Respect a reward.

I had heard told that all Bali Street Dogs are basically wild and untrainable.  Not sure what untrainable actually means in regards to anything really, or what is expected from something that is untrainable.  Guess it’s like saying all humans are intrinsically decent mammals who are devoid of any semblance of unkindly action. 

What is untrainable to one has the potential for possibility to another and couldn’t be further from any interest to others.

Bali Street Dogs are not actually wild, although after spending enough time with them one could certainly get wild at them.  They are, how can this be said without it being a ridiculous statement that is easily open to ridicule and scorn, they are shall we say, different, different to any other dog breed.  Which is of course as obvious as saying that a Tibetan monk is different to a Guatemalan housewife, of course there is a vast difference.

But Bali Street Dogs as far as dogs go, are really, really, really different, insofar as what they expect from you.  Having lived alongside and primarily parallel to humans for eons their expectation has and still is really quite narrow, food.  That is the objective reality to their existence within the human realm and it’s what they have gotten until now.  That’s what makes them feral classified, take out the human food dump and wild becomes them, needing to hunt for their own food source, they become.

But Bali Street Dogs are now living, at an ever increasing rate, much closer to and with humans and they are being expected to start behaving in certain ways.  Ways that are maybe not really in keeping with how they have evolved and survived to date.  As Bali modernizes many things will cling on in a vain attempt to remain unchanged, even more will change dramatically. That’s the very nature of constant movement.

For Bali Street Dogs constant movement is their default position and the street is where they especially love to move about on and upon.  But already the push to move them off their territory has been enacted, with collars being a stipulation of first stage change.  It is not unreasonable to expect, if they are to remain a part of the scenery, that leash attachment will be a forthcoming attraction in the near future.

For a species that has been somewhat unfettered for a very long time, the very thought of such restrictions could appear to be a stretch too far and quite frankly an unattainable expectation on such a free spirit that is the Bali Street Dog.

All I know, after spending way too much time with them, is that they really are the dog of all dogs.  They have a pureness about them that has remained sure and steady.  Isolation has allowed them to evolve at a rate that is conducive to their needs and like the rabies virus they are strong and have a capacity for survivability.

And they are damn wilfully intelligent and smart; a species that does not suffer fools easily, because they have worked out human nature to the nth degree.  What Bali Street Dogs expect when any attempt is undertaken to train them is really quite simple, respect.  Respect that you know who and what they are, that’s all. 

Bali Street Dogs are just that, dogs who do their stuff on the streets of Bali and if you give them that in whatever form it takes, they will reward you with an intelligence that is eminently open to whatever you may ask of them. 

But be warned, once you have given a Bali Street Dog the respect he or she so richly deserves, they will reciprocate in a currency that is much more valuable than what money can ever offer.  After they have tested your insecurities and weaknesses, they will push your patience and personality to the limit.  They will expose any chinks in your pathetic ego, all the while knowing what you know before you know it, just reading you like a very well thumbed novel. 

If you have survived a relationship with a Bali Street Dog and they have deemed you to be worthy, they will do whatever you ask of them and you will be rewarded with a deep and unconditional respect, a repayment for taking notice and for spending time.

For joining a club that has a loyalty membership for life.    

    

        

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