The Dogs of Paris (13-19 February)

This "bonus" post is for you dog-lovers out there--Paris is as much a city of dogs as it is a wonderful agglomeration of culture, brasseries, and the Seine. Dogs are everywhere in Paris, inside and out, and we struck up more charming conversations with Parisians about their dogs than any other topic. On the occasions when I asked if I could take a photo, I always received the happiest, proudest "Oui!" and the owner would always do her best to make sure her dog looked at the camera in the cutest pose. What follows is just a mere sampling of the dogs we saw over seven days in Paris . . .

The first dog we saw was by far the largest we saw during our entire stay:

This next dog has a bit of a story behind him . . . we actually "met" him the last time we were in Paris in July 2005. We wandered into a courtyard full of shops and spotted him across the courtyard. He came waddling over to see who was calling him such a bon chien and Bob told him to "Sit!" in English and he just looked up at Bob with his cute corgi eyes, uncomprehending. When I asked him to do the same thing in French, he instantly sat: (I know it's a bit of cheating to post a photo from our last trip, but I figure it's good for context)Getting a Parisian dog to sit is still my crowning achievement in Paris. Anyway, we were in the neighbourhood, so we decided to see if Jean-Pierre (as we named him last time) was still around, and much to our delight, he was:

Not only was the Porte de Vanves flea market great for the knick-knack addict in me, it was also a great dog day:


Ah, glorious Monoprix: a great department store for cheap clothes, toiletries, and groceries--not to mention very obedient, patient dogs: We constantly saw dogs in shops, coming out of shops, or just about to go into shops.

There were, of course, the more conventional canine scenes:
This dog seemed bored by the expensive clothes in his shop and gazed steadily out toward the sunny day:
We met this dog at a bus stop, where Bob noticed the bag sitting on the bench was wiggling. When the dog's owner noticed we had seen her dog, she told us that she uses the bag to take her dog on the bus. When I asked if I could take a photo, she gleefully agreed, pushed the bag down so that more of her dog would be visible (unfortunately, I would have preferred the bag as it was, with just the dog's head peeking out, but still), and snapped her fingers and sang to her dog from behind me so he would look up:
The Porte de Montreuil flea market also had a few good dogs, including one of my longtime favourites, a Bernese Mountain dog,
but by far the best dog outing was the Bastille Market:




I especially liked how this dog sat directly on the merchandise his owner was selling that day. The man smiled at me and waved goodbye after I took a photo of his dog:
This dog appeared to be all alone in a shop at night. Bob decided that he was meant to be the shop's guard dog, but I thought that he was more the shop's oh-the-owner-must-be-a-very-nice-person-to-have-such-a-cute-dog-so-I-won't-rob-this-shop dog, since he didn't look like he would do too much damage if confronted:
Montmartre had plenty of nice dogs:

I'm especially pleased with this photo, since Montmartre was pretty busy on the day we were there and there are people on the sidewalk immediately to the left and the right of these dogs, but the photo makes it look like they're just out for a walk all on their own:
This Montmartre street was filled with aromatic shops--enough to make dogs want to go in different directions than their owners:
And back to Monoprix on another day (we had to get more chocolate after sampling their very inexpensive house "gourmet" brand) where I took this photo of the everyday-ness of dogs in shops:
This philosophy isn't limited to your bargain shops; expensive places are just as likely to house a dog or two and also welcome the dogs of their customers. This dog belongs to the Maille mustard boutique and was cute enough to distract me from the amazing variety of mustards and vinegars on the shelves:
To me, this next photo *is* Paris, plain and simple. Pedestrian bridge over the Seine: check. Lampposts and architecture typical of Paris: check. Outdoor brasserie tables, facing the street: check. Man sitting reading a book, without receiving any pressure to leave his table: check. Dog: check. Yup, it's Paris!

We met the owner of this dog outside the art gallery where it seemed he spent his days. She was coming to pick him up and he was very happy to see her; when I commented in French on how pretty and nice a dog he seemed to be, she began talking a mile-a-minute in French, with a big smile on her face. I missed most of what she said, and did a lot of head-nodding and smiling, but I did catch her enthusiastic reply that he was indeed very nice and that she loved him very much.

More than any other place I've been, dogs in Paris seem to be very nice indeed.