Wild Dog Packs in Cities

We really don’t have an inner-city wild dog problem in the U.S. because of a famous person called The Dog Catcher. Yet, it’s surprisingly common elsewhere.


My second oldest son lives in Brazil and has had lots of adventures, especially experiencing the cultural differences. Wild dogs are one of them. They are called ‘street dogs’ there.

In his own words, here is what he saw:

I’ve decided that street dogs are crazy. This week we were waiting at a bus station and there were about three or four street dogs that would force cars to stop in the middle of the street, but staying in front of them. And the rest would bite the tires as the one in front barked. It’s pretty funny to watch, but you always cringe when you see the crazy one trying to make the car stop, putting himself in front of the car.

Now what makes this interesting is my oldest son, who lived in Russia a few years ago, also observed inner-city wild dogs doing strange things. There, they are called ‘metro dogs’ named after their train system. And there’s a reason for that.

He sent this picture. They look pretty comfortable, don’t they?

And here is what he wrote:

One of the metro dogs attacked this girl. He bit her shoe and wouldn’t let go and she was screaming and that lasted for about five minutes. The metro dogs are really smart. Sometimes we see them follow into the metro, get on a train, and they stick up their heads every time they announce the next stop. Sometimes they even transfer lines and sometimes when they get off the train there is a pack of their friends barking at the entrance for them.

Yeah, I know. Pretty crazy. Makes you wonder if those children’s movies about dogs secretly having higher intelligence might have a thread of truth?