Chilean dogs

We have a new dog. Small black stray puppy girl. Fransisca one of daughters found it near the basket bins around a supermarket. There were 3 or 4 of them. But one lost and feeling so much cold. So she took it and brought home. My Chilean mom did not protest too much to keep puppy. Just for the record so far in the house there are 3 cats, one dog, 2 turtles and one hamster. Outside the house there are 3 dogs. An now one extra got in house.  No doubt no we would have more pooping and also peeing. Yupi!

Peppy & Jutty

Personally I think it is great thing when people take care of animals however I think that if you want to have any animal you need to take proper care of it. So I am little bit concerned about this new puppy.  I do not see it now having anyone give special care to it. Officially new dog – Peppy – is a dog of Francisca. To give you big picture she studies in Vina del Mar and usually returns home only for weekend. Thus, dog will become the responsibility of mom or anyone who stays at home. You must imagine it is a puppy, just like a baby needs to be fed regularly, it pees and poops around so someone needs to teach it to not to do it. I do not see it happening here. This new puppy is a great example of the thing with dogs that is happening here in Chile.

When I first arrived to Chile and took some tour around the streets of Santiago I could not stop to wonder why there are dogs everywhere. There were a lot of stray dogs every place you went. I have not seen such a thing every in any place I travel so far. Some of them looking like a dead were taking naps in the main walk areas of the city centre. I think sleeping dog on the pavement is one of the main pictures of Chile.

A stray dog sleeping in the main street of Santiago

I am not the first who come to Chile to wonder, what is a thing with all these dogs here. Should not be some government unit do something whit dogs. Why there is so much of stray gods in the street. They might be dangerous for both people and other animals. I know from back home there are special places when dogs are kept, given food and take care of. You will not see much of them living in the street. However here looks like it is dogs country. Some resources say there are over 2,5 million only stray dogs living in the streets of Chile whereas total population of Chile is 17,5 million. Generally dogs are everywhere. I remember my walking tour around Valparaiso. There were about 4-5 dogs that followed us for almost 3 hours. They are not very pushy an do not bother much. However sometimes become aggressive especially against her dogs. Moreover you can see that they have scarfs or some body issues, probably as a result of fights and diseases like rabies. I personally so far do not have dangerous experience with stray dogs. However, there are many cases around all Chile of street dogs attacking people. In the city of Calama, a 10 year old boy was killed by a dog that came into his home.   That dog was probably looking for food.

So what is a full picture of stray dogs? The majority of stray dogs are unwanted pets and their offspring that have lived their whole lives on the streets as strays. The rest are dogs that officially have an owner, but for example owner leaves home at 7 am and comes back at 8-9 pm so this poor dog stays all day outside in the street. Owner left for vacations and had nothing to do with dog so let it stay in the street. It seems there is very low level of responsibility and respect of animals. Do not be fooled by people who have many animals that they love them. It is just a part of a true. If you want to have a pet you need to really have time for it – give it proper shelter, food, some attention and if you are working all days or leave for weeks and make your pet stay alone in home or in the worst case in the street – this is not humanitarian. In my personal opinion education about animals role and rights needs to start at home. If it lacks dog becomes only another toy which when not needed ends up in the street.

Up to date there are no entities that control overpopulation of dogs. You might start thinking why government is not forcing a law where dogs will be caught and put to special houses – some ready for adoption, other sick killed. Well, anytime government is trying to take care of ‘dog thing’. There are social objections. By the way you can see quite often public manifestations in the streets of Santiago. People say dogs have right to the freedom. Yeah, freedom for what? Being homeless, not eating and slowly dying. I am not so sure they enjoy a lot their street life. I am sure each and any of them would be happy having warm place to sleep, regular meals and human attention. Looking at animals in my house I do not see them very unhappy staying at home. Frankly speaking they are not very interested to go out to get their freedom. They prefer warm bed, food and human caress.