Oh dear keep telling myself not to look at this page cause it scares me.But keep peeking was feeling a bit better about dogs as some people said they had made friends with some of the dogs. But then I read this last one and I'm scared again. This is the only thing that is putting a downer on my first time to Goa.I love dogs,got a yorkie myself who rhinks she is a rottweiler..Bless her.But I dont like vicious dogs.sweepy2

Dont worry mate, unless its got really bad in the last 8 months or so, i have never had a problem.

Never seen any dogs in candolim area (probably there but never had a problem with noise or aggressive nature etc)

The only place i had a bit of hassle was on palolem beach where the was a few dogs getting out of hand whilst we were eating but the shake of a water bottle normally works wonders for the persistant offenders throw some over them and they dont bother you know more.

The problem with dogs is that when tourists feed them they come back for more and more and more so if ppl would stop feeding them on the beach they would soon have to find another food source. But when i see someone feeding them at the next table to me i know its only a matter of time before it comes round us to hassle us for food etc and the blood pressure starts to build

But seriously dont worry about it, and if they do become a problem on the beach just tell the shack owner and he will chase them away or spray water over them

Not really a horrible git but just hate dogs and cats for that matter

In Goa, everyone is always hassling you for something, so the dogs might as well have a go too....

If you walk down by the shoreline you're less likely to be hassled, as the doggy territories don't seem to extend that far.

Mostly, the dogs go for Indians (how weird is that?), and we never had a single problem with any of them, apart from Manky who seemed in desperate need of being put down, and we left him well alone.

Personally, I'm not keen on these super-fit types who jog along the beach anyway... They ruin a damn good slothful holiday!

The more people I meet the more I like my dog!

The UK have become a nation of dog lovers.

Eventhough I started this thread on dogs in goa there is no way that the dogs would put me off going, infact we have just booked to go back in three weeks time and we were only there in Dec 04.

The reason I started this discussion was because you can see the numbers of these dogs increasing, I know they are not all nasty but a few years from now I think they will be a problem.

Sweepy2 dont worry you will probably have such a great time that you don't even notice they are there but it is nice to have some info just incase you do come across some nasty ones.

ive always found that the shack dogs in goa HATE indians - honestly it was quite emabarrasing sometimes how they would bark bark bark at ANY indian who came near whatever shack we were in. but then theyre there to be guard dogs for the shack owners at nights so not surprising really. im sure a pack of dogs would be very intimidating & poss dangerous, i know kuta beach in bali had a serious prob up until recently when they started culling them ( i dont advocate this im an animal lover) but the animal rescue group in goa do a fantastic job in goa with a lot of the strays ( look for the dogs wandering round with blue ' animal rescue' collars). you can visit their rescue centre in mapusa or even if you love animals & love goa donate online to this great organisation. even 10 quid goes a long way to help the strays in goa.

as the owner of a six month old pup who will grow to 15stone i should not be worried but i am ,, i know my dogs temprament and am scared of the temprament of strays ,, i hope its hot in march and they dissapear fingers crossed

I love dogs however manky or smelly they might be lol.I have 6 rottweilers myself and can understand how a pack can be scary,people cross the road to avoid my gang but they are all as soft as teddies.
In general how are the dogs treated out there? If the shack owners are constantly throwing water over them and shooing them away it,s understandable that they bark at them,if someone threw water over me on a regular basis i,de feel a little bit myself lol.

The couple who we stay with in candolin told us that every three years they gather all the dogs up and put them to sleep.Any one else heard this,we were their in nov and thought the numbers were down on the previous year.Is that just wishful thinking.

Its not the bark end that causes the problem with Goa's dogs - it's the other end of them and the gross fouling of the beaches they cause. I don't mind sand between my toes but not that .... get rid of the dogs and clean up the beaches.

havin just spent 2 weeks in calangute i was wondering is there a dog toilet ? i went to a few beaches baga ,, ect and never seen any dog fouling ..unless they buried it when i wasnt aware lol.. get more on my shoes in our local field ,,never seen any on roads or paths either ,,maybe i was blinded by the beautiful country and people and smells that i never noticed it

ladyjane, we also visited Calangute and did not experience any problems there - we stayed further down at Sinquerim/Candolim and believe me there was a big problem there.

grandad did u go to the beach at sinquerim ,we did and i found it ok ..cant remeber seeing any dogs there ,,no beach sellers and only 1 fruit lady ,who stayed in the shade i found this to be the best beach we visited. a safe place to swim cordened off with bouys to avoid speed boat ect lol

ladyjane, I confess to being a little unsure as to the exact split between Sinquerim/Candolim. The beach we visited and which was reached from our hotel (Aldeia Santa Rita) was about 400 yards down from the River Princess, just before the Taj Village complex.
We didn't experience any beach sellers, we had been told that they had been banned so we didn't expect any. We did see some hair-raising paragliding (or is it parasailing?) and lots of jetski and bananna towing activity.
On the subject of dog mess we found it not only on our feet (no doubt it got covered with sand and then we stepped in it) but also in the legs of tables and chairs of several of the beach shacks we visited and on the flooring of one that was covered in paving slabs and on much of the matting that led onto some of the beach paths.
We have visited various parts of Africa, Sri Lanka, Mexico and Brazil this is the first place that we have experienced this particular dog problem.

i know were you mean grandad ,,we went the very end near to taj ,,was very clean ,you must try it next time ,,our our taxi driver took us there ,,he recomended every beach we went to ,,cant complain about anythat we visited ,, guess it was just overcrowdered were you went ,,more people more dogs hanging about ect more reason for the dogs to hang about

We visit Ganesh shack each year (100m from the tanker) and this year seemed to have the biggest number of dogs ever,as for the 'mess' yes they were at it,and i hope this can be controlled in the future - but i doubt it very much,a big shame,but thats life as they say.

surprised at the comments re dogs barking at night---never heard them (phoenix park). Also wifey commented while we were there how little dog mess compared to number of dogs. Strangely that applies to cows also, lots of cows but not much mess.

sweepy2
puzzled at your post "I have a dog , a yorkie"
a contradiction in terms surely?
del

Around Candolim when one dog barks during the quietness of night they all go into a frenzy of barking throughout right into the far distance.
Sorry but a pain in the backside.

Also wifey commented while we were there how little dog mess compared to number of dogs.

True in the streets, which local stallholders/shopkeepers tend to sweep, but definitely not true on the lower Candolim beach area.

Of course I am assuming that the mess comes from the dogs - many of the shacks have flushing toilets and whilst I saw how they fill the cisterns with seawater to enable the flush, I never discovered where the contents were flushed to!