Talks, Press & Media

A consolidated archive of Sindhoor Pangal's and BHARCS's talks, podcast appearances, publications, and press coverage. This is a living record, added to with each conference, article, and appearance.

Research focus

Sindhoor Pangal's research is grounded in human–dog relationships in urban India, with a sustained focus on free-living ("street") dogs — animals whose lives, unlike those of household pets, are not shaped by human domestic environments. Trained originally as an engineer, she brings an empirical, observation-first approach to a population of dogs largely outside the scope of canine research built around domestic pets in controlled settings. Over more than a decade of direct fieldwork and practice (2,000+ dogs consulted), her work has moved from hands-on behavioural consulting toward ethological and ethnographic research treating free-living dogs as active participants — not passive subjects — in the multispecies life of Indian cities. This research is paired with sustained applied and policy work: an original conflict-resolution framework used in community education, and — since the November 2025 Supreme Court order on street-dog management — a co-authored literature review and a running programme of public-facing writing engaging the unfolding legal and public-health debate directly.

Three threads run through this work: human–dog communication (multimodal signalling — gesture, posture, embodied interaction); free-living dogs and canine agency (longitudinal observation of how behavioural freedom lets free-living dogs express species-specific preferences and relationships); and public multispecies caregiving (caregiving as a social practice, and its implications for coexistence and institutional policy).

Career

• Director, BHARCS — Sep 2016–present, Bengaluru
• Founder and Canine Behaviour Counsellor, Bangalore Hundeskole — Oct 2013–Sep 2016
• VP of Product, Stormglass — Sep 2011–2013, Bengaluru
• Tech Consultant, Parikrma Humanity Foundation — Nov 2009–2011
• Product Manager, Yahoo — 2006–Oct 2009
• Senior Software Engineer, Yahoo — Jun 2002–Dec 2006
• Co-PI (with Dr. Chaitanya Lakkimsetti, University of Texas at Austin) on a 2026 application to the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation Distinguished Scholar Award

Education: M.A., Anthrozoology, University of Exeter, UK (2021–2023) · Diploma, Canine Myotherapy, Galen Therapy Centre, UK (2016–2018) · Canine Behaviour training under Turid Rugaas, Hagan Hundeskole, Norway (2014–2016) · B.E., Computer Science, Visvesvaraya Technological University, India (1998–2002)

Conferences & talks

Workshops

Podcasts & interviews

• Dog Talk® with Tracie Hotchner (NPR / public radio, 2020) — the lives and natural behaviours of "streeties," free-ranging dogs in India.
• Dog Tails: Conversations with the Pet Dog Trainers of Europe (2020) — Street dog wisdom.
• Galen Myotherapy / Galen Therapy Centre (2020) — Julia Robertson speaks to Sindhoor about street dogs in India.
• Dog Talk® with Tracie Hotchner (NPR / public radio, 2021) — on demands we should not be making of dogs.
• The Bitey End of the Dog (2022) — Michael Shikashio in conversation with Sindhoor Pangal.
• The Deal With Animals — Marika Bell in conversation with Sindhoor Pangal (2022) — The Culture of Free Living Dogs.
• Dog Talk® with Tracie Hotchner (NPR / public radio, 2022) — on the morality of crating a "loved family member."
• Dog Talk® with Tracie Hotchner (NPR / public radio, 2022) — a philosophical discussion on changing our perceptions about dogs.
• Attitude Makeover (2022) — A Deeper Look at Dog Psyche.
• The Baroo Podcast — Charlotte Bayne in conversation with Sindhoor Pangal.
• Sarah Fink Problemhunde Podcast (2023).
• Out of the Woofworks — Rachael Forday in conversation with Sindhoor Pangal (2025) — Decolonising Free Living Dogs.
• Just Animals Among Other Animals (2025) — Care, Love, and Attention as Political Acts for Streeties.
• The Deal With Animals — revisited — Marika Bell (2025) — The Culture of Free Living Dogs.
• DCC (2025) — Complexities of social richness in dogs.
• The Bitey End of the Dog (2026) — From Chasing Safety to Creating Risk.
• Positively Dog Training (2026) — India's Free-Living Dogs in Crisis.
• APA Human-Animal Interaction Podcast (2026).
• The Dog Expert Podcast (2026).
• Dog Talk® with Tracie Hotchner (NPR / public radio, 2026) — on the crisis facing India's free-living "streeties" amid mass culling in the name of rabies control.
• Galen Myotherapy / Galen Therapy Centre (2026) — Dogs that made me.
• Dogs Do Speak (Colin Spence, 2026).

