It's A Dog's World

Or at least it is here in Buenos Aires, Argentina .. where Everyone has a perro, regardless of the size of their home and the size of the dog. 
In fact, we see people with 4 dogs or One huge dog, a Great Dane ? a Mastiff ?? German Shepherds, Giant Schnauzers, Rottweilers, Dobermans, little Schnauzers, Poodles, but only little ones, Pup is the only Big one in the country ... or at least in the city. Leading him to be a "movie star" some days. Those days when we walk down the street and we are stopped 5 times in one block by people asking, What breed is your dog ? When we tell them, they say .. Get Outtahere ! ... not really but they all say with surprise, A Caniche ?? Caniche Grande !! Enorme !! 


And he eats it all up .. Want to pet my dog ? go ahead, everyone else does. 
Really, everyone does. 
They take their babies and pet him with the babies hands... some babies giggle, some look a bit terrified ... wondering why is mommy going to feed me to that huge hairy animal ??


And Pup ? well. . Pup loves it. He loves them. 
He loves babies, he loves other dogs and he loves old people who gently give him a pat or two and talk about the dog they used to have and how much they loved it .. they baby talk him and  he stares into their eyes and I swear he knows exactly what is going on .. he is as gentle as he can be with a tiny elderly lady who will tell him how beautiful he is and how she had a dog when she was a girl and he looks like he knows exactly what she is saying.


Every day, played out over and over , it touches me and warms the heart .. he is my own furry Good Will Ambassador .

There is a lady here  with 2 collies.. Lassie and Lassie Jr ( I named them-did you guess ?) .. beautiful dogs. 
This family had a nice big apartment and then the crisis in 2001 hit and they had to move into a small apartment. Parents, two teenagers and Lassie and Lassie Jr , who need a room of their own, an apartment of their own ! 
Some days you will see Lassie Jr out on the terrace, I guess that is the "time out" space" ? 


There is a man with 2 Staffordshire Terriers. ( Pitt bulls ) 
They are impressive looking, red , big,  yellow eyes, scary.
The man walks them without a leash .. these dogs walk beside him like his shadows. 
He stops, they stop. He crosses the street, they are right beside him, we come along, the dogs sometimes glance at us, but they keep right beside the man.
I considered asking him to give Pup a few lessons  ...


Pup tends to walk me .. I am at the end of his leash, I go where he wants to go .. most of the time. 
Although I can let him off his leash and he will stay with me.. he is trained but I am a lazy taskmaster, he is my bebe, I let him get away with things.


Those Pitt Bulls don't get away with anything ... phew !


And then there are the terriers, little, noisy, they come after Pup like rabid squirrels, making all sorts of racket and acting like they will tear him to pieces. 
Pup always looks startled and kind of hops around, the way I would if they were mice .. but then he gets all silly and runs, thinking they will play with him.
They are all fierce and   he thinks they are just squeaky toys.


Today we went to the park, then because it was just such a beautiful day, we kept walking.
We ended up at a cafe on the corner where we could sit outside .. and Pup was welcome.
Every time the waitress came to our table, she would pet Pup  .. it was sweet, here is your coffee, pat pat , here is your sandwich .. pat pat ... here is your bill ... pat pat ... Pup will watch for her next time we go by that cafe.. they definitely clicked.


And then there are the dog walkers.
Men and women  walking with a dozen dogs on leashes. 
The dogs know what order to walk in, they all stay in step, they are quiet. 
They sometimes will cover the sidewalk.. then there are the cute ones, the girl who walks only  black Cocker Spaniels.. the man who walks only Golden Retrievers and the guy who walks German Shepherds and some other huge dogs that I avoid even looking at ..


I don't like the dog walkers that much .. I have seen too many large groups of dogs left tied to a fence for too long in the sun while the walker is napping or gone somewhere .. leaving the dogs alone. I see them not paying enough attention to the dogs and who needs them if the dogs are not being paid attention to ?? 

Yes, it is a Dog's World here.. 
Pup and his girlfriend .. she went back home.. her family was the Ambassador from Armenia

Nuthin more fun that Pups in the Park .. and Pups on the boardwalk on Puerto Madero

This lady saw us just the other day, coming towards her with Pup .. she loudly complained and grumbled because the rule is, if they see someone coming with a dog, they have to move.. so she had to get all of her dogs off the sidewalk so we could pass her.  It is a good rule, most times, the dogs could care less but there are some days that I will cross the street to avoid passing some of these huge groups of dogs. 
But  ... that's Buenos Aries, where it is a Dogs World ~


Thanks to google images for the dog walker photos ..