Dogs of Las Terrenas, part I.

I´ve been here almost 3 weeks now and it feels like much longer. I feel like I´m moving at a different rhythm. I walk slower. I´ve gotten used to not controlling things and not knowing how things are going to go, and it doesn´t bother me at all. Cockroaches, ants and mosquitos still bother me, but I imagine they always will.

I had the pleasure this weekend of looking after a colleague´s dog, a sweet little mutt called Toyota. Toyota is a Dominican dog, so she sleeps outside, chained in the garden and when she feels like it, she pulls out of her collar and goes for a wander on the road. With me, she got spoilt rotten, which was a reminder of why I shouldn´t have a dog here – when I leave, that dog would NOT be equipped to deal with life here with another family. It´d have to come with me, or it would miss the sofa time and the constant human attention. And I am not bringing another dog home to Ireland with me. I promised my parents.

Toyota on the beach

Poser

Most Dominican dogs just vagabond freely. The only way you know the difference between a street dog and a dog with a home, is that the ones with a home have a collar. And lots of the street dogs kind of have a home, because they hang out outside places where people give them food. What they don´t get is veterinary care, love and play.

It was a big relief to me to see that the street dogs here are largely healthy and happy. They sprawl across the footpath, sleeping in the sun. They scavenge for food in bins or get fed scraps by tourists. They´ve figured out that the best way to get food is to approach submissively, ears down and with a pitiful look on their face. The plight of street dogs here has apparently improved drastically in the last decade, thanks in no small part to an association here called Amigos de Lucky. Amigos de Lucky is a small organisation run by a German couple. Lucky was a street dog that they adopted, and when he died, they started the organisation to help other animals like him. Every year they do a spaying/neutering drive in which they bring vets from abroad and offer free spaying/neutering for pets. This year they spayed/neutered 554 animals in 8 days. They also vaccinate and neuter street dogs, and tag their ears before letting them go again. A dog here can live happily on the beach and the street, so they´re more concerned about vaccination and spaying than rehoming.

Here´s one fella tagged by Amigos de Lucky - that means he´s been vaccinated against rabies and other diseases, and that he´s been spayed.

There will be more dog photos coming. On Playa Bonita there are a load of vagrant chihuahas, which I can´t help but find amusing. One of them has patches of blue skin, and I´m not sure if he was dyed or if he has some hideous skin infection. Sometimes I get embarrassed taking dog photos - the locals stare when I whip out the iPhone and stick it in a mutt´s face. But these pooches must, and will, be recorded.