I miss my Rosalind

5 July 2012

One of my favorite photos of my pup, Rosalind, aka Roz-the-Dog (currently being cared for by my wonderful parents, thank you very much)

Chile's got a lot of dogs. One might even say it has a dog problem. There are stray, unclaimed dogs roaming around every city and town I have visited, so many that it is hard to walk down any street anywhere for more than a minute without encountering a stray.

Now whether you perceive this as a problem may be more a matter of perspective. Having just spent time in Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, and Panama, one might say the dogs here have it pretty good. And if you have spent any time in Southeast Asia, you'd say these dogs are in great shape.

And they are in pretty good shape, for the most part. They don't seem to have any nasty scars or visible diseases or missing fur - as I saw plenty of in Thailand. They aren't starving, like many of Cuba's strays. And they aren't all a generic mid-sized mutt like the ones I saw in Panama, but have clear pure breeds in their recent lineage (and many seem to be straight Chow, German Shepherd, or Yellow Labs themselves). A lot of Chilean strays wouldn't look out of place in a U.S. yard. In fact, there are many dogs which recall the brown and black Rottweiler/Labrador/Doberman/Shepherd mix I call my Roz-the-dog (pictured above).

How many stray doggies lounging in the central park of Chillan can you count? (Look close)

What's interesting is the fact that Chile is fairly cold, especially from Santiago down south, making it harder for homeless animals of any kind. This has brought out the best in Chileans, though, as many stray dogs trot around the capital in custom-made dog sweaters. They are well-fed too, with none displaying protruding ribcages as is all too common elsewhere. In fact, on more than one occassion I have walked past a stray dog sleeping outdoors, with a whole bowl of leftover grub set deliberaletly next to it, untouched. My dog would snap out of her deepest squirrel-chasing dream to devour that.

Oh Roz, I miss you so.