West African Dogs: May 2014

20/05/2014

In 63 days or less...

Announcing a "maybe" litter. I'm both excited and not too happy. Excited because it's the first time I'll have a litter at home. A little less than excited because the dam will be of unclear parentage (I doubt she's 100% aboriginal) and came to me a few weeks ago with a lot of behaviour and health issues due to having spent more than a year chained 23 hours out of 24. She's recovered quite dramatically physically, but her behaviour is still not what would be ideal for a future mother. She however took us a bit by surprise (she's been here less than a month) and we'll face whatever comes.

In fact, her dubious parentage might make it easier to find takers for her brood, people here being more interested in Western breeds than in aboriginal dogs, and even a mixed-race dog is considered as better in terms of status than a purely primitive one.

Apologies for the very bad quality. My camera is on the blink, and my smartphone is showing its limitations quite blatantly.

11/05/2014 update: The dam is doing exceedingly well. Her behavioural issues are improving and a couple of months of good food and lots of exercise have solved all her physical ailments. She's now a strong, energetic, and healthy expecting bitch.

A friendly reminder: although I'm tickled pink anytime you express appreciation for the pictures I post here, they are either mine, or I've obtained the right to use and reproduce them. You are NOT allowed to repost, copy or reuse them in any way without my prior written permission. Thank you!

19/05/2014

Kodiabe, Dangme West (GAR), Ghana

This little one seemed undaunted by the three resident males and visited every day to scavenge on the rubbish left by the construction workers. I'm told it would actually steal their food before they had a chance to eat it if they made the mistake of leaving it within its reach.

18/05/2014

Baatsonaa, Accra, Ghana

A rather plain red and white female with her pup.

A friendly reminder: although I'm tickled pink anytime you express appreciaiton for the pictures I post here, they are either mine, or I've obtained the right to use and reproduce them. You are NOT allowed to repost, copy or reuse them in any way without my prior written permission. Thank you!

17/05/2014

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.

16/05/2014

Ndougouman, Toubab Dialaw, Petite Côte, Sénégal

When I was in Senegal, I noticed that the dogs were slightly taller (about 55cm/ 22in at the withers) than our Gulf of Guinea dogs. They also have softer ears that are quite mobile, but floppy when at rest.

15/05/2014

Achimota, Accra, Ghana

A couple of tricolour puppies for sale at the roadside in Achimota, a suburb of Accra. Whether their black overlay and part of the tail will remain that way in adulthood is less than certain, a lot of local dogs being born with an overlay and / or a tail that is up to two-thirds black, but don't show a single trace of black once fully grown.

Here is an example with one of my own dogs: on the first two pictures, he's about six months old and clearly shows a dark overlay and two thirds of the tail are almost completely black.

Only one year later, he is the most uniformly red dog I've ever met.

14/05/2014

Kodiabe, Dangme West (GAR), Ghana

Young village boys with their dogs; here they are obviously taking them along while going to do some farm work, but they also take them to hunt quite often.

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!

Lashibi (Accra), Ghana

Brotherly companionship.

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.

Baatsonaa (Accra), Ghana

Although I took these pictures almost 10 years ago, I've had this dog in mind for the last three days or so. Go figure! It was quite unusual to see it because of the cream colour and the somewhat wooly coat. I still believe these are variations of the original, aboriginal dog, and not a local dog mixed with imported breeds.

Bamako, Mali

I drove from Accra, Ghana to Bamako, Mali in January 2011. It was a wonderful experience, and I met a lot of dogs. Generally speaking, my observation is that Malian dogs are slightly taller than the coastal (Togo, Ghana) dogs I'm used to. Here is a sample, met on the grounds of the National Museum in Bamako.

A friendly reminder: although I'm tickled pink any time 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!

Introducing West African aboriginal dogs

I've been visiting and touring West Africa for the last 40 years or so, and living there permanently (currently in Ghana) for almost 15 years. I've always loved nature and one of my particular interests is the aboriginal, primitive dogs of West Africa. I was asked by several like-minded people throughout the world where all my pictures can be seen. I used to have a website but it went offline a few years back and all my pictures are now sitting unused on my computer. I've therefore decided to start putting them online again. The easiest and cheapest way is a blog. I'll post a few every day or maybe it's more honest to say every time I have a chance.

A word of friendly warning: although I'm tickled pink any time 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!