Country Without Stray Dogs: The Warmth of Meeting in Georgia

The day I left Tbilisi, I still had a little change left in my pocket. I can’t remember exactly how much, only just enough to go to the cheap supermarket and buy a bottle of drink.

The lack of free drinking water at Tbilisi Airport prompted me to decide to walk two kilometers to find the supermarket. Originally, I wanted to keep the coin as a souvenir, but now I have no thoughts. It is important to quench my thirst.

It wasn’t dark when I went out, and there were several big dogs lying at the airport gate. I accidentally met one of them, and it lazily raised its head and actually followed.

There are a lot of dogs in Georgia who don’t have a fixed home and have different colored markings on their ears.

I’ve heard before: dogs with red ear tags are fierce, yellow ones are OK, and blue ear tags are relatively docile.

So every time I want to take a photo, I will tilt my head and look at the dog’s ears to confirm its character.

I took the night bus from Yerevan to Georgia. As soon as I arrived in this Caucasian country, before I could enjoy the scenery, I saw two big dogs bouncing over from the park in the distance.

I ran until my ears twitched, and I didn’t know what I was happy about.

My companions are afraid of dogs, but the dog doesn’t know that they are afraid, and still follows around enthusiastically, as if it depends on our feeding when it grows up.

This strange enthusiasm makes people who are afraid of dogs a little helpless. The two dogs followed for a long time and disappeared into the sea of people.

Caucasian dogs are very different from pugs. Most of the dogs here are tall, and it is not unusual to stand up at the shoulders of people.

Those who are afraid of dogs think they are fierce, and those who are not afraid think they are silly.

This silly “silly big guy” followed me all the way. Not long after leaving the familiar area of the airport, I met two big dogs, one of which was barking across the road, and his size was bigger than this fool.

Hanhan was a little scared. I thought he was running back across the street-after all, he had slept well before, and I kept urging him to turn back, my tone and eyes impatient, afraid that he would go too far to find his way back.

Dogs are very sensitive animals, and it is impossible not to feel this emotion. It crossed the road, and I quickened my pace to get away quickly.

More than four kilometers back and forth is not too short. I can walk this section of the road, but why should a dog go so far without any gain?

The only steel trowel in my pocket is only enough to buy water for myself. What can I buy food for it? Not worth the trouble.

But Hanhan is really silly. After running across the road, he continued to follow until he left the big dog’s “sphere of influence” and quickly ran back to this side of the road.

The moon rose and it was completely dark. The moonlight on the highway was hazy and a big dog walked ahead of me, as if I were walking him.

It stops and goes, and sometimes it will wait in front when we are slow, wagging its tail, not knowing what it is proud of.

There is bright light near the airport, but the farther and farther away it is a wilderness. The clearing whined in the wind, the moon appeared and disappeared overhead, and occasionally there was a lone figure standing by the roadside, like a picture in a horror movie.

All kinds of imaginations of cup bows and snake shadows were dissolved by a dog. Whatever is in front of me, I have a big dog beside me.

It kept running back and forth, sometimes stopping for a long time and rushing up again, hitting people and stumbling.

After buying water from the supermarket, I saw an aunt standing in the middle of the road with a bag of dog food, shouting the surrounding dogs to come around.

Late at night, when there were not many cars, the old lady came out to feed the dog in the cold wind. She should remember the name of every puppy, I thought.

In front of the museum in the city center, a staff member specially took out a bottle of mineral water and poured it into a basin in an inconspicuous corner next to it-it was for dogs to drink water.

There are many dogs in Georgia’s parks, and you can see many of them on the main roads. At home, such dogs are called stray dogs, but Georgian “stray dogs” are not strays.

They just don’t have a regular owner, but the whole of Georgia is their support.

There are no stray dogs in Georgia. The people here take good care of them, a kind of loving care that is taken for granted by all. Even if someone doesn’t like dogs, they won’t hurt them.

They also trust everyone without reservation, and they don’t have to worry about being hurt. Even if they lie down in front of the hotel, no one will drive them away.

All of Georgia is their home. What kind of wandering is at home?