Of dogs and men

Choosing a dog is often a statement, but its behaviour can tell you much more about the owner - this reflection occurred to me while wandering the hills of Valparaiso, Chile. In the previous post I state my observations about Chilean psyche in comparison to their Argentinian neighbours. I think my dog/men theory only reinforces them.

Dogs in Argentina are as friendly as one can imagine and the sample I base my observation on goes in hundreds. Parks in Buenos Aires during the day are full of dog walkers – each of them with at least four dogs, but often with as many as nine. In my three months in the city I never saw any fight between the dogs; on the contrary – they walk in harmony and enjoy the day together. Same goes for homeless dogs – they approach people in a very friendly and trustful way, without fear and almost always wagging their tails. I will write a separate post about Argentinians, but safe to say for now that they are the most relaxed and easy-going people I have ever met in my travels. However, on a related topic, here you can read why I think Buenos Aires is the coolest city on planet Earth.

My observations of Chilean dogs (in Santiago and Valparaiso) are based on a much smaller sample, but the difference was striking. I was usually barked at or approached cautiously. I have also seen dogs chasing and barking at cars and cyclists – not something happening much across the Andes. I do not intend to draw any far-fetched conclusions from these, only, observations. Neither I am suggesting that Chileans are unfriendly or not to be trusted – dogs in Poland behave much more like dogs in Valparaiso, if not worse. I just think that the life of Chileans is more stressful than that of their eastern neighbours and the dogs end up affected.

To explore my dog/men theory further I reminded myself my experiences with the homeless dogs in Athens, which were roaming the parks in visible numbers before the Olympics. They were largely harmless and cautiously friendly but I was never quite sure how they might react – there seemed to be a dark side to them waiting to be unleashed in response to improper behaviour. Greeks, likewise, are really friendly people, but also very impulsive. At first, their way of speaking (voice and gestures) gave me the impression that they were always arguing and the exchange of punches was never far away. That made me feel uneasy, until I realised that this was just the way they converse. Coming back to Poland; it is mandatory to keep the dogs on leash and homeless dogs are captured and put in dog pounds – quite fitting for a country where the majority of people declare that a person they don't know should generally not be trusted.