Dogs I have met in my travels

Dogs are man's best friend, much more so than any other animal. More useful than cats as can be seen by glancing to the right at the career opportunities listed for dogs. It is the Europeans, more particularly the Anglo-Saxons, who have realized this potential for dogs in helping mankind achieve a better life. Other cultures lag beyond in this regard. The Arab and some Asian cultures do not fraternize much with dogs.

I am fairly ignorant of dog breeds, so I will describe them like ordering coffee, e.g., small black, or large white etc. This small biege dog is taking me for a walk at a backpackers in South Africa, near the Drakensbergs mountains. He has a great life showing all the visitors the wonderful scenery. (Click on foto to enlarge it).

This dog is a pedigree Rhodesian Ridgeback which is on a walk with me above the Mt Lebanon Park backpackers, also in the Drakensberg region of South Africa. The Ridgebacks have a peculiar hair ridge to their back. Originally they were a hunting dog and good for chasing lions. On my first visit to this backpackers I was greeted by 3 magnificent specimens. Next visit a year later they were no more. Gone to stay with Uncle Fred, it's rumoured, for they started chasing the neighbour's sheep. Bad luck for them.

This is a toy dog with wheels. It is an exhibit in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Well, you may say, what's so important about that? It illustrates that the Aztecs and Mayans had dogs and put wheels on their toys, but wheels on nothing else. No wheel barrows or drays or chariots. All their pyramids were built without the aid of wheels, by human beasts of burden, and llamas with the Incas. The Spanish conquistadores brought with them horses and the marvelous invention of the wheel. The thought gap from toy dog with wheels to the wheel barrow was not bridged in ancient Latin America.

This small white dog is a pet dog that likes to go to the pub with his master. The pub is on the south coast of South Africa at Mossel Bay.

Obviously a watch dog. This little white dog lived at an hospedaje (guesthouse, Casa Teresa) I was staying at in Puerto Natales, which is a seaport in the fiordland part of Chile. He knew everybody that stayed in the house and walked along the street. It was a shame he wasn't allowed to go walkies with the guests.

The water spout dog on a building in Guanajuato, Mexico. The chain guides the rain water away from the side of the building. Why don't we have them in dry South Australia? Answer, too many regulations in a nanny state.
I shall add more dogs as I find fotos of them. Cheers, Allano