Guardians and faithful friends, Cuzco’s dogs are part of its families. In the countryside they watch over the flocks of sheep and the herds of llamas and alpacas while in the city they look out for people’s homes. Like people, they roam freely and you see them in Cuzco’s parks, its streets and resting on door stoops.
Dogs are sensitive and know the people and the animals of their neighborhoods. As a result they play an important role in keeping watch since they bark when strangers come.
Your dogs are with you in good times or bad times. Though they love to roam in the streets and visit their peers and friends, they return to their homes. Even when loose they look out for their home and family. They are not fair weather friends but accompany us in good times and bad.
The people of the neighborhoods also know its dogs and their is communication between people and dogs. My friend Adrian says “you can feel the sincerity of the dogs. It is a kind of energy that you feel from them You can talk to them but you do not need words, there is just this other, silent communication, that you have with animals and you know.”
In the city, dogs are abundant. There are many in every neighborhood. Families raise them as pets. Most families have one but some have two or more. They are of different breeds,
There is a group of dogs that lives around and on the Plaza de Armas, Cuzco’s main square. You often see them laying down and resting on the lawn, the paving stones, or by stores. The people who work in the business on the square feed them though they belong to people that live on or near the square. They also accompany the night watchmen on their rounds.
In the city of Cuzco, dogs are the preferred pets and necessary guardians of your home’s security. In the countryside they play the same role in addition to watching out for and herding the flocks of sheep, cattle, and camelids.
Dogs need love and affection. In what follows we give you some photos of Cuzco’s dogs.
