Chile Forum

I think the situation of stray dogs is sad, but at the same time I think they´re part of the culture for chileans, so the approach is very different for locals than for "gringos". I´m talking as a local here.

"Quiltros" (stray dogs and the word for mutts as well) have been around since always, people are use to deal with them, to feed them, and to pet them when they are nice and approach asking for a little love. There are some people that "adopt" some of these dogs, when they "live" close to their workplace o their homes, so they feed them in a daily basis, and sometimes take them to the doctor if they´re sick, even though the dog doesn´t live with them and technically they´re not the owners. I know that is not the ideal situation, and people and authorities should be more responsible, but again, that is the reality.
Here I´m talking in general, because in some places they build packs and turn dangerous, but that is not very common in an urban context. In the North they have big issues with that, and I don´t know why, over there quiltros are huge!

So, even when it looks like nobody cares about these guys, the truth is that a lot of people feed them, and keep an eye if someone is in a bad shape. I know tons of people that at some point has rescued a sick dog from the street, cure them, and wait till they find a permanent home for the dog, so that is a little "relieving" about the condition of the street dogs, and it shows how this interaction works socially.

I would love these guys to be neutered, but I don´t think it is a priority for authorities. I hope it can happen at some point. And the idea of killing thousand of dogs I think is just terrible. They did something like that some years ago around La Moneda before an official ceremony, and it was a big scandal, and believe it or not, the Carabineros hid one of these dogs in one of their cars to save him! So, forget it, people care in their way about quiltros, so killing them can´t be a public policy.

Right now an organization is opening a new refuge for cats and dogs that are in a bad shape. I think that is a nice initiative. They are looking for 130 people that can donate thousand pesos per month to pay the rent of this place (or less people that give more than mil pesos), so if you´re interested in helping with a little money, just PM me and I´ll give you the information.

Chixx001,

Don´t worry about your dog. It all depends where you live. In my personal opinion to live in Santiago (downtown) with a dog is a bad idea, because the apartments are in general very small, and because it is the financial - government zone, that means no parks or areas where you can decently walk a dog. And yes, over there are more stray dogs than in other places.

I live in Providencia and believe me, we "share" one stray dog with like 5 blocks , so that is not really a problem (in addition, he is litlle, and old, so he doesn´t bother anyone).

Check zones that are close to parks where you can walk your dog. "Pocuro" stret in Providencia and Parque Bicentenario in Vitacura can be cool places to live close by.

Hi to all,

I'm Jonathan, from Agrupación Protectora Canes y Felinos, working with stray animals. We have had tons of work these past year-and-a-half and have managed to improve the functioning of this Organization; in fact, these past four months we have been working to turn the legal concept from a Community Organization to an NGO, which will help us develop a much orderly and professional work.

I forward you the general information about the initial meeting we are helding to inform what the performance of the Agrupación had been so far and to present new lines to project our work in the future.
I invite people in this forum since it is important to add different points of view and ideas, which you may have from your experience in different countries.

I hope you can make it. It is not necessary that you join. Everyone interested in helping strays is welcome, especially if they work from the heart.

Next, the info about the meeting

DATE: Saturday, July 24th, 4:30 PM.
LOCATION: TEMUCO Universidad Santo Tomás Auditorium (Manuel Rodríguez 060, near Regional Museum)

In case you can't make it you can still get in touch with us at: contacto@canesyfelinos.com

Thanks for your attention

Jonathan Jara G.
http://www.canesyfelinos.com

Moderators, let that bit of spam slide. The worse that could happen is someone ends up with a street dog on their lap.

By the way, this is Plata (Chilean slang for cash). A friend went in to a Banco Estado ATM, and came out with plata. Someone had left her inside the door of the ATM area. Very smart, as sooner or later some sucker (or the friend of some sucker), was going to pick her up and take her home. Plata is our newest family member now, as I was on the hunt for a dog for sometime now. In the past, the best dogs found me. Plata found me. The name is great fun, "bueno Plata", "malo Plata", "don't worry, tengo Plata", and so on.

Since some seem to be posting photos of their dogs... I can't resist... some of you have seen them before, but here they are, fully assimilated into Chilean society... at 5 yrs old.

and we have very little trouble from the many dogs here in our neighborhood, although there are way too many loose... most have owners and they just let them run free.

Plata is an awesome name for a dog found in an ATM!
I hope she (he?) can bring some real plata as well, like babies "y la marraqueta bajo el brazo"

Anyway, I think dogs in the street show lack of education and responsible pet ownership, and also lack of policies to end with this, but at the same time it shows that this society doesn´t like to kill to solve problems. Maybe is silly, but we hate the idea of dogs and cats being killed, so we prefer to deal with them in our daily lives. I like that we don´t have a culture of death.

I hope we can improve our lack of education towards pets and our laws in a close future, but the real uncivilization is not the fact of having animals living on the street, it´s to have people living on the street...and in that I think the whole world is in debt. (but that is another story!)