Stray dogs usually do have difficulties with available food, especially in the winter, when temperature goes below zero. They are in danger due to traffic and many consider them as nuisance in cities. Still, no one else, but us humans, is responsible for that many stray dogs. Main reasons are: irresponsible ownership manifested as abandoning the dog and not dealing with this problem in proper and systematic way.
Aggression with stray dogs, most commonly occurs when defending the territory, the young or food. Dog bites gained from dogs that live in the street are rare since usually they are very stable dogs, and when they do attack, almost always they have main goal to chase away humans, and almost never harm them.
Taking care after stray dogs
If we take care after stray dogs – just because dogs are territorial beings – it is not wise to awaken their territorial instinct by regularly leaving them food in the same busy spot such as sidewalks or packed parks. If they do not have their dog house, leave the food and water on the side, somewhere on the grass or by the bush where no one will bother them an where they will not bother passers by.
In case they do have a dog house, leave it beside the house, without taking too much time, because it will awaken the pack instinct an they might start swooping passers by.
Keep in mind that they feed once or twice a day, so they do not get obese. Do not feed them if there is already someone taking care after them: by getting more food than they need, they will get lazy and fat, when they need moving and exercise. Do not offer food, do not push it under their snout or follow them with desire to feed them, at any cost, just to satisfy your feelings.
Stray dogs must be spayed, neutered, given rabies vaccine and vaccine for contagious diseases and microchipped (some dogs instead of microchip under the skin have a tattoo on their ear). It is preferred that they get distinctive collars. Honouring CNR programme (catch-neuter-release) prevents further reproduction and reduces general aggressiveness of these dogs, and completely eliminates natural aggression that occurs during reproduction.
Microchipping of owned dogs is helping with reducing number of dogs in the streets because it restricts owners from abandoning their dogs, because by reading the microchip you can easily find the owner.