the dogdom

Valparaiso is full of street dogs. Mangy mutts with short legs, long bodies, and confused mutt-y eyes scratch their fleas on the sidewalks. Huge wolf-like creatures that somehow missed the domestication stage howl at the moon from the tops of the hills. Purebred rotweillers, dalmations, and golden retrievers, unaware of their pedigree, strut the streets like beautiful vagabonds. Old, weathered grandpa dogs sneeze from the salty air as they stare out to sea remembering the good-old-days, and young pups bounce in and out the waves, naïve to the harsh realites of street-dogdom.

They are citizens of the city. They enjoy a thriving subculture between themselves, and sometimes experience strained relationships with the more dominant species (those pesky humans). Most of the dogs live, work, and play in packs- patrolling their territory as a motley unit of fur, fleas, and drool. Pack hierarchy draws its complexities from human hierachies. There are the alpha males and the haughty bitches, the strong and the weak, the freaks and the geeks, the up-and-coming young and the old-and-jaded elderly, the intellectuals and the crazies. Social order is maintained with animal rules and sharp teeth. Packs roam the streets together- finding scraps in dumpsters, napping in circles in plazas, and fighting any dog or human that tries to mess up their day. And, like any culture, there are outlaws, the freaks, the crazy-eyed, hobbling hunchbacks. The dogs that don't fit into a social niche and are forced to wander the streets alone- their livelihood revolves around human kindness and long lucky streaks.

Adored by some humans and despised by others, but always kept at a safe distance... because every human knows the dogs carry weird doggy diseases in their matted fur. But for the most part, dogs and humans live side by side in a perfect harmony. The dogs wait at crosswalks patiently, and casually trot across the street when the little green man waves from the other side. Each meat shop has its own guard dog, a hefty k-9 that gets the fatty scraps at the end of the day. Dogs accompany home lone girls late at night, growling guardians, sneering at any man within a 10 meter radius. The drunk homeless curl up with the dogs to stay warm at night, immune to the fleas and doggy disease. Although not symbiotic, the relationship between dogs and humans is a quaint give and take, both species doing their best to get by, and amusing eachother in the meantime.

It’s an odd and beautiful balance. Striking at first, but now perfectly normal. I fall asleep to dogs barking, and step over sleeping dogs on the sidewalk. Many people say it’s a problem. I guess it is. People say... the dogs end up on the street because their owners decide they don’t want them anymore...even more startling problem is the control of the street dog “situation” here in Chile. Police officers are rumored to kill the dogs on a regular basis. If a dog doesn’t have a collar, it is shot and disposed of. Chileans have tried to help out the street dogs by putting collars on strays. What a strange, twisted cycle- get rid of your dog when it stops being a cute puppy, put a collar a different mangy dog to save its life. Definetly a missing link somewhere… But, the street dogs have become widely accepted fact of life here in valpo, and even iconized in graphitti and on tee-shirts. They have integrated themselves into society like proper law-abiding citizens (usually), and they’ll keep trying to prove themselves as mans best friend, even if they never get a good scratch behind the ears.