Aggressive dogs in Tonga?

Hi Guys~

Planning my trip to the South Pacific...Would like to know if someone can give me a bit of advise on the possibility of meeting aggressive dogs in Tonga.

The LP and some threads mention that in the neighbour Samoa it's common to find packs of dogs that may become aggressive, especially after dark. I wonder what the situation in Tonga is. I'd like to visit villages and do some trecking, but not very keen on having to worry about unfriendly dogs. Any comment or advise will be appreciated!

Thanks!

Don't know how it is now, but I found the dogs in Samoa scarey, to say the least. Had no trouble in Tonga, as most dogs were kept behind fences. Some were quite defensive but as they couldn't get at you it wasn't a problem. This was in Nuku'alofa, don't know about the rest of Tongatapu even though I visited folks away from town, but I never saw a dog out on the road. Pigs, yes, dogs, no. Things might have changed by now, though ...

Edited by: Watsoff

The dogs are still around, I have never been bitten but if I walk at night I carry a stick just to be on the safe side. I have seen locals throw pretend stones at the dogs which makes them immediately run away. It's pretty sad because you know that if they run from pretend stones they have certainly been hit with real ones at some point.

At night they tend to roam around in packs. I think the best thing is to learn how to read dogs and know how to behave if you are confronted with them. Bottom line is, carry a stick at night although you will most likely never have to use it.

There is a great need for a spay/neuter program to be implemented in many of the islands.

Never had any dogged problems, Samoa-style, anywhere in Tonga.
Can only recall one instance where I even had topretend throwing a stone - and that was in Niuafo'ou.

I also never had any problems like Laszlo, either in Samoa or Tonga.

I did have "dogged" problems in Samoa though... ;-)

"I never saw a dog out on the road. Pigs, yes, dogs, no"

I did have a dog in a yard om Utungake give me a dirty look when I stopped on my rented scooter to take a drink of water-I think he took exception to my helmet because when I took it off & snarled @ him he slunk off.

I just got back from 5 days in Tonga, during which I rode a scooter around for 4 of those days. I found that there were often dogs (and kids and pigs!) on the road, but generally speaking, the dogs weren't a problem. Having said that, on two occasions I did have a dog or two chase after me on the motorbike twice. I suspect if I had been walking, they wouldn't have taken any notice. I bit unnerving, but I just sped up to get away from them.