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Please note that these are observations from a very tiny population of dogs across a limited period of time.
I recently spent a week in North Goa and had the lovely opportunity observe the streeties here. Unlike the dogs in other cities and towns in India, it feels like Goa's free living dog population is special and unique for more reasons than one.
A broad estimate tells me that Goa is home to around 1.5 lakh dogs, out of which 70,000 are free living dogs or streeties (as we fondly refer to them). For the remaining "owned" dogs, my observations tell me that 1 in 10 dogs is a pedigreed dog. The local dog (and this is a mixed breed, commonly known as an "Indie") seems to be the more popular choice.
The lanes of North Goa are populated with not just free living, but also free roaming dogs. This I believe is unique to a place like Goa. It's not uncommon to see collared dogs freely roam around these lanes. Some of these dogs are actually free living, some of these dogs are what we call "inside outside" dogs - streeties who leverage a human's house for shelter, food and safety but prefers the freedom to move as they please. And then there are also dogs who are pet dogs but with the freedom to roam around, without a leash.
Take Goldie here for example.
From what I found out, Golide was adopted as a puppy by a settler couple around Anjuna. While they continue to be her primary caregivers and she lives with them (she wears a fashionable collar with a name tag & details of her pet parents), she has all the freedom to move around the neighbourhood, visiting different homes and resting outside gates comfortably.
I observed this with many households here - this idea of letting your dog out to roam around, hang with friends, do their business and then coming back inside. This is very rare in other Indian cities that are usually bustling with traffic, overcrowding, lack of green spaces and more. Over the last few months, with stricter regulations especially in the north of India, even leaving one's dog off leash in a safe and secure community space seems like a risky idea, let alone leaving your dog completely off leash to roam around the neighbourhood. So what makes Goa so unique?
The idea of 'susegad'
'Susegad' is known as a Goan concept. Derived from the Portuguese (early colonisers in Goa) word "sossegado" (which translates to quiet), this cultural identity speaks to a certain lifestyle and way of life for the Goans. While there are several ways to describe it, my observations have shown me that it's really about slowing down and finding contentment in the little things around you. It's about breaking away from the hustle and savouring time as you have it and as you are in it. To me, susegad is incomplete without love and joy for nature around you and Goa has plenty of that to offer. From green patches to hills to beaches - there's so much abundance and vastness around that one can't help but pause and take it all in.
"What Susegad actually means, according to most experts, is a contented form of joie de vivre existent in the state."
Susegad asks us to pause and slow down. With Japanese and Danish ideas of ikigai & hygge respectively taking up space in conversations and as a way to rethink life, 'susegad' seems to also be occupying an important albeit small space in this conversation. I'm thinking of how Carl Honore's slow movement that has taken up so many different chapters across the world and, susegad fits right in.
In my observations, I found the streeties of North Goa embody this susegad way of life just about perfectly. You are likely to see them lazing around in the busiest of spots or the quietest; they seem slower moving as compared to free living dogs in cities; they just seem less troubled. They were a visual representation of the findings in Banerjee & Bhadra's paper on time activity budget of urban adapted free ranging dogs (the findings interestingly stated that free living dogs spent almost 52% of their day in a state of inactivity, a complete contradiction to the way we expect our pet dogs to spend their time)
This 'susegad' way of life made me think - when cities are fast moving, polluted and without any capacity to slow down just for a bit (like the one I reside in), what does that to the people & animals living in them? Alternatively, what happens when cities actually embrace slowing down and find contentment in all they have - how does that shape behaviours for the residents, including our dogs?
Streeties finding spots to snooze right in the middle of a busy market place and a beach
Connectedness with nature
Goa has the advantage of being a "tropical" state. Which means that its landscape lends itself to beaches and green spaces. While Goa is experiencing rapid development to cater to both tourists and settlers who have moved homes during the pandemic and continue to do so, it's still far away from the kind of urbanization we see in other cities (like in cities like Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore). In fact, Goa seems to understand the importance of this nature and what it does for the Goan way of life. Like the recent court order against beach parties (think collection of plastic and improper disposal of it) in the vicinity of turtle nesting sites which led to removal of beach shacks across several beach stretches to ensure healthy population of these very turtles.
In the book, 'Shinrin Yoku: The Rejuvenating Practice of Forest Bathing', authors Hector Garcia & Fransec Miralles discuss the importance of staying connected with the natural world and how we can find replenishment in nature. They share findings from multiple Japanese research centres that found that walking amongst trees or even gazing at a green space reduces concentration of cortisol in our saliva. Another biomarker was lowered heart rate in subjects who walked in a green space (as compared to those who walked in a city) or simply sat down to observe the greenery. Based on these & other markers (lowered blood pressure and heart rate variability), researchers concluded that being around forests or green spaces reduce stress. I don't suppose this would be any different for dogs too.
