Are aboriginal dogs feral?

A lot of people are a bit confused about the landraces and their wild/domesticated/feral status. I'm trying here to bust what I consider a myth or, at the very least, an uninformed belief: in my experience, aboriginal dogs are, in their overwhelming majority, NOT feral.

What is a feral dog? "an animal that has escaped and become wild".

Although West Africans don't traditionally keep their dogs chained, crated, penned, behind walls or inside their houses, I'm yet to see a dog here that doesn't have an owner or that isn't attached to a household. In cities, I've seen litters being abandoned far from where the owner of the bitch lives, but it is by no means the traditional way. I fear these puppies usually don't survive, or the few which do attach themselves to other people.

Indeed, dogs, like poultry, goats, sheep, and children, have here much more freedom to move and roam than in Western countries, but it doesn't mean they are "wild" or "feral".

Lake Bosumtwi, Ashanti Region, Ghana

I liked this dog for two reasons: one, the almost completely black coat, although you can see traces of white and tan, which makes it a very discrete tri. Two, the fact that it went to the lake of its own accord, without being prompted or lured by a prey, just to have a drink of water. It surprised me because my dogs wouldn't dream of putting a paw in water without coercion.

And, of course: Lake Bosumtwi is an enchanting place.

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Texpo, Baatsonaa (Accra), Ghana

Somehow it seems that I've started showing dogs by colour, and the most unusual ones first. I didn't make a conscious decision about it, but that's how it looks like now.

Here is a young tricolour. It's quite unusual, since most dogs here are red to sand with varying amounts of white. Black and white or tri are not freaks, but certainly you see far less of these.

 

A friendly reminder: although I'm tickled pink anytime you express appreciation for my pictures, they are mine and mine alone, and you are NOT allowed to repost, copy or reuse them in any way without my prior written permission. Thank you!