French Dog Handling

[oksaradt]

Here's a challenge to those that feel their dogs are obedience trained. While waiting to catch my high-speed train in Paris to Lyon, I observed not less than 7 dogs with their owners. Only one handler had a lead on her dog, a young boxer. This was not a quiet sedate train station, this was five large trains coming and going every 20 minutes or so, two levels, thousands of people milling about, lots of food stands, cafes, and restaurants. These did not appear to be champion stock, but terriers, briards.....not one poodle... on average small dogs. There were no people calling the dogs from their owners to see the cute doggy. The dogs were considered just another part of the crowd. It was not uncommon for a dog to be laying by itself outside a cafe till the owner came back out and walked off. I watched two owner/dog pairs do this and the owner never called the dog. The owner walked out, the dog smelled it's owner, got up and followed.
One dog appeared to be walking up some stairs by itself till I realized the old gentelman coming up the escalator was the owner. The dog made it up first and was waiting to continue with its owner.


1) No one worried that someone would take their dog.

2) No one (not even children) messed with anyone else's dog.

3) No one worried about the dog being a threat....yea, saw a pitbull as well.

There were open doors from the train station where any dog could have run out into the busy streets outside or down into the subways. It did not appear to be a necessary concern.

Not until I got to Saint Tropez, an upscale harbor where those that want to be seen go to be seen, did I see an ADT. The owners were American and the dog was out front on a tight lead.

Say what you want about their politics, the French were doing dogs right. This type of dog ownership was typical through out the country. I never saw a dog get harshly handled in the week's time I was there. The dogs left by themselves on lead simply had the lead draped to the side, not tied.


Now, they could learn something about cleaning up dog feces rather than wait for the street cleaner to take care of it each night. Americans definitely (as a whole) have a lot to learn about our expectations of obedience work.

Just something to think about.


Jim

[terrierlvr]

Yes, things are quite different on the other side of the pond, aren't they?
In general, dogs are more treated like dogs than here. I think this is universal everywhere in Europe and the British Isles, although there are surely many overindulged dogs seen, mostly in the big cities. There are also more than a fair share of dogs treated no so nicely. Dogs who live a life on the end of a chain, never really getting any personal attention at all. They are fed and watered, but more important than being denied any real human attention, they lack any job. So there is a down side to a dog's life on the other pond side. Without question, dogs are better behaved there. It is always a fascination to me how learned the dogs are about their own environment. I never tire of watching the local town dogs who, to the casual observer, might appear as a stray. Many or most are not. They know exactly where they are, where they are going, and what they shall do. Most are totally indifferent to strangers and not the least bit interested in attention.
My most vivid memory was from a number of years ago, in a small community in northern England, where I was all excited to see my primary breed at that time, the Wire Fox Terrier. This dog was NOTHING like I had ever seen here, and of course being young and stupid, I was disappointed in his lack of interest in me. Weren't ALL dogs, particularly terriers, supposed to be happy to see people, jump on them, try to follow them, be a bit of an annoyance? My dogs were, back in those days. Not this fellow. He hung out in the town square.......he owned the town square. He watched all who went by, all who had something worthy of his attention, and everybody and everything else- he ignored. I had never seen such a calm and respectful terrier. Lessons to be learned from these dogs. Always interesting to see a slice of life somewhere else. Welcome back. Bonnie