<text>  In Cubas socialist wonderland even the stray dogs are issued with identification cards and provided with state sponsored accommodation and health care. More than a dozen state institutions have adopted a stray dog, which is then issued with an official state identity card bearing its photograph name and where it lives. Five of the dogs live at Old Havanas Museum of Metalwork and regularly patrol the streets after hours. When not patrolling, each of the dogs can be found sleeping underneath the institutions grand stairway. Vladimir the former street dog now lives at the Old Havana Museum of Metalwork in Havana, Cuba . Each of the street dogs is given an official identity badge with its photograph and contact details . Security Guards Dary Valdes, left, and Margarita Garcia, right, enjoy looking after their unusual colleagues . The dogs, Vladimir, Canela, Aparicio, Leon and Carinoso spend the days avoiding the hot Caribbean sun among the museums artworks. All of the dogs afforded the special status are immune from the attentions of Havanas dog catcher. Yarisbel Perez, who works in one of the historic buildings in Plaza Vieja, in the centre of the old city, said: I dont like dogs but Ive really developed a soft spot in my heart for them. Ms Perez and her colleagues are responsible for two dogs, Nina and P9, who is named after a bus line in the city. Ms Perez feed her dogs half-eaten pork chips and left-over chicken and rice from a nearby restaurant. Ordinarily, all animals are banned from workplaces in Cuba with the exemption of guard dogs. Nora Garcia, President of the Cuban Association for the Protection of Plants and Animals said the dogs were afforded their special status after a guard was awoken one night by a barking dog who noticed some people were looking to steal an air conditioning unit. Guard Yarisbel Perez said she did not initially like the dogs but has since developed a soft spot for them . The dogs are afforded special protection from Havanas dog catcher because of their security role . Leon, Canela, Vladimir and Aparicio pictured are four of the five dogs at the metalwoork museum . Ms Garcia said: There was a public ceremony in which the dog received an award for saving the air conditioners. Some security guards adopt the dogs to alleviate the boredom of protecting buildings in a city with little crime. Victoria Pacheco, who works in the metalwork museum said: They dont eat bones. They eat cold cuts, mincemeat, hotdogs and liver. The animal protection society maintains a list of 21 dogs living in state institutions, including a Communist Party gas station, offices of the Cuban Journalists Union and a mechanical workshop of the Ministry of Public Health. Dalia Garcia, caretaker of a public toilet has taken responsibility for two of the dogs. They stay here and nothing happens to them. Everyone takes care of them, no one hits them. They dont bark and they dont bite anyone. Each of the dogs is provided with free healthcare and accommodation by the state institutions invovled . Dogs without the special name tag face being detained by the dog catcher and possibly destroyed . Other dogs havent been so lucky, including a group snatched by the dogcatcher from Havanas University of Arts while their student protectors were home on vacation, Garcia said. Theyre official for us but the state doesnt always look so kindly on them, she said. When they come and say there cant be any dogs here, they have to go. Similarly sad fates await street dogs who arent chosen for special treatment by state workers, including some of the dogs who wander, matted and skinny, through groups of quasi-official dogs on the streets of Old Havana. Sometimes we feel bad and we give them something to eat, Perez said. But if we start taking care of all of them, it would get to be a zoo around here. 