Well, I don't care that much about our chickens really, its not like I pet them or play with them. I just say good morning when I feed them, and I ask the hens why they are so lazy and tell them that they need to get to work laying eggs.
But I love having a puppy, and our cat... he's ok too I guess. (I'm definately a "dog person")
The idea of having a pet is kind of a foreign idea here. Animals are here to serve us, they have a job to do. Cats kill mice. Dogs guard the house. Although I do see some people bringing their dogs with them when they come into town with thier donkey carts, and there is this one nice lady who has a dog with short legs that she lets follow her to the schoolyard when she sells snacks to kids at break time. Ok, so let me try again - The idea of having a pet, as we think of a pet in the USA, is a foreign idea here.
Yeah, some people in the states just have a dog that stays outside and it isn't carried around in a purse or brought to the groomer or anything. But even the pet owner who just has an outside dog is spending some money on that dog - buying it "dogfood" and giving it a collar to wear I'm sure.
I lived in California for 3 years before coming to Africa, and I saw some extreme dog pampering there. Ok, I'll admit it, I myself did some extreme dog pampering there. I took my dog to the dog park several times a week, let him come on many errands with me, did obedience school, had his nails cut at the groomers, bought him several different collars (such cute designs!) and he even had a sweater to wear when it was cold out. Oh, and he slept on my bed (at the end of it.) Of course he ate a decent brand of dog food, bought in 40 pound sacks. And there were dog biscuits as a reward for doing a trick.
Everytime I step out of my gate I can see at least one dog roaming the street and scrounging for what ever food, or anything edible, it can find. Most dogs here are pretty skinny- they live off of whatever they can find, usually leftovers or spoiled food, and the rare bone to chew on. No crunchy kibble. People who struggle to feed their children certainly aren't going to spend money on food for a dog. The only dogfood I've seen here was in Bamako (7 hour bus ride away) at a nice store and was way too expensive, probably imported from France.
Some dogs have a collar made of rope. My puppy is currently wearing a piece of folded cotton fabric tied around his neck. When he stops growing I'll have my mom send a nice collar from the states.
So its been interesting trying to find our balance with our pets here. The dog and cat are both allowed in the house, but they spend a lot of time outside too. They sleep outside at night, or in the screen porch at least. I make my own batches of petfood for them. I'll have to post on that later.
Our kitty Charlie sleeping (yeah, on the couch) with obviously no cares in the world.
I'd have trouble changing my attitude about animals if I lived somewhere like that too. They're lucky to have you. hmmmm... I wonder if they realize that?
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