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Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE
Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com.
Mexican dogs stir nothing
but sympathy

   On my recent vacation in Mexico I discovered once again, to my relief, that I do not hate dogs. I say “to my relief” because it pains me to be viewed by others and even by myself as a dog-hater. I feel so base and mean-spirited, knowing that here in my homeland it is considered a sign of good character to be enamored of dogs, to make a fuss over them, to delight in being licked on the face by them, to buy health insurance for them, to put them on your lap when driving a car, to buy Christmas presents for them, and so forth and so on, all of which stirs in me a primitive revulsion.
   So I get up in the morning and look at myself in the mirror sometimes and say, “You’re a dog-hater,” the way a heavy drinker might say ruefully, “You’re an alcoholic.”
   So Mexico did me good.
   There are lots of dogs in Mexico, including on the streets of Mexico City, and I didn’t hate any of them, with the possible exception of a tiny one that was on leash and was wearing a coat. The rest were not on leashes but were wandering unattended and doing their best to stay out of the way of humans, which is the first thing that makes them sympathetic in my book. If you’re walking down a street in Mexico City or in Patzcuaro or anyplace else and a dog is in your path, it does not bark menacingly at you, does not rush up to sniff your privates, and does not jump on you and try to lick your face. It gets out of the way, which seems to me right and proper, for a dog.
   You know how it’s impossible to shoo an American dog? Some fl uffy immaculately groomed specimen will wander onto your lawn, and you wave your arms and shout something like “Huh!” trying to make it leave, and the dog just ambles up to you and starts sniffi ng. Probably no one in its experience has ever tried to shoo it before, so it has no experience in that department. It thinks you want to give it a Christmas present or play Frisbee with it.
   In Mexico if you make even a slightly menacing gesture or sound, the dog scoots. The idea of a dog approaching an unknown person as American dogs are constantly straining to do, against their leashes, is really unthinkable.
   Then too the dogs that you see on the streets of Mexico are not exactly immaculately groomed. They tend to have at least one major skin disease, as evidenced by the bare patches on their hides, not to mention pus oozing out the corner of an eye, and ribs showing prominently through the mange. And they generally limp, too.
   I would look at those animals skulking warily around market stalls, trying to scavenge a scrap of nutriment while avoiding a kick, and my heart would go out to them.
   “I do not hate dogs,” I said proudly to my wife at one point, gesturing at a cluster of them. “I just hate American dogs.”

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If you’re walking down a street in Mexico City or in Patzcuaro or anyplace else and a dog is in your path, it does not bark menacingly at you, does not rush up to sniff your privates, and does not jump on you and try to lick your face. It gets out of the way, which seems to me right and proper, for a dog.

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If you’re walking down a street in Mexico City or in Patzcuaro or anyplace else and a dog is in your path, it does not bark menacingly at you, does not rush up to sniff your privates, and does not jump on you and try to lick your face. It gets out of the way, which seems to me right and proper, for a dog.

Just like rats and squirrels....treat and animal like an animal and it behaves as such and we regain our position of higher species....too bad the sex offenders dont behave like mexican dogs.....