasan's article/paper titled 'The biopolitics of animal being and welfare: dog control and care in the UK and India' (2013): https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/74826410/27674774._Srinivasan.pdf

Natasha Fijn's article/book chapter titled ' DOG EARS AND TAILS: Different Relational Ways of Being with Canines in Aboriginal Australia and Mongolia', in the book titled Domestication Gone Wild: Politics and Practices of Multispecies Relations (2018): https://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/2500/chapter-abstract/1216210/Dog-Ears-and-TailsDifferent-Relational-Ways-of?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Robert B Ekvall's article titled 'Role of the Dog in Tibetan Nomadic Society', published in 1963 in the Central Asiatic Journal: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41926578

Don Messerschmidt's book titled 'Big dogs of Tibet and the Himalayas' (2010): https://www.amazon.in/Big-Dogs-Tibet-Himalayas-Messerschmidt/dp/974524130X

Himalayan Guardian Dogs: Unsung Sentinels of the Shepherds of the Himalayas: https://roundglasssustain.com/wild-vault/himalayan-guardian-dogs

Supreme Court Order in WP (Civil) No. 5 of 2025: https://api.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2025/41706/41706_2025_9_802_62686_Order_28-Jul-2025.pdf

Animal Birth Control Rules, 2023: https://awbi.gov.in/uploads/regulations/167956418266ABC%20Rule%202023.pdf

Wanted: Menacing Dogs for TV Thumbnails: Wanted: Menacing dogs for TV thumbnails https://www.newslaundry.com/2025/08/13/wanted-menacing-dogs-for-tv-thumbnails