138 - Dog

Theme 236.

I met this lovely dog on a street in the Montmartre area of Paris - he got up to say hello to me, then trotted back inside before coming right back out to keep his watch post outside the restaurant.

And a second one, this one with a little story. I was waiting for my parents outside Marks & Spencer in the city, and saw a guy standing with a dog, also waiting for someone. I thought I recognised the breed as a Basenji (here's the UK Breed Club, and here's the Wikipedia article)- I used to be a real nut for reading about dog breeds and training, you see. Anyway, I was a bit shy about asking. Thankfully, an idiot guy walked by, looking quite unkempt - he tore some off the sandwich he was eating and threw it on the floor, just in front of the dog.

Of course, the dog tried to pull forward to get it - after the owner had spent quite some time trying to get it to sit. Talk about not thinking or respecting! I stepped forward and kicked the food away from the dog, while the man (with difficulty) held the dog back, and thanked me. That broke the ice a little, so we started talking and I asked if the dog was a Basenji. The man was quite surprised I recognised the breed, as not many do - it's quite an unusual and little known breed.

Turns out the man and his wife had lived in America for a bit, and during the time, they'd dog sat for someone with a Basenji, which introduced them to the breed. When they got back here, they bought one themselves. He's called Tiggles for short [rotfl] - it was quite a long name after a Persian king I think but they shortened it to Tiggles.

We chatted, and agreed that as a breed, they're not the easiest to train - hence his difficulty to get Tiggles to sit. It wasn't a reflection on the owner's lack of effort at all. They're quite an aloof breed, imagine the affection you get from a cat sometimes ;-) But that the breeder had done a good job of socialising all their puppies. He also said Tiggles gets separation anxiety, so one of them has to stay with the dog outside the shop (and he nips the person when they return!). Fun fact for you - they don't bark, they yodel. It took a while of us talking, but eventually Tiggles got impatient and let out quite an odd sounding howl/yodel!

I would've thought they'd be an expensive breed to buy, being pedigree and rare - but the guy said they're less than a pedigree Labrador or Golden Retriever, because the demand isn't there. There were even puppies spare in the litter they bought from. It's funny, I always thought they were bigger in size, more like Labrador/Golden Retriever size (I'd only seen pictures in books). But they're actually more like Cocker Spaniel size.

I only had my mobile phone camera with me (1 megapixel), but this was one of the ones I took:

And this is a more general photo:

They're similar to the Pharoah Hound - and a fun fact about the Pharoah Hound, is that its nose changes colour when it's ill!