Rarotonga - Dogs may be dangerous

True Story

My wife got badly bitten by a dog while we were riding on a scooter along the road. Seems it is an acknowledged problem, but authorities slow to make changes.

Most people think the dogs are cute as did we beforehand (we have a dog at home) but it changed our view, and ruined our holiday

People were nice and understanding and the place is wonderful, a paradise.

Gutted

You won't see any dogs on Aitutaki. They are banned. I think it's because a dog killed a child a long time ago.

H2ooh is correct, no dogs allowed on Aitutaki, Or Mauke.

They were banned back in the 1920's. Three versions as to why: 1. they were biting people, as suggested above. Or, there was a localized famine for a year or two, and dogs ate too much food and/or were eaten for food by hungry locals (dogs were, and still are, eaten for food in the Cooks, though not on a regular basis---they are eaten once they die, but not killed as a way of getting food) or 3---leprosy was fairly prevalent in the islands in the 1920's, and locals were under the mistaken impression that dogs transmitted the disease.

Hard to know which one is true. But as dogs were not banned on Mitiaro and Mangaia (and Rarotonga, of course), the rumor about the leprosy might not be the one, as that would have probably led dogs to be killed on all the islands. I'd guess it was either dog bites or the famine.

TIP: If you are walking around Rarotonga at night, carry a couple of small rocks, about the size of a golf ball. If a dog comes by and does not seem too friendly, raise your arm up with the rock in your hand, and make a throwing motion, but don't yet throw the rock. that usually does the trick, and the dog will turn and slink away. If it doesn't then throw the rock near it, on the ground in front of it, so it can see the dirt shoot up into the air, or at least see it was actually thrown. That should do it for 99% of the dogs. for the other 1%, well, take that second rock and aim for the dog----and then get the hell out of there!!!

But in reality, dog bites on RAR are few and far. But I'd avoid walking along the inland road at night, the dogs there see a lot less traffic and tourists, and are a lot more territorial.

Also in the Samoas, you just had to reach down to pick up a rock, and the poor starving dogs would run...