Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight

Of the millions of tv commercials that I have seen in my lifetime few come to mind as easily as the Nike Soccer advertisement I saw several years back. The ad showed a young boy (from what was clearly a Latin American country) going to the store and buying a large piece of meat. He brought the meat home and rubbed it all over his soccer ball, proceeded to the alley behind his house, and practiced his soccer skills by running through the streets of town with dogs chasing at his heels.

After living in both Uganda and Mexico I can safely say that this advertisement is deeply, deeply, flawed. I'd use a stronger word for it but I like to think of this as a family site.

First things first, no human being in their right mind would choose to be chased by dogs in the third world. Why? That's a great question that deserves a closer look.

For starters, dogs in the third world are plentiful. Very plentiful. I personally attribute this problem as a failure of American leadership, particularly by the American media. The simple truth is that Bob Barker hasn't gotten The Price is Right syndicated in enough markets. Sure, everyone in the U.S. knows to spay and neuter those pets, but what about the poor schlub in Niger? Without spayed and neutered pets those dogs are free to roam around the city scoring with any dalmation or chow that happens to saunter by.

Which leads me to another great point. Dogs that have not been neutered tend to be more aggressive than dogs that have. Not only are there tons of dogs out there breeding and creating a whole bunch more dogs, they are all much more aggressive.

Finally, dogs tend tend to be a really great security system and an excellent deterrent against theft. Lots of people choose to keep their dogs behind fences so that they only attack people who venture inside the property line. A much more effective system is to let your dog, properly trained to hate strangers, roam around freely in the street outside your house and indiscriminately harass, attack, and bite anyone passing through.

Let's review the simple math here:

Living in the (semi-)third world + the presence of many (sometimes aggressive) street dogs + the presence of several highly aggressive guard dogs = a somewhat dangerous and scary daily bike commute.

Since coming to Aqua Prieta I have been chased by no fewer than 20 and no more than 40 dogs. I would guess that about 15 of those dogs have gotten close enough to bite me, but thankfully none of them have. I have begun carrying rocks with me in my left hand to "discourage" dogs who are chasing me from continuing to do so. Even with the rocks there have been a few dogs intrepid enough to keep up their pursuit. I keep praying that I won't end up with a rabies shot.

When I pass a dog in the street I am running a mental checklist in my mind to try and figure out whether or not it is going to chase me. The checklist looks something like this:

More likely to be chased:
The dog looks like it is well fed and has a home
The dog is sitting outside a particular building
The dog appears interested in what I am doing
The dog comes out in the street

Less likely to be chased:
The dog looks skinny
The dog appears afraid of me or avoids getting too near
The dog appears to be pregnant or to have just given birth
The dog is walking down the middle of the street

The dogs can be so bad that we have an established system for riding bikes in groups. When riding in a group it is polite to go last, as the last person is more likely to get hit by a car, and is also more likely to be chased by a dog that has been roused by the first riders. Mark's daughter Cindy tells me that if I want to be a "caballero," a gentlemen, I should always go last.

The thing that really bothers me about the dogs is that it makes my commute just a little bit less enjoyable, especially at night when I am all alone. In the ten blocks between Mark's house and my own it is not uncommon for me to see twenty or thirty dogs. I am always grateful when I arrive at my door unscathed.