The Importance of Choice and Space

For twenty years I have been travelling to Bolivia on an annual basis. Keeping animals as part of the household is definitely an extremely minority occupation in Bolivia where animals are kept for their usefulness as either sources of meat or wool or as guardians of the flocks. 

However, in the city of Cochabamba there are THOUSANDS of ownerless dogs, mostly medium to large in size, that wander the streets living their lives.  The thing that has always caught my attention is that in all these years I have never seen a dog fight or even an altercation. In recent years since I have been involved with TTouch and animal therapies I have come to realise that the reason for this is that these dogs are free and have a choice.  They wander the streets where there is plenty of rubbish lying around where they can forage, and they spend quite some time just lying around on one street corner or another.  They move in flexible groups joining up and separating at will. They tend to keep their distance from humans, but even in the crowded environment of La Cancha market which on Wednesdays and Saturdays is a veritable anthill of activity, they steer their way among stalls and people and bundles going about their business. When these dogs meet they give each other a wide berth and clearly read the communication amongst each other.  Even when a bitch is in heat, as occurred on the last days of my most recent stay, up to thirty dogs may congregate to follow her around, but at no time was there a fight or any other scraps. The only difference from other days was that there was increased barking, but a lot of this was coming from dogs in fenced-in areas as the pack of street dogs wandered by.

Surely this must teach us a lot about what is wrong with our environment.  Our domestic dogs are restricted at every turn and are forced into situations which they, if left to their own devices, would most certainly have avoided.  Once we put a lead on a dog WE are responsible for its balance and well-being.  This is a great responsibility!