A Dog’s Life

There are many stray dogs in India. I’ve seen some things that I will probably never see in Canada. Some impressive, and some quite sad and disgusting.

The Beautiful Life of Living Astray

The stray dogs in India are impressively smart and “civil.” First, dogs have adapted to be nocturnal as hunting for food and fighting happens at night; The sound of dogs growling and getting violent at night cannot be ignored. But during the day, stray dogs will sleep either curled up or on their side, flat and defenceless on the streets. For the few that are awake, they simply don’t interact with humans and wander peacefully among humans. Heck, they even know how to cross the streets with humans. Being so low on the ground, the ones that survived certainly learned to rely on following humans when to cross. (See below: this dog was crossing a very busy intersection like a true local)

You don’t find dogs begging for food. They will respect the boundaries and understand that restaurants, food stands, or any food in the possession of humans are off limits. They are not relentless like pet dogs, they look once and if the food seems to be off limits, they back away and move along. They will only take unclaimed food during the day. Consequently, dogs in India are rarely fat or overweight. They sleep hard and hunt hard, just what a normal dog is supposed to do.  One interesting point though, we tossed a mushy banana to street dog and he turned his nose up at it… apparently not a vegetarian.

Animal control is not big in India. I don’t blame them as there is human wellness that supercedes animals’ wellbeing. Dogs and cats naturally procreate and you often see female dogs with teets full of milk or pregnant mother dogs roaming around. There is something peaceful and beautiful about pups being procted by their mother and living in a pack.

The Ugly Side of Living Astray

There are some sad instances of animals that have been badly beaten up. Recently, just after eating our morning breakfast, we found a dog with its head skinned – probably in a defeated violent fight from a previous night. The wound was fresh and the dog was in agony, but nothing could be done to alleviate the pain. The dog would probably die of an infection eventually, a slow painful death. The dog was found sleeping in that state and bugs were attracted to this fresh wound.

We have seen several dead pups discarded in the streets. They probably died naturally, but it’s sad nonetheless to see such a new and pure thing lifeless, ignored and shoved away as garbage. I’ve seen a pup with a severely swollen and raw paw, probably recovering from a burn or a severe accident. Similarly, I’ve seen grown up dogs with missing limbs, probably from an accident. Some dogs are quite resilient and having no care for these animals only encourages natural selection.

For the most part, dogs seem to manage fine but too often we see some nauseating images that will remain in my mind.  Most disturbing was a dog with the top of the skull badly skinned with the brain partly exposed.  This dog was barely holding on, semi-conscious on the street and it is surely dead by now. It was struggling to stay awake and the eyes were twitching either from pain or from neurological damage. The wound was fresh was probably beaten up severely the night before. If I could euthanize the dog, I would have done it, but I didn’t know how. A man nearby simply said to us “dead dog” almost in an amused tone.  His attempt at communication with us seemed odd and disturbing, but we hope we misinterpreted what he was trying to say.

I am not an advocate for PETA in India while there is still human poverty that needs to be addressed; however, I now do understand why there are volunteer vets that come to India to neuter animals for some kind of control. I would hope that they euthanize some animals that are not in the condition to survive, never mind thrive. All in all, I think dogs and other animals are treated exactly the way they should be in India. In the western culture, dogs and cats are probably worshipped compared to the natural stray lifestyle.

I am thinking of Stewie, my German shepherd pet dog, while I write this and I wonder what is better: let them live free and astray or adopt them and artificially numb their natural instincts to live like humans. As one said about dogs: “A tired dog is a happy dog…” If that is true, I do see a lot of happy dogs in India.

-- By David