Lives of Streeties

We are launching a new study!

We are launching a new study!

Over the course of the last few months, we have gradually come to realise that we have been staring at something fascinating - Streeties have been managing extraordinarily complicated interactions, collaborations and negotiations with the people around, something most of us struggle to achieve after years of training. This has been piquing our interest and so BHARCS is launching a new study as part of the #LivesOfStreeties project. This is the second study that is part of the

Streeties that do not cooperate

Streeties that do not cooperate

Behaviourism is a term that describes the study of animal behaviour, usually referring to measured responses to stimuli or trained behavioural responses in a laboratory context, without a particular emphasis on evolutionary adaptivity. Ethology is the study of animal behaviour, usually with a focus on behaviour under natural conditions, and viewing behaviour as an evolutionarily adaptive trait. At BHARCS, our focus is not on behaviourism, but on ethology. That’s why we love s

Major politics between Nishi and the adopting mum

Major politics between Nishi and the adopting mum

A mum and her puppies have turned up at our exploring site. Every morning when we go there, the mum shows that she does not like us being there. The puppies are cautions, except for this one. Nishi has managed to make friends with her, as you can see in these slightly old videos. Tiggy is still working through her issues with them and that's another story for another day. Today we met the dogs again. The mum seems to be "adopting". Her group of "puppies" seems to have grown f

A dog is a dog is a dog

A dog is a dog is a dog

The intent of #livesofstreeties is to bust myths about streeties. Today the myth we want to bust is that streeties are somehow different from our pet dogs. It's this mental separation that makes people afraid of street dogs. Even among academics, I sometimes see people argue that street dog studies are not relevant in understanding pet dogs because pet dogs are bred to be different. Well, here in India, streeties are mixes of our aboriginal breeds and several non-Indian breed

Feral? Who? Daisy?

Feral? Who? Daisy?

Media only seems to talk about street dogs when they gravely hurt humans and then the media paints an elaborately sensational narrative of the "feral dogs of India" being "let loose on the people". Of course, no one can deny that as resources shrink, man-animal conflict only goes up and that is true of dogs too. But the overwhelming reality of life of street dogs is not all of us running away from feral dogs, but simple straight from the heart friendships between human and do

Street dog studies adding value

Street dog studies adding value

Our street dogs are not just adorable bundles of love and joy, but also a source of information that fascinates the world. After all, dogs are a human's best friend and many of us are eager to know more and more about them. The best way to get to know an animal is to observe them in situations that provide them complete free will...and for dogs, that happens only when they are "free ranging". Our streeties fit that bill and hence become fascinating. We are so proud that our s

Can we take charge of this streety "problem" already?

Can we take charge of this streety "problem" already?

In the 1960s, Blue cross of India discovered that the Madras High Commision had been trying to control dog population through culling for over 100 years and had not achieved much success. After the study, the High Commision had to admit that their strategy had been a failure and adopted ABC instead. Effective ABC has proved to be far successful towards this end and for now can be considered the only sustainable effective solution (if done right). There are several case studie

Indoor outdoor dogs

Indoor outdoor dogs

Streeties lead the most unconventional of lives. Dogs are and have always been extreme survivors and can be highly creative when it comes to problem solving in their lives. They are also very keen observers of humans and seem to have the ability to identify a "dog friendly" person with ease. While there are many stories of kind humans adopting streeties, there are also many untold stories of genius streeties who adopt humans. However, these adoptions happen on the terms of th

What's howling all about?

What's howling all about?

This is the 5AM video of our "Hotel Canine". This is the last video of this year's street dog study. It is also the first video of this group, after the departure of Kajal. Compare it to the earlier videos. The hotel has emptied. All her suitors are gone! The night after I took Kajal, there was incessant howling. Was it just a coincidence or did the howling have something to do with Kajal's absence. If you do a bit of research into why dogs or wolves howl, you'll see that it

Tis the season for love?

Tis the season for love?

I saw another love story today. These dogs are not regulars here. They must be a. group passing through this area. I wonder where they are off to. But, there sure is some drama here too. This one is a great one to observe calming signals that are so subtle and yet clearly very effective. Of course, their love and their social lives are incredibly fascinating for us dog people. However, the sad reality of Indian streeties is that they live in a harsh environment of resource cr

The lovers are gone!

