Bunty Chor did two things to this city of Ananthapuri. One: he had its residents scampering around town for the latest in security gadgets. Two: he had them at their innovative best to outsmart burglars. So much so that traditional guards hired from security agencies for a few days have become passe.
Instead, on hire are ferocious dogs that can bite the daylight out of anyone attempting to break into a house. The innovative idea of renting out fierce dogs to guard houses comes from the Commando Dog Hostel and Training Centre at Peyad, in Thiruvananthapuram suburbs. The idea evolved out of statistics which said most burglaries occurred at houses without dogs.
‘Commando’ now has four no-nonsense trained dogs that would instill fear into even the most seasoned of thieves.
The four are of different breeds — a German Shepherd, a Rottweiler, a Doberman and a Labrador. All the four dogs can be rented for the same rate of `250 per day. What is special about these dogs is that they are trained in such a way so as not to accept food from strangers. “Thieves generally hang around houses during daytime, checking the surroundings. They generally don’t attempt a burglary if dogs are around and even if they do, they do so only after feeding the dog poisoned food. The dogs, often starving in the absence of their owners, eat whatever food is thrown at them,” explained Suresh, who owns and runs the Dog Hostel.
The Commando dogs are fed with beef ‘biriyani’ specially cooked and brought from the Dog Hostel.
“We already give this biriyani to dogs in almost 1,600 houses in the city. So giving it to a few more dogs will not make a difference,” said Suresh.