Beach dogs are common fixtures in Tenacatita. They belong to no one. The locals don't much care for them, and tourists only have a passing interest in their rather sad condition. The beach dogs are all rather skinny, frightened and starved for human contact. The dogs scrounge for food from restaurant goers, especially children, because they eat drop food; and at night they go through the garbage dumbs behind each restaurant . These beach dogs are friendly and can always use a handout. The left photo shows a nursing mom with 10 puppies. No one knows how, but all ten puppies disappeared around Easter. The dogs in the right photo are Puppy and Scarlet; pup and mom.

Scarlet gets her name from a large scar on her left side. It seems someone threw hot water or oil on her and caused a permanent scar. Barky, another beach dog had the top of both her ears cut off. It seems it's done to dogs that eat chickens: one ear for each chicken.

There are a couple of us that make it a point to feed the dogs and give them a safe place to hang out whenever we are in Tenacatita. This past March we participated in capturing the three dogs pictured here and had them spayed by a vet in La Manzanilla. This should help with keeping the dog population to a more manageable level. Maybe we can do it again this coming year and help a few more female dogs lead an easier life.