AMRRIC runs on a lot of heart and a little bit of money.

“Dogs of the English breed have also been perceived in considerable numbers with the Natives, whose remarkable fondness for them is such, that they have been noticed to carry in their travels young pups which are unable to walk. That the rapid increase of these dogs must eventually prove injurious to the Natives as well as the Colony cannot be denied”.

So dogs are friends, ceremonies, totems. They’re keeping people warm and acting as security to wake people up, [for] old people sleeping, [watch out for] drunks. It’s a friend and a sacred animal. I said to Nana, ‘Nana, where am I going to camp? She said you got to camp in that humpy. The dogs will keep you warm.’ So I had ten dogs over me to keep me warm.

People get sick, not from nothing, that dog that’s the problem. Sick dog gets on beds, table, well kids go there too and get sick, runny nose, scratching, not only kid, man same.

Some people in my community have dogs that have been given to them by a special ceremony. There are ceremony ways of keeping dogs. I sing about dogs. I dance dogs. I hear dogs getting killed. Dogs are related to us. Dogs are family, but people in my community don’t know they carry disease.

AMRRIC’s work includes education as much as it does treatment of symptoms. It involves a form of community partnership that the Government is keen to encourage in resolving the health and social challenges facing Indigenous communities.

Dogs are important to our culture and we must recognise they are used for hunting… important for old people who have no family, they keep people warm, they protect family from others, they are alert and can smell traditional way and let people know someone has been around.

They generally seem to outnumber the people and are thin, lethargic and depressed. During the night they will keep you awake with noises and fighting and mating, and during the day you see the mess they have created through tipping over rubbish bins looking for food.