Dogs on Camino Portugese

[Valeriina Silas]

Our family did Camino Frances from Pamplona last spring. As my husband is blind, he is accompanied by his guide dog. "Uuno" is a calm dog and doesn't react to other dogs while wearing his harness (= while working).

During our camino we met several dogs and surprisingly only some of them caused us problems. Maybe three or four time I really had to use my authority (and walking pole) to keep them away from my husband's guide. We found that in Galicia the situation with dogs was worse than other parts on the route.

This spring we are planning to walk from Porto to Santiago (perhaps even from Lisbon). Is the situation on Camino Portugese similar to Camino Frances or is it worse? Because less people walk the route I assume dogs aren't as used to walkers as they are on Frances. "Angry" dogs were one of the reasons we abandoned Via de la Plata. Other reason was long distances per day.

We are not afraid of dogs and we believe we can handle also the difficult ones. The problem is that we cannot enjoy our walk if we have to stress about dogs every time we get close to village. And of course, we have to choose a route that is also safe to our dog.

 

[Camembert]

What is the difference between a Galician dog and f.ex. a Castilean dog ?
I don't know. What I noticed was that when we walked the camino Inglès dogs were behind fences.
In Portugal we walked from Lisboa and sometimes we were "attacked " by "little "terrors , which allways were "loose Grace to threatning with our poles both the terrors and the goodwilling ones , it ended up to a happy end for both .
Once in Aveiro as tourist, biking and sightseeing , I was offended by a big dog and some smaller ones, being a pack but after screaming and shouting they went off with the tail between the legs as a Dutch proverb says.
Bom caminho

 

[Dutch]

Never had nasty dog trouble on the Portugees camino, porto to SdC.

The most dog problems i've had was on the route Finisterre-muxia, but i must say that i walked the wrong way and therefor i wasnt on the camino anymore.

Same goes for a small detour on the SdC to Finisterre route. Very VERY nasty dogs when you go of the camino. At least thats my experience.

Was de Vdlp that bad, that you had to leave?

 

[Diogo92]

I walked two times the Caminho Português, and I've never had problems with loose dogs.

The owners keep them inside their wall's and fences, has a safety measure.

 

[Camembert]

I walked two times the Caminho Português, and I've never had problems with loose dogs.

The owners keep them inside their wall's and fences, has a safety measure.

My good friend ! How are you doing ?
The first loose dogs who tried to attack us were between Azambuja and Santarèm in the agricultural plain lands just before the airfield.
The second time was in a quiet and piecefull village past Alvaiazère on an early sundaymorning, passing a house with an opened door. This little terror was very aggressive.
The third time was outside Mealhada ,just coming outside a restaurant for a coffee when two terrors tried to attack us. The fourth time as been said in Aveiro, coming out of a supermercado and climbing on the bike as a pack with 3 or 4 dogs tried to grab us.
Remarkable is that it only happened between Lisboa and Porto. Between Porto and Santiago and on the camino Inglès it did not happen.

Bom fim de semana e vemos-nôs

Um abraço

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

I think it can happen on any camino - mainly a matter of luck [or rather bad luck!].
There are known but rare problems of packs of wild dogs: we lived in Spain for eight years and experienced them from time to time.
I always take a dog dazer with me.
Used it once last year on the Ingles, and once or twice on the Portuguese. On those occasions, the problem was unchained domestic dogs, not packs.
I also use the pointed end of my walking pole as required, on dogs, vampires, and my friend Diogo ....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000IBRI2Y/?tag=casaivar-21

Buen camino [sin perros!]

 

[Al the optimist]

I was bit walking the El Salvador last year.

 

[Diogo92]

My good friend ! How are you doing ?
The first loose dogs who try to attack us were between Azambuja and Santarèm in the agricultural plain lands just before the airfield.
The second time was in a quiet and piecefull village past Alvaiazère on an early sundaymorning, passing a house with an opened door. This little terror was very aggressive.
The third time was outside Mealhada ,just coming outside a restaurant for a coffee when two terrors tried to attack us. The fourth time as been said in Aveiro, coming out of a supermercado and climbing on the bike as a pack with 3 or 4 dogs tried to grab us.
Remarkable is that it only happened between Lisboa and Porto. Between Porto and Santiago and on the camino Inglès it did not happen.

Bom fim de semana e vemos-nôs

Um abraço

On the souther part, from Lisbon to Santarém, I never had any problem. At least on the Camiño, on other trails, yes. But has a dog owner, I know how to handle an unfamiliar dog.

