In many cities around the world, stray dogs are commonplace. They often gather around hubs of human activity and seek out tourists who will give them food.
However, in one city, stray dogs have made an advancement no one could have predicted.
Dr. Andrey Poyarkov has been studying the strays in Moscow, Russia, for nearly 30 years. During his research, he discovered and said that “In Moscow, there are all sorts of stray dogs, but… there are no stupid dogs.”
In Moscow, nearly 20 stray dogs use the complicated metro system to get around. And they don’t wind up lost in the tunnels. This small portion of the population has figured out how to use the metro system to their advantage, and they make regular commutes.
During the day, these stray dogs, known as Moscow’s Metro Dogs, ride the metro into the heart of Russia’s capital city. They go to work looking for food or begging for it. When the sun goes down, they return to the suburbs to sleep. Each of these intelligent canines has a regular route. They are commuters—just like the humans that surround them.
The Moscow Metro is the second most used subway system in the world. It is estimated that around 500 dogs live in its stations, although most do not use the subway itself. They are territorial and will defend their areas from other dogs as well as drunks.
There are over 35,000 stray dogs in Moscow, and this is such a regular sight that locals don’t bat an eye. With such a large population, dogs are on the subway, in markets, at construction sites, and anywhere else they can scrounge up a bite of food.
Learning how to navigate the subway system is just one interesting feature of Moscow’s street dogs. Dr. Poyarkov emphasizes the difficulty of living on the streets for these dogs and how it truly is the survival of the fittest. He believes Moscow’s strays know more about people than the people know about them.
The street dogs are extremely adapted to loud noises and crowded places—environments that domesticated dogs and even humans struggle to adapt to. They understand the rules of traffic lights and can be categorized into four different groups: wild dogs, foragers, beggars, and guard dogs.
Many of these stray dogs survive in packs, and some are friendlier than others. Wild dogs are feral and see humans as a threat, while foragers are semi-feral and mainly seek out food that humans have left behind. Beggars are socialized to humans, but they have no owners. Another interesting group is guard dogs. They often congregate around construction sites or mills where they are regularly fed. They see humans as their leaders and will protect them, although they technically have no owner.
The problem of stray dogs in Moscow was first noted over one hundred years ago. Since then, their relationship with humans has been tumultuous. At one point, they were even hunted and killed.
Now, Moscow’s strays live in harmony with humans for the most part. They keep the city free of rats and rarely defecate in busy areas or on pavements. Many people choose to feed them, and in the most populated areas of the city, humans will simply throw scraps at them as they walk by. Some people even build shelters for them in the winter.
As for the Metro Dogs, they are generally well behaved and well socialized, rarely causing trouble. Although, there have been incidents of these dogs giving birth to pups during their commute.
