People have become so unpredictable post-pandemic. Relationships have strained under the weight of differences in opinion about vaccinations, politics, geopolitics, climate change and even the price of groceries. Not dogs, though. Dogs have remained delightfully, well, doggy.
Dogs don’t care what you think about Covid, whether you recycle or whom you vote for. A conversation with a dog is unlikely to end in a regrettable debate. Dogs are goofy and quirky and non-judgemental and, although most will take pats or treats from anyone, their promiscuity is more endearing than an unacceptable fault.
They are clowns in fur clothing unafraid to look foolish; a simple answer to the question of who really cares when the odds are not stacked in your favour. They are assistance dogs, not only for the physically challenged, but for the emotionally vulnerable who crave a view of the world that is less jaded. Dogs, no matter whether poodles or Rottweilers, are simply, and have always been, pure, slobbery, unconditional love.
Ask Napoleon’s first wife, Joséphine, who often slept with a pug named Fortune on her bed rather than with the emperor. Yes, it’s true that not all scientists agree“love” is the right word to describe the bond dogs enjoy with humans. The psychologist Clive Wynne, the author of “Dog Is Love”, prefers to describe canines as having “an excessive capacity to form affectionate relationships”.
But while dogs may not be able to intellectualise love, research shows oxytocin hormone spikes on both sides of the relationship when dogs and humans regard one another, adds Wynne. In fMRI scans, dogs’ reward centres light up when they sense their owner nearby, not only when they’re promised sausage. Who can argue with that? Not Australians, whose rate of dog ownership has increased from an estimated 5.1 million dogs in 2019 to 6.4 million in 2022.
Nor the French, who boast 17 dogs for every 100 humans and are, historically and currently, firmly in the doghouse. In the late 19th and 20th centuries, a French bulldog was the chicest accessory of Parisian sex workers, while Louis XIV, Louis XV and Louis XVI all doted on poodles, ensuring their pooches got prominent positions in court paintings.
Parisian canines are allowed on the metro, commuter trains and buses; to dine in restaurants, cafes and bakeries; and are admitted to the swankiest hotels. At the Hôtel Pont Royal in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, small pets are welcomed as members of the family. At the Hôtel de Crillon they can not only stay but be accompanied for walks. You’ll see dogs in the Palais-Royal Garden, the park of the Palace ofVersailles, the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Champ de Mars, as well as accompanying diners at theMichelin-starred Le Grande Véfour.
I have dined in Cannes and St Tropez while canines peeked from under linen tablecloths and, in my own home, lived with and loved West Highland terriers and, most recently, a golden labrador. My life is poorer for the loss of both but, as wisdom dictates, you give a dog your heart to break it. The actor Bill Murray is famously quoted as saying: “I’m suspicious of people who don’t like dogs, but I trust a dog when it doesn’t like a person.” An increasing number of us are of the same school.
