THE DOGS OF VILCABAMBA

  THE DOGS OF VILCABAMBA

There is no shortage of dogs in this town.  You won’t have to walk very far at all to see one……..or more.  They come in all shapes and colors, but nothing too large.  And there are no “overweight” ones either. Medium sized and small ones are all over the place.  And as you’d expect, a few chihuahuas in the mix.  The biggest one I saw was on my 3rd jaunt up Cerro Mandango.  I was eating my breakfast in the small forest just down from the top, when a couple was descending with their mutts.  The dogs were maybe a minute ahead of their owners, and the big one was a German Sheperd.  He came right over and growled.  Since I was eating I tossed a piece of bread to the ground.  He sniffed it for one megasecond, and then resumed his growl.  I repeated that again, and again, and by the 4th time he let down his anger and started eating what I was offering.  He must have felt he was now entitled to my breakfast  and literally came one foot from my face expecting the same handout.  I quickly tossed a small piece away from me just to remove him out of biting range.  I had to repeat that once again, and finally the owners appeared around the corner and apologized for the intrusion of their dog.  I said it was nothing to worry about (now that was a croc of BS if I’ve ever told one).  We shared some small talk about birds, and then they were off.  Speaking of this 3rd jaunt up Mandango, I had left at the crack of dawn, and by the time I had reached an elevation where I could look down on the town, it was just waking up.  Dogs were barking and roosters were crowing making a certain cacophony that made me chuckle. It seemed like they were in competition such that it could have been scripted. And though I write this about the local dogs, I’m sure this applies throughout the country.

Since we are walking a few miles per day, we’ve explored many of the roads near where we stay.  We’ve learned if you show a dog some attention by sweet talking, they will follow you for a while.  If you feed them or give them a drink of water, they will follow you farther.  We’ve heard they all have owners, but you’d never know it.  Most are starving for attention (and food).  They make great watch dogs also.  They might bark at you for just walking past the entrance to their owner’s house, but if they are out in the street in front of that house, they are much less offensive.  We met one dog not far from our house one day who was super friendly.  I saw him a day or two later behind a gate.  I’m glad there was a gate between us as he was showing me his canines and grumbling something under his breath that my language app could not translate.  

In light of this, you really must watch your step wherever you walk, especially in the more urban part of downtown.  There is no such thing here as using those doggy bags.  And I am not sure about  striking up a conversation with a local about how in America they pick up after their dogs.  He’d probably tell me we have a warped set of priorities that need some adjustment… 

There are no where near the amount of cats here as there are dogs.  We’ve seen maybe a dozen cats, and I’ve yet to see a dog chasing a cat.  There are plenty of chickens with chicks around also, and I’ve yet to see a cat chasing a chick.  (My cats would have a hay day here, and I’d probably be in trouble with various neighbors because of my cat’s activities).  Our landlord says they all get along just fine, except for the occasional squirmish between two macho dogs who feel the need to be Top Dog on the block.  

I was wondering about how to estimate how many dogs there are around town.  With a population of 4,000, there are probably 7-800 families which may imply as many dogs.  They keep them as watch dogs.   Some families have more than one dog. So that is just a “ruff” estimate.  Not long after getting here I learned there was some kind of a newsletter type of thing for the town which had various announcements, so I signed up for it.  This is mainly for expats.   One of the first bits of news that came out was from a lady who is trying to help find homes for orphaned dogs.  So I asked her if she had an estimate of how many dogs were in the area.  She did not know, but did say there were about 100 dogs that need to be adopted.  

One more thing - Pitt Bulls are illegal to bring to this country, so we did not see any. 

So here are a few pics I’ve accumulated as we’ve walked around town.

               BEING THE DOGS THEY ARE, THEY ALSO MARK THEIR TERRITORY.  THERE WAS A PUDDLE HERE SOON AFTER, PROBABLY AN ACCUMULATION OF SORTS.

I ADDED ONE OF MY CAT BUSTER.  HE SLEEPS ON HIS BACK AND LIVES ON THE EDGE.

                                 THIS DOG HAS TWO DIFFERENT COLORED EYES.  

                                   I’VE SEEN THIS IN CATS, BUT NEVER ON A DOG

HERE’S A PAINTING ON THE WALL AT THE VETS.  MANY DOGS ACTUALLY NEED TO GO TO                       A VET, BUT IT IS USUALLY SOMETHING MOST CAN’T AFFORD. 

                                       ANOTHER SMALL MURAL AT THE VETS

                    HERE’S PROOF THAT DOGS AND CATS HERE GET ALONG JUST FINE.

MAYBE DIFFERENT COLORED EYES ON DOGS IS NOT TOO UNCOMMON HERE?

HERE’S ROSIE WITH THE OWNER’S FEMALE CALICO CAT.  SHE IS VERY FRIENDLY. 

                                                    YEP, THEY SNIFF BUTTS HERE TOO

I FIGURED I’D ADD A PIC OF ONE OF THE LOCAL SQUIRRELS HERE.  THERE MAY BE AS MANY OF THEM AS THERE ARE DOGS. THEY LOOK DIFFERENT HERE - HAVING A WHITE NAPE AND REDDISH HIND PARTS.

HERE’S ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE DOGS WITH 2 DIFFERENT COLORED EYES.  NOW THAT I HAVE PICS OF 3 OF THESE DOGS, EACH SHOWS IT IS THEIR LEFT EYE WHICH IS WHITISH.  IF I SEE ANYMORE I’LL HAVE TO TAKE NOTE OF WHICH EYE IT IS.  I DID FIND TWO MORE DOGS WHO HAD ONE LIGHT AND ONE DARK EYE, AND THE LIGHT ONE WAS ON THE LEFT SIDE.  SO MAYBE THAT IS HOW THE GENES WORK IN THOSE CASES.

                            THIS SIGN SAYS, “DANGEROUS DOGS.”

IT LOOKS LIKE THIS DOG NEEDS TO GO TO THE GROOMERS

                                                                    HE LOOKS MEAN

ONE OF THE MORE FRIENDLY AND NICER DOGS WE FOUND

I thought I’d end on a positive note with 2 videos of some military dogs in training. These were not dogs from Vilcabamba, but from the military complex in the nearby city of Loja.