Chile Forum

Heartwarming and sad story.

Today on the Pullman Bus between Santiago and the San Antonio area, the bus made what seemed to be an impromptu stop on the side of the highway. I looked across the road and spied a literally jumping two feet in the air with joy stray black dog (looked like a collie/husky type-influenced breed mix but all black) in the area between the field of crops and the highway. Dog was quite experienced and intelligent and did not even attempt to enter the roadway in his/her excitement. Next I spotted the bus attendant dashing across our side of the road with a bag, crossing over the barrier rail and then crossing the other side to the area of the dog. The dog which was extremely happy to see him kept his distance while the attendant disappeared from view as he bent down to lay out a present for said doggie. The attendant returned to the bus and the dog went after his lotto prize. Just thought I'd share.

confused. Is this 'bus stops to feed random dog', or 'bus drive stops so his partner can feed his dog'. Either way, cool story.

In spite of all the foreigners perceptions of Chileans relationship with dogs, Chileans are still 1,000 time more serious about their pets than the rest of Latin America.

Charles,

From what I have seen of the Chilean people that own animals, I agree they take good care and love their animals very much.... but the question remains, if Chileans are serious about taking care of their pets, why isn't there a humane society in Chile and why are there so many dogs without homes?

My heart was so broken to see so many sweet homeless dogs in LaSerena (as well as everywhere else)... this is a photo of some of my new friends in La Serena.

John

That's adorable As much as I do hate the stray situation, I love "meeting" random dogs and cats everywhere.

allegro wrote:That's adorable As much as I do hate the stray situation, I love "meeting" random dogs and cats everywhere.

Their fleas, on the other hand, are not so cute. My kids have already gotten ringworm twice in two years from flea bites, and we don't even have any pets of our own to harbor the fleas. I'd never even heard of people (as opposed to their pets) getting ringworm until I moved here.

Just an FYI... more at http://pediatrics.about.com/od/ringworm/a/ringworm_contag.htm

Ringworm is common in children, and although parents are quick to blame their pets for giving their kids this rash, the family dog or cat isn't always to blame.

So how do kids get ringworm?

Often, it is like many other infections they get and they simply get it from other kids at daycare or school or even from infected family members.

There are types of ringworm fungi that do infect pets and wild animals though, and although it is likely a rare source of infection for children, there are some that are even found in the soil, so there are many different sources for a child's ringworm infection.

You can even get ringworm by having contact with objects that have had contact with an infected person or pet, such as a brush, towel, or hat.

John

OK, so I don't know for sure where the fleas picked up the ringworm. But the ringworm definitely was introduced to my kids via flea bites, and I'd be very surprised if the flea population wasn't related to the stray dog population, especially here in the city where the population of wild and/or farm animals is pretty limited.

"Chilean people .... take good care and love their animals very much"

I have to disagree. Too many Chileans treat them as guard dogs without ever taking them out to walk, and restrict them to tiny areas, even chain them up, imprisoned for life, whereas the callejeros are free to go where they like. I'd much rather be a stray dog than the typical neurotic "pet" in Chile. In Canal Chacao Quilpue I'm known as the gringa who walks dogs in the street cos no-one else ever takes dogs out walking.

One of my strongest memories from my visit in Chile a couple of years ago was the time when we were visiting a friend. She had a small garden with a high fence around it and I didn't feel like being inside with them, so I went out. They had a small dog that a played with for almost twenty minutes when I saw this neighbor on his way home. He walked straight to his house and there was a big, black skinny dog walking forward to greet him on the streets. He just ignored the dog and kept walking to his house.

I remember feeling sad for the dog, so I discretely called it over to me. It sat down on the other side of the fence and I started scratching it's head. Very soon two other dogs appeared from nowhere (a small one crawled from under the fence and sat down by my side) so suddenly I sat there petting four dogs at ones. They were so sweet and I had so much fun just being social with them!

Especially this big, black one... As soon as i stopped petting him, to give some attention to the others, he would take his paw and softly scratch at me to get my attention. It was so cute and I'm sure I sat out there for at least fifteen minutes just loving my time with these dogs.

Soon we had to go home, but I still pet some cute dogs that would follow me on the streets when I went to buy something with my dad... No one ever told me not to and I was to young to think about any deceases these dogs could pass on, but luckily I never got sick.

All I'm saying is, sure, it's nice to not walk around hungry and thirsty, but there's so much more to it than that. Dogs are mammals and so are humans, and like most mammals, we are social. Dogs can be social with each other, but that won't always be a happy tale. If you look at a wolf pack, they are all fairly aggressive if any other wolf or human comes to close - the same goes with stray dogs that walks in packs.

Then there are a lot of outcasts who are not welcomed into a pack and these are most likely very lonely. They go along, eat, drink, breeds, etcetera, but they don't experience much of anything social. That is sad, because clearly dogs are breed and made for being social animals.

And not only that, they're also animals who could be so incredibly useful. You can hunt with them or TRAIN them to become excellent guard-dogs [other than just barking at everything strange outside of their territory], they're great for handicaps and for teenagers to learn about responsibility [by taking good care of their dogs]. They can help you get healthy by you taking a walk with them and so on... The possibilities are endless and yet we don't take them!

Many might think that a dog feels free or whatever when it runs wild, but that's not necessarily what it wants. It wants a family, it wants a task. It needs not to feel afraid or insecure or panicked... It just needs peace and that's not accomplished by running around in a society as ours.

Maybe if they were wolfs, they would be fine... Just hunting in the woods and living far from humans, but we brought them into this life and it's our responsibility to do what we can to make sure they get by.

Also, those who dumps their dogs in some small town or at the beach... Just terrible. So disappointed... Guess that's what happens when we don't know what to do of something beautiful.

Sorry I wrote so much. Ones I've started, it's hard for me to stop.