quote:
last summer studying in ankara, aroud the METU campus, the strays were VICIOUS. big nasty fellas, too. interesting that they were so friendly in fethiye.
i would say that, on average, dogs are cooler than people.
I didn't have any problems in Istanbul either - in most places I've been with strays, including India, they are more afraid of people than anything else. I've found that if I leave them alone they don't bother me.
In Turkey, it could also be connected to the neuter and return programs - in Fethiye and Istanbul there are relatively well organized programs, and neutering dogs makes them less territorial and (partly because of that)less agressive. It also does actually help control the stray population much more efficively than other methods used in the past, or in some countries still.