Commuting Dogs?

Commuting dogs? an interesting article about dogs in Moscow

Dogs are allowed on public transport in all  of Europe … but  generally with their 
master.


 

STRAY  dogs are  commuting to and from a city centre on underground trains in  search of food scraps.

The  clever canines  board the Tube each morning.  After a hard day  scavenging  and begging on the streets, they hop back on the train and   return to the suburbs where they spend the  night.

Experts  studying the dogs say they even work  together to make sure they get off  at the right stop after learning to judge the length of time they need  to spend on the  train…

The dogs choose the  quietest carriages  at the front and back of the train.  They have  also  developed tactics to hustle humans into giving them more food   on the streets of Moscow .

 

Scientists believe the   phenomenon began after the Soviet Union collapsed in the  1990s,  and Russia ’s new capitalists moved industrial  complexes from the city  centre to the suburbs.  Dr.  Andrei Poiarkov, of the Moscow Ecology  and Evolution  Institute, said: These complexes were used by homeless  dogs as shelters, so the dogs had to move together with their   houses.

Because the best scavenging for food is in the  city  centre, the dogs had to learn how to travel on the subway  to get to the  centre in the morning, then back home in the  evening, just like  people.

Dr. Poiarkov  told how the  dogs like  to play during their daily commute.

He  said: They jump on  the train seconds before the doors shut, risking their tails getting jammed. They do it for fun. And sometimes they fall asleep and get off at the wrong stop.

Well  trained  … dog enjoys a nap on the underground.

The dogs have learned to use traffic lights to cross the road safely, said Dr. Poiarkov.  And they use cunning tactics to obtain tasty morsels of  shawarma, a kebab-like snack popular  in Moscow.  They sneak up behind people eating  shawarmas then bark loudly to shock them into dropping their food.

With children, the dogs play cute by putting their heads on youngsters’ knees and staring pleadingly into their eyes to win sympathy and  scraps.  Dr. Poiarkov added: Dogs are surprisingly good psychologists.

The Moscow mutts are not the first animals to use public transport.  In 2006 a Jack Russell in Dunnington, North Yorks, began taking the bus to his local pub in search of sausages.  And two years ago, passengers in Wolverhampton were stunned when a cat called Mac avity  started catching the 331 bus to a fish and chips shop.