The lovers are gone!

Kajal's story is getting more and more interesting. The last we spoke of her, we knew that she is now part of a love triangle between herself, Handa and Ken. This is a fabulous video of them arguing it out. Anyways, what's very evident from the video is that she's in heat or very close to it. So yesterday I decided to get her spayed. My friend Debbie graciously agreed to do it at her shelter Precious Paws Foundation. You must check this shelter out. It's a joyous little place

Border disputes

Border disputes

This morning I was lucky enough to witness a border dispute. It was 6 against 2. Caesar and PV are regulars on my study route. They stay with a lady who told me she works at a construction site. She has a little one room structure she lives in and these two live "with her". She does not really have a yard to confine them in. She does not tie them. (Actually, I should perhaps gift her two reflective collars for her dogs). The two dogs generally live with her and she proudly sh

Found Kajal, Ken and the piglets

Found Kajal, Ken and the piglets

I did not see Kajal last night. I was a bit apprehensive. This is the trouble with bonding with streeties. You do not want to think about what they have to endure sometimes. You do not want to love and lose so often. But then, we do fall in love and I have fallen in love with Kajal. Kajal, however, had something on her mind. She seemed so distracted that, at first, I thought she was upset about something. My mind started making up horror stories of what she might have been th

The hidden lives of dogs

The hidden lives of dogs

I am slowly discovering where these dogs are hiding. Remember my favourite doggie - Kajal. Everytime I turn up near this house, she appears, seemingly out of nowhere. I finally discovered where she was hanging out. Actually I discovered that all the dogs in that "zone" had decided to check into "Hotel Canine". And of course, special treat for you all is my dear husband, struggling to keep up with my enthusiasm, but still being gracious enough to help me out through all of thi

A little compassion

A little compassion

I had a great run at 5 PM today. I actually say 21 dogs in all!!! I am getting quite a hang of it where these dogs are hanging out. There is one dog on the way, I call him Pops. He's old and hangs out near one house almost all the time. The first time I saw him, the lady of the house and her daughter were outside the house. They asked me what I was doing and I told them that I was studying dogs. They started beaming. They seemed to love the idea that "their" dog was being in

Kajal, the friendly

Kajal, the friendly

This post is a bit overdue. The rain is cooperating a little bit. So I am getting a few studies done. Last time I was complaining about the dogs starting to get familiar with me. Now I have decided to lean into that and just go ahead and capture as many friendly moments with these dogs as possible. I want to make a point. Far FAR too often I hear people say that they think street dogs are not friendly. My friends in India who are thinking of getting a dog fear getting a stree

Streeties are good teachers

Streeties are good teachers

So, I tried desperately not to get to know the doggies on the route. That's not happening. They are starting to come up to me and frankly, I don't have the heart to say no. So...I have embraced this thing and I happily pet them all. I just jot down what they were doing when I first see them and then go ahead and engage with them, the way dogs are meant to be engaged with - with love and joy. This video is really cute. These two mad hatters were happily on their way to doing s

FLIR date

FLIR date

Today, I put my flir to use better than the previous night study. I think I am getting the hang of it, though I must admit that the device is buggy and struggles to start up quickly. Now, given that the flir is not very good at "quick draw", I end up fiddling with my camera for a while, which is waking up the dogs and getting them to react. Some have started approaching me and demanding to be pet. How adorable! Also...oh no! This is going to make the study very hard, if they

Names or numbers?

Names or numbers?

The study today was fairly uneventful. It was a hot afternoon. The dogs were mainly lazing. These studies actually remain uneventful on most days and the task ahead of me is to keep it that way. I need to figure out a way not to interfere with my own study. There is no doubt about it that these dogs are very friendly. Check out this snippet from today. That golden dog is all ready to make friends with me, a stranger to him. But if I did befriend them, then the second they hea

Venturing out in the night

Venturing out in the night

Today was the first of the night street dog studies of this year. Night studies are very interesting. Firstly, it poses some challenges. Night studies are hard to capture on camera. There is not enough light. Secondly, it's not very safe. And of course, it's hard to see the dogs in the night. To overcome the limited visibility issues of these night studies, I have managed to get myself an infrared camera. It's a nifty little add on to my existing android camera. However, I mu

1

2