I'm not saying they don't exist, just that in all my travels across the US, rural metro and suburban, I've never see multiple stray dogs. It's rare I see a singular stray dog, at that. Not like other countries where I see them right outside the airport. All to say this story sounds crazy to me, coming out of regular California. But maybe I've just never been there to see it

Never seen that in the USwith dogs, but I have seen it with cats. Sometimes an area will just have a cat that will bop around the neighborhood begging for food. A bar I frequented in my 20s had an outdoor seating area and I always enjoyed when the neighborhood cat swung by for a visit.

Not in my experience. I think it's a bit of an American TV trope from the 1950s, but I don't know if those were really feral dogs or just free-roam farm dogs and such. I've always had neighborhood feral cats around though. Feral dogs are often captured in cities and suburbs and given to shelters. Or euthanized. I guess we're afraid of getting attacked. Cats, on the other hand, aren't such a risk to humans and are tolerated, despite being atrocious for local ecosystems.

Meanwhile, I just had an encounter with an escaped husky and I was genuinely afraid. I'm not afraid of dogs, but I had to knock on its owner's door and it started darting around, getting between me and the door, and staying quiet - not actually showing any signs of aggression in face/tail/voice. Eerie.

We don’t have villages and we do have animal control so generally no.

Idk where you live and I don’t mean this to be rude but it probably is. Once you have packs of vicious roaming dogs that’s a failed state. Like keeping animals from attacking your citizenry is something stone age people worried about and we are failing at it in 2026? Wild

Stockton is in California. The person above was making a joke.

I'm not arguing with you or anything, I just want to relay my experience with something like this. I was raised around big dogs, and actually made a living training them for a few years(not just big dogs, but chihuahuas get a bad rap because they can be incredibly cool too). So I'm used to dealing with all sorts of behavioral levels. My mom adopted a "pot cake" dog from the Caribbean, which is essentially a street dog. My first time visiting after they adopted her, she was sweet enough when Mom was around. But I wanted to sleep in after partying with friends. My mom left me her car to visit my old haunts and explore new areas while she was at work.

The Caribbean pot cake dog was laying in between my air mattress and the front door. She growled as I got closer and then nipped at my shoe. I understood she is male aggressive and has trauma with being kicked simply by knowing her background. So I assertively raised my voice, but didn't yell, and took one step backwards and stopped looking directly at her. It took maybe 30 seconds for her to realize what was going on, and she sheepishly got out of the way. My only negative experience with this formerly stray dog who obviously got kicked fairly often.

Every time I've visited since, she had been there most adorable love bug. I cannot sleep in the living room cause she will pop the air mattress trying to crawl up and lay next to me, and I am never alone on the couch. I don't know what I was getting at here, maybe I just wanted to talk about her. But the other dude was right, I was making a joke and it makes me feel bad that someone downvoted you for not catching it. Don't worry though homie, I got you back on the better side of zero.