When I moved to Cuenca and lived with my first host family, there was one street dog named Dorado that lived in our cul-de-sac. For the first month of living there, she would chase me away every time I came home, and I would have to call my host mom to let me into the house. Once Dorado finally got to know me, we became best friends, and I learned she is a sucker for a belly rub! She was also the street's protector -- she showed up one day, chose the cul-de-sac as her home, and the neighbors gave her a small wooden dog house with food and water bowls. At this point, Dorado has lived there for the past 10 years!
Dogs roam the streets in towns and cities all across Ecuador. While there are many stories like Dorado's that have sweet endings, sadly the majority of the street dogs in Ecuador face starvation, abuse, fighting amongst other dogs and being injured by cars. Sometimes, the street dogs can be vicious and attack passersby as well -- dog bites are a real danger, here. Therefore, population control of street dogs and finding them homes is an important issue here.
Ecuador's culture surrounding dogs is very different than in the United States, contributing to the big population of street dogs. For one, sterilizations are expensive, here, and often people won't spay or neuter their dogs as a result.
