That is how we felt when we first met the dogs here and assumed they were hungry and unloved. But then we realized that these dogs are not homeless, but rather call the whole city home. They don't have an owner, but instead have a whole city of owners. Most of the dogs of Valparaíso are chubby from being fed all day by people and will only eat the choicest of food. Overall the dogs here
The dogs of Valparaíso live all over the place. Some probably return back to homes after roaming the streets all day. Lots of the neighborhoods have dog houses that they use as well. For example, Carmelo (who I mentioned earlier), has a dog house below our house. Others have shops that they stay in, peeking their fuzzy noses out at people who pass by. The local climbing gym we go to has a couple dogs who sleep there during the night. Our favorite is Gretta who is a mommy dog that wanders around the climbing gym looking for pets.
I would say that the key way the Valparaíso dogs live is by being super cute. It is pretty hard not to share your sandwich with the fuzzy waggly creature looking up at you by the corner. We also like to think that the dogs are "payed" to escort you around town. A big enough sandwich bite or a good backrub will get you a walk all the way across town. We've had dogs walk with us for miles. One good example was a hike we went on near town to a climbing place called the "sanctuario" or sanctuary. We were kind of lost wandering around and then a pack of 5 dogs saw us and ran straight at us. We were a little scared at first with them running at us but they pretty much jumped into our arms begging to be petted.
