Living in Mexico: Education or Law Enforcement?

Depending on where an American chooses to expatriate in Mexico, there is one irrevocable fact of Mexican life and culture that will be immediately apparent. Mexicans have a different attitude toward their dogs than Americans have. The way many (not all) Mexicans treat their dogs can be radically different than what you see in the streets of many American suburbs. This, of course, varies regionally in both countries.

My wife and I met at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas (Jayhawks Rock!) back in the dark ages. During our time in college, the dog problem was horrible. It remained so until we left Lawrence several years later in the mid-nineties. How it is now, I do not know. There were dogs running loose everywhere just as you will see here in Guanajuato, Mexico where we've expatriated. The dogs running the streets of Guanajuato reminds us of our college days in Lawrence.

When we moved to Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City, we were amazed to see there were no dogs running loose on the streets. The city had leash laws and the laws were strictly enforced. This is, I believe, what makes a difference. If a city has laws with sufficient enforcement (and stiff fines), people will stop being cruel to dogs, at least in public.

The dog problem seems to be regional here in Guanajuato. I've asked my Spanish teachers, neighbors, and others from other cities in Mexico and they claim other cities don't have the same problem. It does seem true. On our whirlwind spring vacation, one thing we were on the lookout for were packs of roaming dogs. In the cities in which we stayed for more than two days, we saw not one roaming dog, much less packs of them.

Yesterday, we decided to walk to a supermarket a fair distance from our house. Once we exited our private street (called a Privada), we were on the street called Pastita. We were about 5 minutes into our trek when we saw two young Mexican men with an unleashed dog trailing them. Another dog, behind a gate and across the street, began barking, which, you guessed it, caused the loose-on-the-street dog to run over to challenge it through the gate. A car hit the dog. Fortunately, the driver was driving very slowly.

It was unharmed. It got up, looked fine, and responded to the Mexican men who finally thought to get the animal under control. They seemed unconcerned that the dog had been hit.

Then the men, though a trash dumpster was less than a half block away, threw their trash over the wall and into the river that runs along Pastita. Pollution is another huge problem in this city (and country).

I am told by the expats here that it is a matter of education.

I think it is a matter of law enforcement.

My long-time expat pal, "GH", tells me that in the cities where the dogs and polluting the environment problems are under control, it is mainly due to the educating results of effective law enforcement.

I tend to believe him.

A more professionally trained and paid police department seems to be the key.

If you doubt that, take a little side trip to Querétaro the next time you visit central Mexico and see what's cooking there.