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Canine Amour
| Article
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16000 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
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7 / 1989 |
1,253 Words |
| Author
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Pierre Emmanuel
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PARIS-"If Man is truly the king of creation, the dog is, without exaggerating, at the very least the baron," according to Alphonse Allais, a turn of the century French humorist and social commentator. That is a typical expression of the esteem the French have for their dogs. French dogs are excluded from virtually no family activity, including the ultimate in French conviviality--an outing to the market or restaurant.
One day I stuck my head inside a neighborhood bakery with my longhaired dachshund on his leash and asked, "Should I tie him up outside?"
"No, poor thing. He won't do any harm," came the salesgirl's indulgent reply. "Keep him in your arms if you insist" (that is, on following the rules).
Dogs are even welcome at work. A secretary once put me on notice that I had the choice between accepting her gray toy poodle, ensconced on his pillow in the entryway, or finding another secretary. "You can't expect me to make her stay home alone all day" was her argument, allowing no refutation. A former editor of the International Herald Tribune in Paris went so overboard that he also brought his Great Dane, named Baron, to sit under his desk every day. Baron was polite and stayed out of the city room, but he was not shy about sniffing journalists who went in to ask for raises.
While nobody can say exactly how many dogs there are in France (there are no dog licenses), it is likely that France has the world's largest proportion of dogs to humans, except for the United States.
Dog food manufacturing is one of France's fastest growing businesses. The leading American pet-food makers have invested heavily in France for nearly a decade and have seen the French dog food market double and redouble as the French accepted without a growl the idea that table scraps were not good enough for medor (the French equivalent of fido).
The French spent just over $30 million on pet food in 1970 and more than $300 million last year. That is for canned food alone; it does not include meat bought from the butcher and other human food specially prepared at home. The average French dog's food costs $335 a year, while a French cat's food costs only $135.
Some restaurants and hotels do ban dogs, but such unfriendly behavior is so rare hat the country's leading tourist
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