I like the way the author of this blog post has tried to gain insight into pet dogs by going ‘back to nature’ to
see what Indian street dogs do - even though the aim is only to provide (and
sell) good sleeping arrangements for pets. I am not convinced by all his
interpretations of why street dogs do what they do but still I’d like to
encourage more people to see street dogs as the model for dog behaviour that
can inform us about owned dogs rather than the other way around.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Friday, November 30, 2012
Insights from Sleeping Street Dogs
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Strange Stray Dog Tweet
I came across the
following tweet from somebody called Sacha Parkinson (@SachaLParkinson):
“Romania has an
unbelievable number of stray dogs.. It's so sad, but they're the
happiest dogs ever, tails are always wagging!”
Our firmly
ingrained belief that all dogs must be owned apparently means that we find the "happiest dogs ever" sad!
Let’s open our eyes
and see that unowned dogs can lead great lives without being a problem to
anybody.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Reducing Rabies in Vietnam or Not?
The Vietnamese Government is
introducing a project to try to reduce the risk of rabies in the country through
much stricter dog control. Although I agree, of course, with their effort to
reduce this fatal disease, the wording in the report I read (here) implies that
all dogs must have an owner and that any stray or street dog should be caught
by local authorities and euthanized if not claimed within 72 hours.
Unless all unowned dogs are
removed, which is very unlikely to be achieved, then removing some from the
streets may actually make the situation worse by encouraging movement within
the wider dog population as dogs from elsewhere wander into dog-free areas. In
this way the rabies virus itself becomes more mobile. A far better tactic is
vaccination, which also happens to leave the traditional unowned village dog
lifestyle intact.
When it comes to stray dogs there
is far too much over-reaction and far too many misdirected, overly ambitious showcase
projects.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Indian Stray Dogs at University
Seeing stray dogs as individuals with
personalities makes a real difference to their relationship to the people
around them. The Hindu newspaper has published a story (here) about how the
stray dogs at Jadavpur University in India are part of the community to the
extent that some even attend lectures (more often than some students
apparently). They also have their own Facebook page (JUDogs) run by a group of
lecturers and students who take responsibility for their care and other dog
welfare issues in the area.
What comes across to me is how these people appreciate the individual
personalities of the dogs, and more and more I feel that this is a crucial
connection lacking in too many situations where human residents and unowned
dogs fail to live together peacefully. Remaining as strangers is far more
likely to lead to tension than getting to know eachother. The urban environment
isn’t always conducive to friendliness but I don’t believe it has to be that
way and a more caring community attitude undoubtedly has other benefits.
It’s great to see a story like
this from India that highlights the positives about having unowned dogs around
to balance all the daily “dog menace” stories.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Solving a Seychelles Stray Dog Problem Humanely
In response to unowned dogs
roaming the Seychelles Bird Sanctuary and “wreaking havoc on the birds”, one
man took a very humane approach to solving the problem (full story here).
Nature Seychelles Chief Executive, Nirmal Shah, befriended the dogs and started
feeding them outside the sanctuary at Nature Seychelles headquarters. By doing
so the dogs no longer disturbed the birds and the office compound acquired
“excellent guard dogs”. This informal adoption has proved very successful but as
the dogs are abandoned pets he is also trying to reduce the long-term problem
through campaigning against discarding pets and also accepts that this approach
would not work in all situations.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Friday, November 23, 2012
Handicapped Stray Dog Video
This video of a stray dog in
China which has paralysed back legs but still manages to get around by walking
with a “hand-stand” has been posted on Youtube several times and on different
blogs many more times. Information about the animal is very sparse and I have
not seen any details about how it came to be in this condition but a traffic
accident would be a good guess.
I wasn’t going to post the video
myself until I started reading some of the on-line comments, which are largely
anti-Chinese and either make weak jokes about nobody wanting to eat such an
animal or berate the Chinese in general for not adopting the dog as a pet.
However, the fact that a dog with
such a handicap can so confidently walk around in this manner and actually look
reasonably well-fed suggests to me that it is actually being looked after to
some extent but in east Asian culture that does not necessarily mean as a pet.
Rather than wondering why nobody has adopted this poor dog perhaps we should be
wondering how it is able to carry on living on the streets without being adopted. It
could well be a case of care in the community that would never happen in the
societies providing the anti-Chinese comments.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Cambodian Street Dogs
Here is a blog post about street
dogs in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, by two backpackers travelling during their gap
year. They have posted a good range of photos showing a variety of dogs, which
are worth a look.
What I found particularly
interesting was the picture of dalmatians with the comment about them being
some of the scariest dogs they had come across and how they were “glad they
were tied up”. These are very obviously pets and to me it is absolutely no
coincidence that they were the nasty ones. Pets are socialised to people and
react to human strangers as they would react to canine strangers i.e. by
confronting them. Village dogs generally have a more balanced view of their
relationship to people.
