Dogs of Ecuador!

A while ago, I posted about my love for dogs. Unsurprisingly, this reared its head in Ecuador, which was full of dogs.


The guide books and the very stern Scottish nurse at the travel clinic tell you not to try and make friends with these dogs because you might get bitten and end up with rabies or, at the very least, a bad wound. Nothing wrong with this advice. Of course for me, getting close could also mean that I just want to scoop them all up and bring them home.


For the better part of 10 days, knowing firsthand the pain and trauma of being bitten by a dog, and anticipating the pain and trauma of falling in love with a dog that I could not bring home, I kept my distance, and used my long lens to great effect. Rachel, who was missing her wee Casey almost as much as she missed her children, joined me in this effort. This one reminded us of Casey. We saw a lot of Caseys on the trip.


Whenever we went to town meetings, the dogs came along.


Some seemed to want to actually come in and join us, but settled for waiting outside.



This dog followed us through the town of Pacayacu, joining us at the community meeting ...


Where he was in turn met by what I assume to be his mother. Even though he is clearly an adult, she spent a lot of time cleaning him up. He didn't mind.


Others weren't so sure we should be there.


And some just came to the volleyball pitch at the bus station for a quiet snooze.


The Cofan community that we visited had a lot of dogs, all of them fed but some better than others.


As we ate our meal of forest meat and rice, a couple of skinny dogs came up behind us. One of them was clearly nursing. I had lent my camera to one of the youths who was out taking snaps like crazy, so I don't have a picture of her. I'm glad of that. Another of the youths, Chile (we mostly called each other by our country names; he's the guy in the purple shirt) looked at her and then at me and said, "too skinny," so we scraped together the leftovers and fed them to her and the other dog.


Meanwhile, my camera was being put to good use by a young man named Freddy (more on that in another post). This shot could very well be one of the pups of our skinny lunchmate.


The dogs we saw were part of the pack. One moment, the people in their packs shooed them roughly out of the way; the next they scooped them up out of danger or tossed them some meat for dinner. The dogs were always there, always seeking the company of humans.


In Nuevo Rocafuerte, they even sought the company of strangers. This chow-like dog made quick friends with our translator, Patrick.


And the most incongruous, a Great Dane in the midst of shepherdy/retrievery dogs, made me break my rule, sidling up to me and using his height to slip his big soft grey head under my hand. I had no choice. I had to scratch him.


It didn't do any damage to me, though I think it ruffled up a few fleas on him.



Puppies followed us through town, until they got too tired and collapsed in a heap to nap in the middle of the road.


And there was a big yellow dog who hung out with us in the little cafe where we had our meals and evening beers. At first, the owner shooed her out but quickly realized that we loved the dog, so let her stay. Here I am with her and a younger dog, who wanted to be as friendly with us as the yellow dog was, but couldn't quite do it.


Here they are again with a cat (behind my legs), greeting us as we showed up for breakfast our last morning. Everything in the young one's posture says "I want you to scratch my head so much but I just can't let you!"


In the meantime, she's got her own pack to attend to.


I know that I should have listened to the Scottish nurse. I shouldn't have given in to the Great Dane's persistence, and I suppose it would have been better if I hadn't let the yellow cafe dog lean up against me and settle in the way that big dogs do: ooomph! But I didn't get any cooties, at least not from the dogs, and I didn't get bitten.

I didn't even feel like I wanted to bring them all home.

As for the pigs ... well, that's another matter entirely.