 

[Valeriina Silas]

Thank you everyone for your insight. We did find the dogs in Galicia to be different than in the beginning of our camino: louder and more aggressive towards us - big (and small) angry guard dogs. This, though, doesn't mean that the dogs are different - just the owners who train them for different purposes. Are the dog owners in Portugal friendlier towards pilgrims than the ones in Galicia?

Dazers or such are useless, as we cannot use those close to our own dog... I plan to use my walking pole and my scary face to get rid of the unwanted dog company.

I read from several sources that dogs on Via de la Plata might be less friendly with peregrinos because they haven't got used to people walking by (as it happens less frequently than for example on Frances). That is why we are planning to start from Portugal instead of Sevilla.

 

[Camembert]

Thank you everyone for your insight. We did find the dogs in Galicia to be different than in the beginning of our camino: louder and more aggressive towards us - big (and small) angry guard dogs. This, though, doesn't mean that the dogs are different - just the owners who train them for different purposes. Are the dog owners in Portugal friendlier towards pilgrims than the ones in Galicia?

Dazers or such are useless, as we cannot use those close to our own dog... I plan to use my walking pole and my scary face to get rid of the unwanted dog company.

I read from several sources that dogs on Via de la Plata might be less friendly with peregrinos because they haven't got used to people walking by (as it happens less frequently than for example on Frances). That is why we are planning to start from Portugal instead of Sevilla.

To me a dog is a dog whether this is a Galician , a Russian or an English one
As long as it is a loose dog in the wild , they show "wild"behavior . I don't think the loose dogs we encountered and tried to offend us ,have an owner.

We used our poles to get rid of them and succeeded

 

[Stephen Nicholls]

But has a dog owner, I know how to handle an unfamiliar dog.

Handle them? HANDLE them?!?
I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole . [English saying, Diogo!]
[Walking pole, yes. And I tend to prod them in the face which usually makes them retreat.]
Quite understand Valeriina's comment. Can't use a dazer if you're walking with your own dog ... unless your dog is very old. Like humans, old dogs can't hear high frequencies.

 

[Pelegrin]

What is the difference between a Galician dog and f.ex. a Castilean dog ?
I don't know. What I noticed was that when we walked the camino Inglès dogs were behind fences.
In Portugal we walked from Lisboa and sometimes we were "attacked " by "little "terrors , which allways were "loose Grace to threatning with our poles both the terrors and the goodwilling ones , it ended up to a happy end for both .
Once in Aveiro as tourist, biking and sightseeing , I was offended by a big dog and some smaller ones, being a pack but after screaming and shouting they went off with the tail between the legs as a Dutch proverb says.
Bom caminho

View attachment 16103

In rural Galicia there are frequently isolated houses where elder people live. They have dogs to protect them. In Castille, villages are bigger and dogs are pets like everywhere else.
As a defence, poles are useful to set a barrier.

 

[edumad]

The tradition in most of rural northern Portugal is to have dogs as defenders of the house. They rarely socialize and are usually confined or chained.
Whenever you pass a fence or wall you'll hear them. These are not a problem.
There are some stray dogs, they are a mix breed, some a gentle and ignore you and others bark.
From my experience its the little ones than are the loudest and more aggressive in their posture. But they are almost always saying "keep away".
Now that I do more MTB I sometimes get dogs chasing me, usually for a short while. They will chase you if its a free dog that is belongs to a house nearby. Same deal, my area, get away.
These do not scare me. However bad the pet owners and pet ownership is here, it is very rare that they actively trained to be aggressive.

I do worry more with packs of dogs, but I've never seen them on the Camino and it is very rare to see them. 3 to 4 dog pack max.

The scariest situations with dogs I've faced have been with sheep dogs. Walking in the Geres National Park, I've encountered them a few times.
These animals exist to protect the herd from wolfs and are very aggressive in some situations. "He won't even bark if you into the middle of the herd" was the warning from a shepard. We have a saying in Portugal "a dog that doesn't bark, bites". From my experience this is true, the one time I've been bitten was by a sample canine specimen who attacked me out of nowhere. I later discovered the dog had done this before, yet it was free on the street.

Don't let any of this discourage you, I am sure you'll have no troubles in the Camino.

 

[Pelegrin]

Dogs behaviour like many other things are the same in nothern Portugal and in Galicia.

 

[Valeriina Silas]

The tradition in most of rural northern Portugal is to have dogs as defenders of the house. They rarely socialize and are usually confined or chained.
Whenever you pass a fence or wall you'll hear them. These are not a problem...

Thank you for your comment, this was just what I was looking for.