Blog for the Dogs

[Backdated: February 1st]

So, I've been having a bit of a harder time making friendly headway with some of the population, and I'd be lying if I said I don't think of the Sudan at least once a day... but I gotta admit. Ethiopia wins major points for its attitude towards dogs, which seems to be considerably friendlier than that of the North and Eastern Sudan.

Religion does apparently make the difference; in this comparison I'm stacking the most historically Christian part of Ethiopia against the traditionally Muslim part of the Sudan. David has explained to me how, while the cat is respected in Islam, the dog is considered to be sort of a dirty animal. (Which I admit provides by itself a pretty strong case against my conversion, were I so tempted.)
Therefore I wasn't surprised to find that the dogs in the Sudan tended to belong to more ferile, sometimes pack-like groups, roaming the streets by night to mate, fight, and scavenge. They coexist with humans in the same way that pigeons do: there's sort of an accidental flow of resources from humans, but mostly the animals interact with each other more than with us.
Considering that I wasn't in much of a position to change anything, I thank the powers that be- Muslim or otherwise- that I never came across a dog in bad shape (which is more than I can say for Taipei). I'm grimly aware that they must exist, but they were not part of my Sudanese experience.

In Ethiopia, however, dogs seem to have reclaimed their role of family pet somewhat. Almost all the dogs here seem to be associated with a person or house, and we've even seen plump puppies tussling about in messy front yards. Interestingly, Ethiopian canines quite often have that characteristic tail-curled trot of bred dogs, though I can't believe that there's any sort of AKC organization of dog-breeding or showing here. (Ethiopia wins points on that, too.)

Of course not even the cutest, high-stepping pup here can hold a candle to my own airhead Charlie (pictured at left), who likely has no idea where I am right now but who will, faithfully, keep my side of the bed warm until I get home.