For dog lovers, costly breeds like the German Shepherd may be among their favourites, but for shepherd women in the Bodi hills, local breeds or country dogs found in the streets are the real shepherd dogs. Goat-rearing is one of the prominent occupations for villagers of Bodi hills which is downhill of the Western ghats in Theni district. Women in good numbers are involved in goat-rearing and have to venture into grasslands, mainly semi-shrub forests adjacent to the thick jungles of the Western ghats. Their best friends in this venture are these country dogs, whom they train from their childhood. These dogs are not a special breed but are normal dogs found in the streets, the women said. "Some big landlords may buy special breeds but we only depend on normal dogs for the purpose," said A Periajakkammal of Chinnapottipuram village in West Bodi hills. These dogs accompany the women, collect the scattered goats and organise them in herds. "Most of the time we come across wild animals like foxes in the pasture lands and they keep away from the goats because of the dogs. Without the dogs it will be very difficult to graze the goats," says P Papathi from Bodi who has 30 goats and five dogs.

The shepherd dogs are picked up as puppies and taken by the women for grazing. They spend most of the time in pasture lands amidst the goats and cattle. "Grazing goats comes very naturally to these dogs and they will protect the herd at the cost of their lives. We can be at peace when the dogs are with us," says P Vasiammal, another goat farmer from the region.

These dogs are not fed any special food or supplements like imported breeds. "They eat whatever we cook at home and live as one among us. They don't incur any additional cost," Papathi says.

Interestingly, the dogs get over protective of the herds and will not tolerate any outsiders when the goats are in pasture lands, the women said. Moreover, the women, who hail from various linguistic backgrounds like Telugu, Tamil and Kannada spoken in the region, tend to communicate with the dogs in the same language. "The dogs will reciprocate only in the language of the owners and will not understand other languages. The owner has to command them in their mother tongue to get work out of them," said Periajakkamma, who interacts with her dogs in Telugu.