I had the pleasure of
visiting Louisville Kentucky: a beautiful city on the banks of the Ohio River. The views of the river were spectacular for
this gal who has a wonderment of the water.
Louisville’s old Architecture and history can be seen on nearly every
street blending with the new. Of course
being the home of Churchill downs and smack down in horse country, many things
have a horse theme. What I didn’t see were
dogs. Where were the dogs?
In a city of 700k+ someone has to own a dog right? I live in a small town of 42k (maybe, I am
not going to bore you with statistics) When I go to the market on Saturday morning
there are people there walking 2 and 3 dogs. Many have more dogs than children. ( I have to concede that we have a large
student population)
As we were walking along the city streets of Louisville last
week, I asked my Significant Other (SIG)“Where are the dogs?” He answered “ It’s a city. People don’t own dogs in a city.” The discussion began.
Yes they do. We were obviously
in an apartment complex area: balconies filled with tables and planters, wind
chimes hanging from the railings, People strolling sidewalks for the
evening. No dogs in sight. In New York City a few years earlier people
appeared out of high rise buildings to walk their dogs. There were dogs everywhere. I had been impressed by these city dwellers
love of my favorite companion animal.
Louisville however had no dogs. A long walk by the river’s edge
the next morning, seemingly the perfect place to walk a dog proved this
again. Where were the dogs? Was there a city ordinance on dogs? Maybe, it
is horse country and they don’t want doggy germs infecting their prize horses. There wasn’t anyone taking their horse out
for an early morning potty break. There was the horse drawn carriage; that doesn’t
count. SIG pointed out that if he were
a landlord he wouldn’t allow pets of any kind in a high rise building. GASP.
That is sacrilege and very dangerous to say to a woman when walking
along a large river.
I grew up dogs. A
German Sheppard “Pal” was my first companion.
I was two. We still talk about
her. Our dog days continued after Pal,
sometimes we had 2 dogs at a time. Ivan:
the sneeze for a cookie English setter who liked to sit in the flower beds and
point bugs. There was Merlin, the German
Pointer a Houdini of the leash who ran faster than any Churchill down horse. I
could have used him last week to win some bets. The list could go on, but you
get it. I love dogs as does my family.
My youngest daughter always replies “a puppy” asked what she
wants for any gift. I have already decided not visit her when she is grown
because there will nowhere to sleep due to dog infestation. She needs to become a veterinarian and get
some of this out her system. Ha! In a recent phone conversation with my oldest
daughter, she was sending her husband sad songs because they had to put Lucy
the dog in the kennel for a weekend while they traveled. Lucy is her child and she misses her terribly
the instant she is gone. No one but a
dog owner can understand this.
And there’s my question again. Where were the dogs? I want to see dogs when I go somewhere. I need to walk up to dogs and scratch their
ears. I have to have my dog fix because
I am missing my dog so much. I have taken dogs on vacation with me, always
considering the situations. I understand
that dogs are not appropriate in all situations. My current canine has a
several considerations.
O’Keeffe is a small Border collie mix, doesn’t like buses,
large crowds and wants to lick all people for signs of stray food particles. This is sometimes annoying to strangers. We find it helpful when large spillage
occurs. See! Dogs can be useful in cities.
As a very biased dog owner, I obviously didn’t understand the
absence of dogs in Louisville. It was a
wonderful place to visit: Great sights,
good food, nice people, overabundance of Bourbon. Did I mention they make Bourbon nearby? As always it is nice to return to your children, home and dog!
There now O’Keeffe…. That’s a GOOD Dog!!!!
(Georgia O’Keeffe, Keeffe for short, was a “free puppy” in clothes
basket . I rescued/ adopted her 4 years
ago this weekend at an Art show thus the artsy name. She was from a litter a 8 and had not been
given proper care. She is extremely smart. A typical border collie, she has OCD, a ferocious
bark and a long list of tricks. We love
her to the moon and back. Best Free
money I ever spent! )
If you are looking for a pet, please consider a shelter
animal first.
Peace.
NEPB
