Blackie: How a stray dog internalised his role as guardian of a road intersection in Guwahati

In the urban ecosystem of Guwahati, Assam, where traffic congestion, street survival, and fragmented green spaces mark everyday life, an unlikely figure has carved a niche for himself, a black stray dog named Blackie, affectionately called Kaalu by locals.

During my master’s fieldwork in October 2021, I was studying the behavioural ecology and hormonal profiles of stray dogs in urban spaces. Stationed around the Latasil police booth in Uzan Bazar, I came across Blackie. He was an unusually attentive dog who did not just survive the streets but actively participated in their rhythm. Unlike most street dogs, Blackie wasn’t just present, he was recognised and respected by the community.

Blackie was a familiar sight among traffic police and auto rickshaw drivers. He regularly accompanied officers on duty, particularly a female traffic constable who would take him home at night and feed him, and he came back in the morning.  What stood out most wasn’t just his loyalty, but his behaviour: alertness, territorial awareness, and active participation in crowd and traffic control.

One evening, I witnessed Blackie bark aggressively at a rickshaw attempting to cross the road from the wrong direction. In that area, due to higher traffic congestion during dusk, rickshaws are not allowed to cross the road from the wrong direction. And during that time, a rickshaw tried to sneak while the officer on duty was busy, but Blackie’s loud and persistent barking halted the rickshaw until human intervention arrived. It wasn’t an isolated incident; he had internalised his role as a guardian of that intersection.

This form of human-animal cooperation is not uncommon in Indian cities. In various urban pockets, community dogs develop routines tied to food sources, social bonds, or protection. But Blackie’s case was distinct for the kind of institutional acceptance he received. Officers gave him a collar to ensure people knew he was “not just a stray,” protecting him from potential harm and displacement.

Interestingly, Blackie lived outside the dominant local dog pack, what I referred to in my field notes as the “JB’s pack”. A structured group with its own internal hierarchy. Yet, despite being a solitary male, Blackie maintained peaceful, even collaborative, relations with the pack when defending territory or confronting external threats. This kind of coexistence hints at behavioural flexibility that urban dogs often develop in high-density, human-dominated spaces.

In contrast to the general perception of stray dogs as a nuisance, Blackie exemplified urban ecological integration, where an animal adapted not only to survive, but to function as part of a human system. He was neither a pet nor a fully independent wild being. He occupied a middle space — semi-owned, semi-wild, socially functional.

In a city increasingly hostile to street animals, Blackie’s story is not just heartwarming, it is a call to rethink how we view the ecological roles of urban wildlife. His presence on the street, his acceptance among the police, and his behavioural adaptation to human systems speak volumes about co-adaptation and informal mutualism.

As urban spaces continue to expand, animals like Blackie remind us that cities are not only human landscapes. They are multispecies habitats where interdependence quietly unfolds in daily acts of belonging.

Chandramika Nath is a postgraduate in wildlife science with a passion for understanding animal behavior in urban spaces. Her fieldwork blends scientific inquiry with narrative storytelling, especially focusing on the lives of stray, wild animals. Currently, she is working at the Wildlife Genetics Division of Aaranyak. She believes stories can be bridges between science and society.

This incident has been observed as part of the study under the project ‘Urban Ecology — nonhumans in the urban’, funded by the ERC Horizon 2020 Grant

Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth