Who Let the Dogs Out...in Paris?

Hello all, hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day.. mine passed quite uneventfully here in Paris.  One of the kids I take care of was my little Valentine so that made the day a whole lot nicer :)

Anyway, my friend Volter (pronounced like the French philosopher Voltaire..which is great because he's in Paris for 3 months and people are loving the name) just got here a few weeks ago and pointed out that dogs are sometimes muzzled whereas in NY he doesn't recall seeing dogs with muzzles.  First of all, I think it's funny how these random topics come up between people who would normally never discuss something like dog muzzles/behavior.  But, c'est la vie when you're used to one thing and something done differently will usually always catch your eye.

So yes, you might not find this interesting, but I do...and it's my blog.  So there.

Dogs in New York are not crazy or anything.  Actually, most dogs in New York are pretty well behaved.  However, after seeing the dogs here in Paris, I think they all must have been trained by circus ring masters.  Half these dogs walk with their owner without a leash but still maintain a slow trot-- always remaining at their humans right side.  When they walk past another dog, another miracle happens: some dogs attempt to smell each other, but with one whistle and/or quick call from their owner, these dogs drop their noses and turn the other way.  I'm not lying...you have to come see it for yourself!

I guess the question is why would some be muzzled.  I've only seen bigger dogs muzzled and mostly on the metro.  I've never asked one of these muzzled dog owners why they do it, but from some simple analyzation I figure it's to avoid any sort of conflict with smaller dogs.  I think French people understand that if they want to get onto a smaller subway train car with a dog bigger than the size of a football, people would generally feel much better if the dog had a muzzle on.  It's just courtesy.

What isn't courteous is when these circus master dog owners forget to pick up after their dog.  New Yorkers are definitely a winner in this category.  I guess Parisians have the time and patience to train their dogs but not to pick up after them.  So be warned: if you come to Paris, be sure to watch your step!

Also, I see an average of two/three jack russell terriors a day here.  And they all seem to have the token brown spot over one eye.  Reminds me of that little guy Wishbone on PBS...maybe he moved to Paris and had lots of babies.....

bisous xoxox