Dogs in Florence ? Flo'N The Go

By Margaret Suren (Kent State University)

Dogs have been man?s best friend since the cavemen. They used them to hunt and protect themselves. Now we keep pets to keep ourselves company. Few people in the world still use dogs to their breeding use, some have even gotten twisted. Of that few, the dogs are used for such as agility and beauty competitions.? Bottom line is that we love our dogs. Big, small, pretty, and ugly, the dog as become part of the family. But is there a difference between the American family dog and the Italian?

Based off of my observations of living in Florence, Italy for almost three months now, I?ve notice that the canine pet is more welcomed every where.? If someone was walking their dog down the street and wanted to grab a caffe, they didn?t have to tie their dog outside to go in. On more than one occasion I?ve walked into a store and found a small dog sleeping behind the counter.? On my way to school, I pass a jewelry shop and every morning there is a small black dog watching me as I walk by.

I have only seen a few shops with the sign posted on the door that reads ?No Dogs Allowed,? but I feel like they only appear on the big name shops like Coin and H&M or at grocery stores where an obvious health risk is present.

In America there are few stores that let you take a dog inside and those are 95% pet shops. Every where you see the symbol of ?No Pets Allowed.?? They even have restrictions on what type of pet you can have in your own house.? In my home town, anything over 100 pounds or a bull terrier such as a pit bull, was against the law of the city.

This isn?t to apply that the American people don?t love there dogs. In fact the American dream is probably 2.5 kids and a pet dog with a white picket fenced in yard.? We have multiple of animal organizations, some just dedicated to saving dogs from abusive owners. Some are for rescuing certain breeds from over breeding or extinction. Further investigation is needed to learn about what kind of rescue organizations Italy has.

Also before moving here, I was expecting to see only a certain kind of dog breed.? I thought Italians might only have the small, lap dogs like Italian Greyhounds or Yorkshire terriers. But I have seen a wide variety of them. I have seen the small ones but I have also seen dogs as big as Labradors. In Venice I saw two Birmese Mountain dogs.? Big sized dogs were not what I assumed I might see here in Florence but by observing the community I soon learned that it was just a misconception.

It might be just a culture shock for me because I?ve always lived in a small town. Moving to Florence, I knew I was going to see different things but I wasn?t expecting to see any pet differences.? My observations could also be wrong, maybe it is the same here in Italy as it is in America. Maybe if I had visited a big city such as New York, I would?ve seen similar behavior.

Growing up, I?ve never been without a dog. Even when I went to college I saw my two every other weekend. Since moving here, it has been the longest I?ve ever gone without some sort of pet. When I plan for the future,? I always add in a dog because I automatically assume I?ll have one. It has become such a norm for me to be with one that I will FaceTime my mother just so I can say hi to my puppies. I might miss them more than my actual family.? I am soon learning that man?s best friend is celebrated and loved? everywhere.

Source: http://www.flonthego.com/2012/lifestyle/11-28/dogs-in-florence/

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