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At a neighborhood meeting on street dogs in Vadodara, a city of two million people in the Indian state of Gujarat, residents complained that the dogs were stealing shoes left on racks outside their homes .

One woman said that unfortunately, the dogs preferred new shoes, and that she had lost three pairs. I was there with Faizan Jalil, a social psychologist and the head of community engagement for Asia and Africa for the Humane Society International. He had organized this group and others like it as part of a program to improve human interactions with street dogs.

He posed a question to the group in Hindi, causing laughter and nods of recognition at a point well made. What he had said, he explained to me, was that certainly the dogs were at fault for the first theft. But when it happens three times, he said, “Who is to blame?” They agreed it was not the animals.