In countries with both pets and native
streets dogs, time and again an open mind can see that pets are typically far
more aggressive towards people than are dogs born to the streets. The problem
is that most people do not realise that the dog snarling at them is actually a
pet dog on the loose and thereby the generic idea of “street dogs” unfairly gets a bad name.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Monday, November 19, 2012
StreetView Street Dogs
Inspired by a story about a
rescued street dog in California that could be seen on Google StreetView
(here), I had a wander around some of the streets of Bangkok on StreetView to
see what I could find. Here are a few of the results:
© 2012 Google
© 2012 Tele Atlas
Then I had a quick look at where
I used to live in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand where street dogs were
also quite easy to spot:
© 2012 Google
© 2012 Tele Atlas
Popping over to Mexico City I
found fewer than I expected but in the right places where people gather and
hang around there were also dogs:
© 2012 Google
© 2012 INEGI
Finally, on this quick tour I
went to Moscow where there have been numerous stories in the recent past about
the reported 30,000-35,000 stray dogs in the city. I spent about half an hour
wandering around on StreetView but couldn’t find any of them. Interestingly,
although I saw plenty of people walking about in pleasant weather I didn’t even
see a pet dog on a leash.
Of course, this doesn’t mean very much but does highlight
to me that life for street dogs in different cities can mean very different
things. In Thailand (and perhaps Mexico) they are accepted and live as an
integral part of the urban community but in Moscow they seem to have to lead
more furtive lives which is inevitably harder particularly given the harsh
climate.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Moscow’s Stray Dog Problem
Moscow’s street dogs are
apparently still under attack from “dog hunters” who leave poisoned bait in
public parks for them. As I have reported here before, their indiscriminate
baiting has also led to the deaths of pet dogs but now things may have
escalated even further with suspicion that a fire at an animal shelter in the
city may have been an arson attack by the same group.
This article in The Moscow News
covers the most recent events and then moves on to discuss Moscow’s animal
shelters including how they have to be very secretive about their whereabouts because
otherwise people will dump their unwanted pets directly on their doorstep or
over their fence.
From this article it seems clear
to me that Moscow’s problem lies in the abandonment of pet dogs with an
estimated 10,000 dumped on the streets every year. The old approach of culling
strays in the city was changed in 2001 to a catch-neuter-release program that
was a little pointless given that the problem was abandonment not strays
breeding. Since then it has been changed to catch-neuter-keep in shelters
forever, which is an enormous on-going commitment that in itself will never
solve the problem.
Moscow, as elsewhere, has to
tackle irresponsible dog ownership first and foremost.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Diwali Danger for Street Dogs
Every single day there is at
least one report in an Indian newspaper about the “menace” of stray dogs. Then
occasionally there is also a report about something different which sheds light
on where this “menace” really comes from.
Buried in an article in The Times
of India (here) about looking after your pets during the upcoming Diwali
festival where many, many fireworks and firecrackers will be set-off is a
section about also caring for stray dogs, which includes the statement:
“The atrocities kids and
young boys subject them to for their own 'fun' leaves them burned, grievously
injured and sometimes limbless.”
It is made clear that
firecrackers will be regularly thrown at street dogs and sometimes even tied to
their tails.
I do not believe that this
callous attitude towards street dogs is restricted to the Diwali festival or to
young boys, although the maiming may well be at its worst at this time of year.
Considering such antagonistic
treatment it is no surprise that the street dogs will be wary of people and
given the living situation with little chance to avoid proximity to people the
dogs will feel the need to defend themselves in the only way they can.
My view is that the main
cause of the dog menace originates from the treatment dogs receive from people.
When combined with poor waste management supporting high numbers of dogs this
creates the unpleasantly threatening atmosphere many Indian cities are apparently currently facing with their canine inhabitants.
Being more careful with
waste disposal and being more humane towards street dogs is within the scope of
all residents without the need to shout at the authorities to do something.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Monday, November 12, 2012
Indian Street Dogs as Individuals
A lovely article I found (here) about seeing
street dogs in India as individuals made me realise that the change from
village to city living whereby people no longer know everybody around them and
life becomes more anonymous in spite of higher populations is also true for the relationship between people and street dogs. In cities most people do not see the street dogs as individuals as
you would if you were living in a village with just a handful of dogs around
you. I’m sure this affects people’s attitude to them and is part of the reason
why city street dogs are far more likely to be called a “problem” than village
street dogs.
However, the article, which focuses
on Mumbai, also highlights the fact there is still a community heart beating in
the city that includes the street dogs as the individuals that they are.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Stray Violence Begets Stray Violence
An opinion piece I found (here)
complaining about the stray dogs in Kashmir contains the following very
revealing statement: “They turn more ferocious when some one pelts a stone at
them.”
