amir, 75

Whil’ de win’ up here’s a-blowin’, / ’Weh down Souf / De corn is sweetly growin’, / ’Weh down Souf. / Dey tells me here ub freedum, / But I ain’t a-gwine to heed um, / But I’se gwine fur to lebe um, / Fur ’weh down Souf.
Daniel Webster Davis, ’Weh Down Souf

Amir chortles with delight when I ask him if his dogs have names. It is a silly question for him: of course they don’t. Later, when one walks over to share my lunch, I notice that his ears are just stubs. The family had cut off the two dog’s ears because they used to bite each other’s. Such is a dog’s life. It is quite remarkable to find a dog in a village in Oman, but if you look closer you will find that many Bedu, as well as other Shawawi have no problems about caring for them. The next time you’re around Jebel Shams, visit Al Khatim, at the start of the ‘rim walk’ and you’ll hear the barking. Rashid and Amir got both of theirs from a wadi near Al Hamra, and brought them up to guard the goats and chickens from mountain wolves and foxes, and the occasional wanderer, although the prospect of a mountain thief is a remote one.

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