Bali Dogs

Last year on our vacation in Bali we were pleased to find domestic dogs running around happy and free all over the island. When we returned to Korea from our trip to Bali one of my first ideas was to make note of all of the photos I had taken of dogs roaming the streets in Bali. It didn't even seem like they were just roaming around, scavenging for scraps, they were doing pretty well and seemed pretty satisfied with their station in life.

Who doesn't like a walk on the beach right?

You see, in Bali there are offerings left for gods and demons all over the place. It's not uncommon to accidentally step on a packet of rice, fruit, vegetables, or meat, in fact, these offerings are supposed to be destroyed over the course of the day as they are consumed by the gods or demons. Of course the details of Balinese Hinduism are pretty murky to me, and I have no idea if what any of what I am saying is actual fact, but one of the coolest things I remember about Bali was feeling like I was always on the cusp of witnessing something mystical and magical that I wouldn't understand anyhow, so I'm just going to go with it.

Just making the rounds. I love his outfit.

Now, Carolyn and I are dog lovers, so if anything makes a vacation cooler than it already should be, it's dogs. We were both pretty thrilled to see how these happy little pups had seemed to form a sort of underground society. It seemed like you would find dogs waiting on the corner for one another, chatting it up, and running their daily errands together. You'd even see the same behavioral patterns day after day, if you happened to walk the same route at roughly the same time each day.

Old friends hanging out together.

Humans aren't the only one interested in a sunset on Double Six Beach.

Let me be clear though. Dogs were running around doing their dog-thing all over the island, not just on the beaches. When we traveled to the north shore of the island we visited a small temple near Singaraja, and guess what we found?

Temple dog takes a break.

The arts and culture capital of Bali is Ubud, and guess what wasn't missing? Dogs! The Ubud pups seemed to be slightly better at speaking English and catering to tourists.

Ubud pup has a runway walk.

This diversity loving pup lives in Ubud's sacred monkey forest.

Everybody should soak in some rays on Bali.

Who says being a doorman isn't hard work?

Temple pup considers asking for alms.

This pup is holding the door for his family.

Crossing guard pup keeps you safe from traffic.

Warung pup hopes you drop your nasi goreng.

Spa treatment pup is trying to bring in some male customers.

He doesn't want to sell you a postcard for a dollar, he just wants a couple pats on the head.

Crossing guard pup has an easy day at work.

Waiting for the family to come home.

Old man dog watches the world go by.

So here you go, almost a year later I've finally gotten around to writing about the dogs of Bali. Now, the pictures I posted are mostly of dogs that I think had a home. There's plenty of pups on the island that could use a little help, and a google search will show you that they don't all look as good as the ones in this post. If you want to help, I think you can direct yourself over to this website http://www.balistreetdogs.org.au/ for more information. I really enjoy projecting humanity onto animals, so I probably viewed all the dogs I saw in Bali through some seriously rose colored glasses, and of course I had a bit of fun putting this post together, but like I say, a lot of the little mutts could use some help.