Ashes in the Light

One of the first things we noticed when we arrived in Georgia wasn’t a landmark or a famous attraction.

It was the dogs.

The moment we stepped out of the airport, we started spotting them.

Lying by the roadside.
Walking along pavements.

After spending several days in Istanbul surrounded by cats, I remember joking to my husband:

“I think we’ve left the land of cats and arrived in the land of dogs.”

What caught our attention even more was that many of them had tags attached to their ears.

At first, we weren’t sure what they meant.

The following day, we met our guide, Dean, and finally got our answer.

Many of these dogs have already gone through government and animal welfare programmes where they are identified, vaccinated, sterilised or neutered, and monitored. The ear tags serve as a visible sign that they have been processed through these programmes.

The programme was introduced as part of efforts to manage the country’s stray dog population humanely after years of overpopulation.

What surprised me most was how calm many of the dogs seemed.

Some slept peacefully outside cafés.
Some lounged in parks.
Others simply watched people walk by as if they were regular residents of the neighbourhood.

Coming from Singapore, where seeing free-roaming dogs is uncommon, it took a little getting used to.

But after a few days, they became part of my memory of Georgia itself.

As familiar as the old streets.
As familiar as the cafés.
As familiar as the views across Tbilisi.

And every time I look back at those photos now, I still think of that first joke we made at the airport.

Istanbul may have belonged to the cats.

But Georgia belonged to the dogs.

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