{"id":2402,"date":"2018-11-09T21:15:30","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T21:15:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/?p=2402"},"modified":"2018-11-09T21:15:30","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T21:15:30","slug":"paws-for-breath-indias-pampered-pooches-get-clean-air-as-people-choke-on-smog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2018\/11\/09\/paws-for-breath-indias-pampered-pooches-get-clean-air-as-people-choke-on-smog\/","title":{"rendered":"Paws for breath: India’s pampered pooches get clean air as people choke on smog"},"content":{"rendered":"

GURUGRAM (Reuters) – While most residents of the Indian capital Delhi choked on toxic air this week, the dogs of the city\u2019s elite were enjoying ambient music and purified air at a luxury resort for pets.<\/p>\n

Pollution in the capital rose to \u201csevere\u201d this week after revelers let off fireworks to mark the Hindu festival of Diwali, adding to the heavy smog caused by crop burning, vehicle fumes and industrial emissions.`<\/p>\n

Delhi\u2019s air is among the worst in the world, although many in the city of more than 20 million are unable, or unwilling, to protect themselves from the cocktail of gases and particles.<\/p>\n

But at the TopDog Luxury Pet Resort, Gautam Kari, the chief operating officer who studied animal behaviourology in California, is offering relief for posh pooches.<\/p>\n

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“Snickers”, a Portuguese Water Dog breed, stands on rubber tyres as his brother “Peanut” is seen in the background in one of the grounds, at TopDog, a Luxury Pet Resort, in Gurugram, India, November 8, 2018. REUTERS\/Anushree Fadnavis<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Rooms at the site, next to an organic vegetable farm in Gurugram, one of Delhi\u2019s satellite cities and an IT hub, start at 2,000 rupees ($28) a night – more than five times the average daily wage.<\/p>\n

The canine guests – many owned by politicians, diplomats and business figures, the resort says – have had their outdoor time reduced during the bad-air days of Diwali.<\/p>\n

The air in their rooms is cleaned by purifying machines made by American manufacturer Honeywell.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want them out smelling the air for more than 45 minutes,\u201d Kari said.<\/p>\n

Kari said clients brought their dogs for training and the resort\u2019s other luxuries, including food imported from Canada and music more commonly heard in high-end spas.<\/p>\n

But air pollution is also a concern for owners.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think the air purifiers … are as relevant to dogs as well as to human beings,\u201d said Vineet Durani, an executive at U.S. software giant Microsoft, who was collecting his Siberian husky Juno.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to breathe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other guests include a trio of dogs owned by Japanese diplomats, and two Portuguese water dogs, Peanut and Snicker, from the Dutch embassy.<\/p>\n

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Severe smog in New Delhi after Diwali fireworks<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The resort\u2019s presidential suite – named after former U.S. President Barack Obama\u2019s dog Bo – is occupied by a pair of street dogs adopted by an employee of the World Health Organization, the agency that developed international standards for monitoring air quality.<\/p>\n

For those unable get their pet into TopDog, a pollution mask for dogs, which its makers say is a world-first, will soon be coming to India.<\/p>\n

The K9mask, that costs $39.99 and promises \u201ceasy air intake for resting or panting\u201d, is looking for an Indian distributor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndia is definitely a place experiencing air quality problems that will benefit,\u201d said Kirby Holmes, managing partner of the Good Air Team, which manufactures the masks.<\/p>\n

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GURUGRAM (Reuters) – While most residents of the Indian capital Delhi choked on toxic air this week, the dogs of the city\u2019s elite were enjoying ambient music and purified air at a luxury resort for pets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2403,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2402\/revisions\/2403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}