Every Sunday morning, in the wide green lawns of Bhubaneswar's Biju Patnaik Park, something joyful is happening.

Dogs that spend their weekdays in apartment homes are bounding toward each other, tails furiously wagging, while their owners — IT professionals, homemakers, first-time pet parents — stand nearby with coffee cups in hand, talking about teething, vet visits, and separation anxiety. 

It is part neighbourhood gathering, part therapy session, and, on the best mornings, part art studio.

These are Bhubaneswar's dog meetups: a grassroots community movement that has been steadily building momentum in the city, quietly solving a problem that urban India has only recently begun to talk about.

One such initiative, Paw Mango Events, was founded by Sucheta Priyabadini, Maa Rama Devi Chair Professor at Rama Devi Women’s University.

The problem no one names

India now has an estimated 31 million pet dogs, and the number is rising fast. According to industry data, the pet population grew from 26 million in 2019 to over 36 million in 2024, driven largely by urbanization, nuclear families, and post-pandemic loneliness. 

Millennials and Gen Z, who make up nearly 70 percent of first-time pet owners in 2024, are choosing dogs as companions rather than guard animals — and they are doing so from apartments.

This shift carries an invisible cost. Dogs, by nature, are pack animals that require regular social contact with other dogs to develop healthy behaviour. 

An apartment dog that never meets its kind risks anxiety, fear-based aggression, and........

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