My dog eats poo. This upsets me a great deal. I sometimes console myself with the fact that she’s picky about it. Here on the sidewalks of Budapest she has a regular smorgasbord to choose from, and only rarely does she find the variety of poo she enjoys. But when she does…
If I don’t watch her, she’ll dive right in. It makes me unreasonably angry. And she knows that. She waits for the moments when I’m distracted. When I catch her in the act she gets all meek, ears pinned down and the puppy-dog eyes. But my anger often overwhelms me, and I scold her in horribly broken Hungarian.
I’ve read about it online, and there doesn’t seem to be anything horribly wrong with it… except for the fact that my dog puts feces in her mouth. I don’t think I can ever accept that.
Of course that’s not the only trouble spot on walks here in the city, but I can’t blame Szóda for this next one. The Hungarian population has to shoulder the responsibility for this. See, here in Budapest the residents seem to think littering is something of a competition. There are different categories within the sport of littering, just like ice-skating. Some compete for sheer volume, lugging entire boxes of trash out into the street and dumping these boxes out across the sidewalk. Others compete for style points. I found (actually Szóda found this one) a traditional Hungarian open-faced sandwich, rustic white bread spread with lard and topped with thinly sliced red onions, placed neatly on top of a fire hydrant. Perhaps this person thought it less like littering if the sandwich doesn’t touch the ground. I’m comfortable saying that it is not only littering, it is a worse form of littering because the offending sandwich is closer to my face. Still others compete in the covert-littering event, finding little corners and holes to tuck their trash in. This trash remains almost out of sight, but not to a dog. And there is the problem.
Aside from knocking the quality of life down a notch, these people are making my dog-walks a pain in the ass. I am constantly yanking the leash in order to keep Szóda’s face away from trash and poo. The city cleans the tourist areas everyday, but my street gets cleaned only once a week. And that cleaning isn’t cutting it. I try to pick up what I can, but there is an issue of hygiene to be considered in some/most cases.
So, for Szóda the walks have become a time when she’s thinking, “I bet I could eat that. I bet I could eat that. I bet I could eat that. I bet I could eat that. I bet I could eat that.” while I scold her and pull her away from all she would eat. I hope she doesn’t hold it against me.
8 comments:
perhaps the Hungarians need a anti littering campaign like the one in Texas. "don't mess with Hungary". wait that might spite old GW into declaring Hungary a terrorist nation, which of course would lead to a solid warring.
Waitaminute! A poo-eating dog story elicits an anti-Bush response?! What possible connection is there between Hogan's posting and Bradley's comment? If that story made you think of W, well that's just creepy.
Despite Bradley's recent b-day, I'm going to have to side with Dan on this one. I'm not siding with El Presidente, but I'll admit that Bradley is reaching a bit on that one. Non sequitur is one thing, but Brad, come on. You read like some Austin-based lefty... Oh, wait, you are an Austin based lefty. How's Austin?
About problem of your dog,
It's more of a mental thing then a physical thing. Very rarely can be not right nutrients in a dog food. Boredom or being crated for long periods of time such as dogs that live in apartments can cause a dog to eat it's own fecal matter. Most dogs want a clean and seprate place to be and when they forced to, they will resort to eating it, Then it can become a habit. Some times a lack of something in their diet forces them do it they are trying to gain the small amount of nutrients left in the feces especially after and before pregnancy. Try switching to a better quality food such as Innova Evo or Canidae.
And have a look at this: http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/petcolumns/showarticle.cfm?id=166
Try carrots. They're suppose to help with the poo-eating.
What words... super, a magnificent phrase
Precisely in the purpose :)
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