For a freelancer, Cuddles is doing pretty well for herself. Two years ago, she modelled for a mobile phone company advertisement, in which she walked — on two rather stubby legs — with cricketer Yuvraj Singh.

Did we hear you say big deal? Cuddles, the star member of a Bangalore family, is a dog. The advertisement made her an instant canine celebrity. Co-star Singh liked her so much that he wanted to adopt her. And she was, of course, flooded with modelling offers thereafter.

“When Cuddles went for her evening walks, people stopped to say they loved her two-legged gait in the ad,” says entrepreneur Rishiya Hemchandra, who owns Cuddles, a fluffy, white shih tzu.

Pedigreed Plutos don’t need to spend their lives just eating, sleeping and going for walks any more. They are in business — and earning big bucks. Dogs are being offered part-time jobs as models, police helpers and assist dogs.

But modelling is where the real action is. “There is a huge demand for dog models in television ads. As an increasing number of urban families now keep pets, they identify with advertisements that feature canines,” says Yashodhara Hemchandra, who runs Yashbans Kennel and the Fuzzy Wuzzy dog grooming salon, Bangalore, with daughter Rishiya.

Many advertisements are also targeted at children — which is why dogs play an important role in commercials, says Pravan Awasthi, proprietor, Glitz Modelling Agency, Delhi. “Dogs pull the right emotional strings in children,” he says. Also, pets are used to depict the ideal, loving family. “And big dogs are used to show the buying power of an individual,” adds Awasthi.

DOG DAYS: Cuddles (right), a shih tzu, who has starred in several commercials

Awasthi’s modelling agency does seven to eight shoots with canine models every year. “Five years ago, we never shot ads with animals,” he recalls. But now, dogs sell everything from insurance policies to property. Glitz Modelling has shot ads with canines for a liquor brand, ice cream, an insurance company and several real estate builders in Gurgaon. “Dogs have become a hit in advertisements for properties. A dog playing in a park gives a sense of open space,” explains Awasthi.

Cute pups are lapped up by the advertisers, macho dogs are in demand to help detect bombs and those with flawless gene pools are being paid to breed.

Dogs have other jobs too. Come calamities, and they are sent on search and rescue missions. And if Tommy has an altruistic side to him, he can either sign up to be a therapy dog or become an assist dog.

Moushumi Basu, associate professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, got two unexpected job offers for her one-year-old labrador, Bruno, recently. The local police wanted to know if the dog could be trained for police-related activities, and a dog breeder said he wanted to employ Bruno to impregnate bitches. “He was ready to pay for every mating session,” says Basu, who politely turned down the offers.

Breeding pedigreed dogs, like horses, has become a prestigious profession, says Yashbans Kennel’s Hemchandra. She says there are about 200 dog breeders in Bangalore alone. “Small breeds like the shih tzu, beagles, pugs and miniature pinscher dogs have become popular because 80 per cent of the people in Indian metros live in apartments,” says Hemchandra.

As disposable incomes rise in urban India, owning an exotic dog has become some kind of a social symbol with many. Urmila Dabolkar, proprietor, Tailwaggers Salon, Mumbai, always prided herself on knowing everything about dogs. “But now I’m stunned to see the new breeds that come to my salon. I have to read up on dogs like the bichon frise and the maltese,” says Dabolkar.

A pedigreed dog costs anything between Rs 20,000 and Rs 1 lakh, depending on the breed, the reputation of the breeder and the canine’s bloodline. “If a pup’s grandfather has won a dog championship then his price shoots up,” explains Dabolkar.

Some dogs, of course, return the favour by adding to the family kitty. Dog models, the experts exult, earn a packet. Although there are no fixed dog fees, most four-legged models get Rs 7,000-10,000 for an eight-hour shoot. “Special breeds like huskies get up to Rs 15,000,” adds Awasthi.

But there’s hard work involved. You have to pamper the pooch to get him to strike the right pose. “Dogs are as demanding as celebrity models. Breeds like the rottweiler need to be picked up in an air-conditioned cab and shot only in AC studios. We get bones and doggy food to coax them to model,” says Neha Panwar, who’s in charge of client servicing at The Ramp Modelling Agency, Delhi. Awasthi recalls feeding ice cream to a Tibetan lhasa throughout a five hour shoot, to keep her cool.

Dogs are also in great demand with the police force. “The Indian police buy pups from breeders and then train them. Sometimes, dog owners get their dogs recruited by the police for a salary,” says Rohit Gupta, a Delhi-based breeder. He adds that the labrador and alsatian — standard police dogs — sell for about Rs 7,000 each.

Some make a transition from reel to real life. Champ, a labrador, who acted as a sniffer dog in the Hindi film Black Friday — based on the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts — gave such an impressive on-screen act that he was recruited into the Mumbai police dog squad.

Of course, not all dogs are drawn to the arc lights. Some play a quiet, philanthropic role.

The concept of training dogs for search and rescue work is becoming popular in India. Canines Can Care, a Mumbai-based organisation that trains dogs to help people and in search operations, lent a labrador and a cocker spaniel to the police when an earthquake shook Bhuj in 2001. “The dogs helped save the lives of several people buried under the debris,” says Shirin Merchant, who runs Canines Can Care.

Some dog owners enlist their pet with Animal Angels Foundation (AAF). The Hyderabad-based body provides animal-assisted therapy to people with mental and physical problems. AAF has a team of 20 therapy dogs working free of cost for them. “If dog owners want their dogs to do something meaningful, they enlist them with us to do volunteer work,” says Rohini Fernandes, founder, AAF.

But social work is not every dog’s cup of tea. A canine must pass a temperament test before he becomes a therapy dog. “A therapy dog should be friendly, physically fit and not aggressive,” says Fernandes. AAF works with children with autism, cerebral palsy, emotional problems and adults with schizophrenia, anxiety, depression and Alzheimer’s.

“Awareness about assist dogs is on the rise in India,” says Merchant. “I have trained two assist dogs and more enquiries are coming in,” says Merchant. An assist dog costs Rs 50,000 upwards. Sanam Rabadi Karunakar’s life changed with an assist dog. A car accident on the Mumbai-Pune Highway when she was 16 had left her paralysed chest downwards. “Doing simple tasks became impossible,” says the 29-year-old Mumbaikar.

Then, six years ago, she got Magic — a black labrador assist dog, “He opens doors, fetches the phone and covers me with a blanket,” she says.

Living a dog’s life, clearly, has a whole new meaning.