The Dogs

     The dogs in Haiti all look alike. With the exception of the very large, drug-sniffing German shepherd at the PAP airport (and that poor dog had way too much fur for this climate), I have seen only one other dog of a recognizable breed. There are no breeds here. There is no variety. The dogs all look the same. They are almost uniformly light yellow/tan in color with short hair. As a geneticist, I imagine that the dogs of 21st century Haiti are the result of generations of crossbreeding with no human intervention to select for particular traits. Maybe these dogs look more like the modern dog’s ancestor than our dogs back home do. They are the product of natural selection. They are mutts, mongrels. The dogs have evolved to the common denominator of the canine species for the climate, the food, and the geography of Haiti. Or maybe there is something else. I read that in April 1963,“Papa Doc” Duvalier ordered all black dogs in Haiti killed. Clement Barbot, a former friend and aide who had become an enemy of Duvalier, planned to overthrow Duvalier by kidnapping his children and demanding Duvalier’s resignation and self-exile as ransom. The plot failed and Duvalier sought his revenge.  A manhunt for Barbot began. A popular superstition was that Barbot could transform himself into a black dog. Consequently, Duvalier ordered all black dogs shot. Barbot was eventually cornered and killed in a sugar cane field in July 1963. It is not reported how many black dogs were killed and one wonders how, and if, that human intervention contributed to the evolution of the Haitian dogs we see today.

     Haitian dogs that roam the streets of PAP or the villages in the rural areas are generally skinny, sometimes so skinny their rib cage is clearly visible. They are not well fed. They eat what they can find. You should stay away from the dogs in Haiti. There is a fairly high level of rabies in the wild dog population in Haiti. Those dogs are not vaccinated and therein lays the risk with wild dogs. We had our own encounter with a rabid dog in Christianville in October (see 10-26-13 post). I later spoke to a local doctor and he also remarked about the high incidence of rabid dogs (laboratory-confirmed) and dogs behaving strangely in the area.

     Dogs that belong to a family or group are better fed.

Smiley

The dogs of Christianville are in this category.

Squirrely

Smiley is old and slow and maybe a little overweight. The residents here call her the world’s laziest dog. Squirrely is smaller but not that much more active than Smiley. Stella is Sara’s dog. She is much more active, maybe because she is younger. Then there is Stella’s mother, Mama dog (I don’t know her name). All the Christianville dogs are spayed and vaccinated against rabies so there is no danger. They walk around (slowly) and sleep a lot all day. And they bark, sometimes for no apparent reason. Barking dogs is one of the nighttime sounds everywhere you go in Haiti. I like to think that Smiley and Squirrely chase the wild dogs away when they do get on the grounds. But I doubt it. They just wander around all day, sleeping in the shade
or rolling on their backs to scratch an itch (they have fleas). That explains why their fur is so dirty. The day after Squirrely got a bath, I thought she was a wild dog who had gotten in. She looked like a different dog.

     What about the cats?

A cat in Gressier market

I have not figured that out yet. I have seen fewer than half a dozen cats since I’ve been in Haiti and all of them have been in or close to houses. I guess Haiti is a dog’s world.

Stella