Mexico: The Dogs
You can tell a lot about a given culture based on the way they treat animals. A relatively poor community will treat their animals differently than a relatively well-off community, for example. The priorities are simply different.
Take Guatemala, for example, a considerably poor Central American country. Stray dogs are a common site - stray dogs which are starving, diseased, beaten, and scared. When faced with the options of either feeding your family or taking care of a pet, of course your wife and children are going to be given first priority (I would hope so, at least).
I visited Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico earlier this year and noticed that even though I was in a pretty rural and lower-income area, many people had pets and took care of them well. Dogs seem to be well-fed and well-groomed. Many of them were free to roam around from house to house, enjoying the freedom of running on the dirt roads in the midst of rolling hills.
Mexico City is quite different from the previous two examples, being a grandiose urban center and all. I am now living in a culture which values dressing their miniature dogs in sweaters and taking them for walks at every hour of any given day. Sometimes the dogs even get to wear shoes. I am not kidding, folks. There are sweater-wearing dogs everywhere, and it often concerns me because these dogs can be better-dressed than me. But, who am I to judge? If the dogs are happy, just let it be...
Take Guatemala, for example, a considerably poor Central American country. Stray dogs are a common site - stray dogs which are starving, diseased, beaten, and scared. When faced with the options of either feeding your family or taking care of a pet, of course your wife and children are going to be given first priority (I would hope so, at least).
I visited Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico earlier this year and noticed that even though I was in a pretty rural and lower-income area, many people had pets and took care of them well. Dogs seem to be well-fed and well-groomed. Many of them were free to roam around from house to house, enjoying the freedom of running on the dirt roads in the midst of rolling hills.
Mexico City is quite different from the previous two examples, being a grandiose urban center and all. I am now living in a culture which values dressing their miniature dogs in sweaters and taking them for walks at every hour of any given day. Sometimes the dogs even get to wear shoes. I am not kidding, folks. There are sweater-wearing dogs everywhere, and it often concerns me because these dogs can be better-dressed than me. But, who am I to judge? If the dogs are happy, just let it be...
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