A group of dogs casually strolling around a cliff - these are the kind of spaces that free living dogs here in Goa have access to
I often talk about exactly this in my consultations - for our pet dogs to learn how to be calm and regulated, they need to learn in and access calm and regulated environments, both indoors and outdoors. I guess that's what I see in North Goa - a state whose presence is marked by their pursuit of quietness and contentment and, dogs (for most part) who embody that very spirit.
It's also important to note that Goa is one of the few states in India that has proven that a state level rabies elimination is totally possible. As per reports, the state hasn't reported a single rabies case in humans since 2018. The focus of the One Health program in Goa was to reduce the incidence of rabies through a mass vaccination program. This consisted of 3 pillars - vaccinations, rabies education (close to 694,271 school children and 31,251 teachers between 2014 and 2019 received this) and lastly, enhanced canine rabies surveillance.
I think this is significant. Unlike other city administrations that are looking at how to solve the "stray dog menace", here we have a state and incredible advocacy and grassroots support and action that's committed to finding systematic, workable solutions to a problem, without eliminating these dogs. The effort is with and for them - it's inclusive and reinforced that connectedness with nature.
Free will & regulation
So what happens when these dogs are exposed to a culture of inclusivity, connectedness, care and quiet?
I was most fascinated to see streeties completely at peace and relaxed in what I would describe as extremely stimulating environments - bars and restaurants, with people walking around, music blaring and so much more. Every bar had a streetie or two that would make their way, begging for food occasionally but mostly looking for a spot to comfortably snooze in. Like this chocolate brown dog who casually walked into the bar, looked around for food and settled into a spot right in the middle of the room. You are likely to see this in every bar and restaurant you visit here. I think about pet dogs in contrast. A lot of them are likely to get overstimulated and worked up in these kinds of environments. What enables these streeties then to feel safe and comfortable enough to fall off to sleep right in the middle of this hustle bustle? I think the answer lies in their ability to exercise agency.
What was interesting to observe is at different points during their time in the bar, these dogs walked out, took a break and came back in. Some retreated into quieter corners of the space; some walked away altogether when it seemed like they had had enough. It sounds so simple - being able to walk away when one wishes to - it seems to have such a significant impact on how these dogs show up in a place like this. Besides one or two instances of a few dogs barking at each other, most dogs in my observations were relatively calm and regulated. Fair to say, that even in seemingly stressful situations, these dogs were able to cope and regulate themselves and, act out of free will.
Note: I do want to call out that these are my observations with a small group of dogs across short experiences. This isn't to say that free living dogs in Goa don't or experience conflict with humans but based on my conversations with locals and what I did see, the human-dog conflict isn't as recurring and intense as it is in other cities.
Streeties resting in the middle of the restaurant or pub, with loud music, the fragrance of food and the constant shuffling of feet around them
There have been multiple studies to show the impact of lack of agency on emotional, cognitive and behavioural health of individuals. Soral et al (2021) discuss this quite well, stating that 'prolonged deprivation of personal control induces cognitive, motivational, and affective impairments that can lead to learned helplessness syndrome'. But it's not just about learned helplessness - not being able to control one's actions can create an enormous amount of stress. And in fact according to Chu et al (2023), acute psychosocial stress can further weaken the sense of agency - so you start to see a bit of a vicious cycle playing out here.
I think of places like dog parks, dog clubs and dog events where pet dogs are leashed (most often on a short leash), on a collar (instead of a harness) and made to interact with other dogs (rather impolitely and without consent) and engage in a host of other activities - without ever giving them the choice to walk away. One can only imagine what repeated exposure to these environments then does to the emotional and behavioural health of these dogs.
Letting dogs be dogs
Another pattern I found in my observations was this Goan acceptance of letting dogs just be themselves. It seemed like dogs in Goan homes continue to serve a functional purpose - to alert and guard their homes. It's not an usual sight at all to spot a dog sitting on the parapet of the house or just behind a gate and watching people walk by; some are likely to bark if you so much as cross by their house. People don't be rushing out to shush their dogs, nobody seemed to be screaming from inside during these observations to ask the dog to quiet down - they simply let them be.
This also extends to public spaces. Unlike other cities that I have witnessed, in these bars, streeties are more than welcome in restaurants, bars and cafes. They are unlikely to be shooed away. People make space for them under the table, adjust their leg space and visibly make accommodations for them. They are seen as part of the environment, not separate from them.
Lessons in 'susegad'
I walked away from the streeties of North Goa with even more conviction that we have to offer more to our dogs. We have to understand who they are as their own species and meet their needs - that often comes at a price of altering our idea of who a dog is, but that change is worth it.
Our focus is way too much on 'getting the dog to behave'. Instead, we need to shift to supporting our dogs cope and find regulation. That seems to be the crux of everything, for both human and canine emotional and behavioural well being.
We have to create moments of stillness with our dogs; we have to move away from the idea that our dogs have to be continuously engaged/that a busy dog is a well adjusted dog. We have to create moments to slow down, to rest and to enjoy the friendship and love our canine companions have to offer. It's hard to do that when everything is busy - we need to pause and experience quietness. Because in that quietness, we can find beautiful, long lasting way to connect to ourselves and our dogs.
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