Guide dogs for the drunk

A man came to see about an apartment for next winter this week. He owns lands in several areas of Mexico now, mostly too cold in high altitudes for him to winter there.
He saw Punta and told me a story of the days before Escondido was wired for electricity . When it was dark and time to stop drinking, the bar owners would send the gringos home with dogs marked much like Punta. Call them guide dogs for the over-served!
White paws, white tail tips, enough white throughout an otherwise black body, so the men would not step into a hole or fall in the dark. Just by watching the dog walk ahead of them. The gringos called them Faros, the word they thought was Spanish for flashlight. It is the word for lighthouse. Close, but no cigar. A cute story about dogs as lamparas por mano. Flashlight dogs!