Dinner last week at the Auberge des Carmes in Lauzerte.
I’m posting this picture because the City of North Vancouver is spending money to create a new 'dog strategy'. My suggestion: dogs in restaurants.
I’ll admit that these two were not the best behaved dogs in the world, but they were happy, and any blame rests with their owner. That, at least, is a universal problem.
Overall though dogs in restaurants, dogs in stores, dogs in bars, just isn’t an issue. For that matter, the lack of leash laws also doesn’t seem to be a big deal. I’ll admit though that the French don’t seem too interested in picking up after their dogs…
We’ve had some interesting discussions with (non-French) people we’ve met. Certainly French attitudes to animals are quite different. Dogs seem to fall into two groups: those who live most of their lives outdoors, and those who live in a purse. You just don’t hear the baby-talk that so many North Shore dog-owners use when communicating with their dogs. Instead it’s mostly very businesslike and direct.
Cats are a whole other thing. They are everywhere. Whether they are strays, or just pets that live outdoors is a mystery to me, but along with wandering cats in every part of every town, you see bowls of cat food and water on front stoops and window-sills all over the place.
In all seriousness, the car dealer who sold us our Hyundai feeds the car lot cat just outside the door to the sales office.
The one real negative that we have heard about are the hunting dogs. Hunting is big in France, very big, with groups of chasseurs and their dogs in the forests for many months of the year, chasing deer and boars. Because they have a legal or perhaps assumed right to go anywhere they like, it’s not unusual for rural homeowners to find a group of loud, aggressive dogs charging over their properties.
And, these days, they seem to be managing to shoot random people on a regular basis.
It’s worth noting that they also maintain the time honoured North American style of wearing camouflage AND a hi-viz vest….
Chuckling at the camo/hi visibility vest combo. You nailed that.
Some of the best meals I've had abroad are the ones in which I couldn't tell you a stitch about the food not the service for that matter, yet can vividly tell you the colour, breed and delightful nature of the animals that were present. Glad to see you concur.