Publications & press

• The Open Palm Gesture in Human–Dog Communication: An Exploratory Synthesis — peer-reviewed, Human–Animal Interactions (CABI), 2026. Read at CABI
• Lives of Streeties: A Study on the Activity Budget of Free-Ranging Dogs — IAABC Foundation Journal, 2017.
• Co-Becoming: The Human–Dog Kinship — Coonoor & Co, 2024.
• Should Caregiving of Street Dogs Be Encouraged? — Citizen Matters, 2026.
• Psychology Today — Changing Behavior of India's Street Dogs During Lockdown (featured by Dr. Marc Bekoff).
• Research cited in Dr. Marc Bekoff's Canine Confidential and the National Geographic bookazine Genius of Dogs.
• Dog Knows — the book, published by HarperCollins India. See the Dog Knows section.

Op-eds & policy commentary (2025–2026)

Written in direct response to the November 2025 Supreme Court order on street-dog management:

• Literature Review — The Scientific, Legal, and Ethical Failures of Street Dog Relocation — co-authored with Dr. Anindita Bhadra, Dr. Balaji Chandrashekar, Dr. Chinny Krishna, Dr. Asher Jesudoss, Sowjanya Vijayanagar, and Annelieke Laninga (Nov 2025).
• Co-organiser, an open letter with 2,000+ citizens and experts on the risks of India's mega dog-shelter push.
• "By Standing Up for Stray Animals, India Can Show the World a Better Way" — The Indian Express, Jan 2026.
• "Mass Dog Shelters Are a Public Health Risk. Science Over Optics Must Be the Way to Go" — The Indian Express, Jan 2026.
• Don't Go By Bad Logic, Cooked-Up Data — Times of India Plus, Jan 2026.
• Barking Up the Wrong Tree — The Economic Times, Jan 2026.
• "Relocation Will Aggravate Human-Dog Conflict" — quoted, Times of India, Jan 2026.
• "Animal Welfare Experts Say ABC Rules Only Legal Way to Control Stray Dogs, Rabies" — quoted, The New Indian Express, Jan 2026.

Awards & recognition

• FANIMAL Conference Fellowship, University of Exeter.
• Featured in National Geographic's Genius of Dogs bookazine — coverage of the Lives of Streeties project by name.
• Mentioned in Canine Confidential by Dr. Marc Bekoff.
• Former columnist, Pet Puja (weekly canine behaviour column), The Bangalore Mirror (c. 2013–2017).

Video series

Coorg Series

• E01 — What is the BHARCS Way? (6:43)
• E02 — Are we ignoring canine emotions and mental abilities? (12:51)

Ditch the Collar — the anatomy of collar damage

• E01 — Collars damage lymph nodes in the neck (6:47)
• E02 — Collars damage the trachea (7:36)
• E03 — Collars damage the blood vessels (4:03)
• E04 — Collars damage the vertebral column (4:30)
• E05 — Collars damage the hyoid bone (7:37)
• E06 — Collars scar neck muscles (12:51)

Watch on the BHARCS YouTube channel.

Downloadable resources

• Would You Wear a Seatbelt? — a brochure on ergonomic considerations when selecting a harness (made by DogKart.in and BHARCS).
• Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — Dog Breeding and Marketing Rules, 2017.
• SOP — Community Dog Bite Cases (the aggression annexure to the Conflict Resolution Framework).

Writing

The full archive of essays, ethnographies and field stories lives in the Library.