Stockholm Syndrome

The 29-Day Blogging Challenge: D is for Dogs

Having a wee bout of writer’s block about today’s post, I went for a wander and found myself in my wife’s office. “What am I going to write about today?” Dilapidated old buildings? Detritus? Determination (or the lack thereof)? Deoxyribonucleic acid? I was at a loss. “Dogs,” she suggested. A simple, straight-forward, monosyllabic solution. Fine. Dogs it is.

Sweden is teeming with dogs. It is not at all uncommon to see dogs on the subway, busses, in malls, or waiting patiently for their humans outside a store. They scamper around in the parks, trot merrily on the sidewalk, and just about anywhere there’s a swath of open space and a bush on which to pee. In the winter they might be dolled up in kitschy jackets and boots. I even saw one a few weeks ago wearing a knitted red sweater, red woolen booties, and a red polar-fleece scarf. Pimp, doggie style. Swedes evidently love their dogs – perhaps a throwback to the old herding days when dogs were not merely companions but essential members of the family or community, used to lead sleds, round up reindeer, and keep away intruders. This is definitely a dog-friendly culture, as evidenced by their seamless inclusion in society and the acceptance of their presence damn near everywhere.

The diversity of breeds goes beyond the traditional Scandinavian Elk Hounds, Lapphunds, Vallhunds, and (surprisingly) Beagles. Swedes have opened their hearts and homes to every manner of dog – some big, some small, some purebred, some mutt-mixed concoctions that defy categorization. In our apartment building alone we have Jack Russles, Pugs,  Labs, some sort of Collie-looking thing, and a few others I can’t accurately describe. Around town you see people with Dachshunds, Chihuahuas (Chihuhuae?), Poodles, German Shepherds, Boxers, Shar Peis, any number and variety of beast prancing happily along ignoring the street noise, squealing children, and other dogs’ butts. And these all have human companions – I’ve yet to see any stray dogs (or cats for that matter) but I’m sure they’re out there, politely inquiring to passers-by if they might have a spare morsel to share.

What struck me most when I first moved here is that these dogs all seem to be incredibly well socialized, quiet, personable (if one can say that about a dog), and behaved. I’ve often commented that my bus commute would be much more tolerable if only children were as well adjusted and inconspicuous (and if not, at least leashed and muzzled) as the four-legged passengers. It’s as if these dogs have been specifically bred to pop out fully trained, people-friendly, and quietly integrate into the two- and four-legged population. Either that or it’s Swedish law to have all puppies enter a rigorous training regimen when they’re strong enough to stand on their own four paws.

Jill and I both grew up with dogs and absolutely love them. We love cats, too, but if we have to classify ourselves as one or the other, we’re definitely dog people. I read an interesting article about a research study into people’s affinity for dogs or cats and the correlation to certain personality types. It states, “About 4,500 participants answered questions that measured their personality inclinations in five areas: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. These five dimensions have been shown in previous research to encompass most personality traits. They also indicated whether they considered themselves cat people, dog people, both or neither. It turns out that the “dog people” — based on how people identified themselves, not on what animals they actually own — tend to be more social and outgoing, whereas “cat people” tend to be more neurotic but “open,” which means creative, philosophical, or nontraditional in this context.” As with most spectral measurements, I’m on the cusp of both categorizations, as is Jill to a similar degree. But were we to have the appropriate lifestyle and living arrangement to choose, we’d definitely get a dog – not a wee little yappy thing, and not a big slobbering beast (although I do love Saint Bernards) – something in the middle, like an Elk Hound, Shiba Inu, Lab, or even – and this might take some convincing on my part – a sheep dog. Until then, the most we have time, energy, and space for is a hedgehog – who is awesome like a dog but self-sufficient and low maintenance like a cat, come to think of it. (More on that in a few days when we get to the letter H.)

There are a number of interesting and witty quote about dogs out there (yay Google!) and I’ll end off with but a few:

“Man is a dog’s idea of what God should be.” - Holbrook Jackson

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” - Will Rogers

“I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult.” - Rita Rudner

“Dogs need to sniff the ground; it’s how they keep abreast of current events. The ground is a giant dog newspaper, containing all kinds of late-breaking dog news items, which, if they are especially urgent, are often continued in the next yard.” - Dave Barry

And my personal favourite: “Outside of a dog, a book is probably man’s best friend; inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx

Previous posts: Introducing the 29-Day Blogging Challenge; A is for Anonymity; B is for Busses; C is for Canada

Report abuse »

This entry was posted on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 3:39 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.