Of course they do! And the
more you pelt them with stones the more threatened they will feel and the more
bites your fellow residents will suffer. I bet it was not the dogs that started
this vicious cycle. They are just reacting to society’s treatment and statements
like the one above suggest that perhaps their treatment has never been very good.
Other cultures have a more
relaxed attitude to their street dogs and as a result have more relaxed street
dogs.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Friday, November 9, 2012
Creative Street Dog Movie
Just an average day for a typical
turtle-saving, bully-beating, skateboarding, elderly lady-helping street
mongrel (or “pothound”) in Trinidad. This short film (brief report here) was made as a creative way
to promote the work of Trinidad
and Tobago’s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Reacting To Dogs
Here is some good advice about
what to do when an unknown, even aggressive, dog approaches you. The emphasis
in this short article is on how parents should teach their children “to be a
tree”, i.e. stand very still and not look the dog in the eye, but I think this
is good advice for everybody.
It can take a lot of nerve to
stand still and look away when a dog comes at you but any other action is
likely to make it more of a confrontation. Running will trigger a chase,
staring will produce a confrontation, and being aggressive towards the dog,
which may work if you are an adult, will make sure that any future encounter
will also be hostile. Your reaction can also affect how that dog reacts to
other people in the future. If you are antagonistic towards it then it is more
likely to see unfamiliar people as a threat, which could actually make children
even more vulnerable.
I read a lot of forum discussions
about stray dogs and find it depressing how prevalent the idea is that the only
way to deal with street dogs is to threaten them with sticks or baseball bats
or throw stones at them. This just creates tension and worsens the problem. My
advice, particularly with street dogs living in your neighbourhood, is to get
to know them. Smell is so important to dogs that they will not “know” you
properly until they have your scent, so let them sniff your leg as you look the
other way. In this way with a little bit of effort you can usually eliminate
the problem of aggressive encounters with local dogs, which otherwise can
become a stressful, daily nuisance.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Monday, November 5, 2012
Detroit Stray Dog Video
This video by a Detroit rapper
tells the story of stray dogs in the city and his desire to help them.
Often in this blog I avoid using
the word “stray” as many unowned dogs around the world are exactly where they
belong and do not fit the term but in this case “stray” is exactly the right word
to use. These are abandoned pets, ill-prepared for the lifestyle of unwanted
outcasts and ill-suited for the harsh winters.
Many do survive and some perhaps
even thrive but the difference between these struggling, wary animals and the
village dogs living as accepted, valued members of communities in parts of Asia,
for example, is striking and highlights the need to draw a distinction between
them.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Street Dogs Help Ward Off Evil
A news story about the ongoing
garbage and stray dog management problems in Kashmir (here) contains an
interesting snippet about the traditional beliefs of the residents. In spite of
a recently tense relationship between the street dogs and people, Kashmiris are
apparently traditionally dog-friendly and after a bad dream have the belief that they should then give
food to street dogs. The older generation even still “keep a morsel of food for
the dogs in the street to ward off evil.”
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Street Dogs Prove Their Worth
Here is a more positive story
about India’s street dogs whereby complaints about the dogs from a community’s human
residents changed into support and a vaccination drive after the dogs foiled an
attempted burglary. People had re-realised the security benefit of having these
dogs around and loathing turned to appreciation.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Dog Domestication Dogma
A review of evidence on the
origins of the domestic dog (here) concludes that the most likely route was not
direct domestication of the wolf but the domestication of “a species of medium-sized
generalist canid, a "wild C. familiaris," that voluntarily
adopted the pariah niche and remained commensal for an extensive period before
some populations became truly domesticated”.
The author highlights the problem that our strongly held
belief that we deliberately domesticated the wolf has hindered research on the
subject, as has our “Failure to investigate primitive dogs”, concentrating
instead on modern breeds. Genetic research on the subject still focuses on
comparing “breeds” and wolves rather than investigating the readily available
pariah dogs in India or southeast Asian dingoes, for example. As she points out
the conventional “dogma” of our beliefs has been a real barrier to objective
research.
As she also notes, her
conclusions leave significant unanswered questions, most notably the origin of this
generalist canine and how it was related to the wolf, but the overall
conclusion is very relevant to the modern-day “stray” dog issue. Whether it was
the wolf or a proto-dog that moved into the pariah niche prior to domestication
this clearly supports my belief that many of the unowned village dogs living
today are doing exactly what they naturally evolved to do and that the same
dogmatism that is hindering research on domestic dog origins is also blinkering
our attitude to the dog’s place in the world.
As I keep saying, not all unowned
dogs are stray.
|
Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer) |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)