Dog walking in Venice

my month in Venice, day 3

I was walking Nigel today again, I mean it’s my job anyways. It’s part of my Venice deal. Nigel is a city dog (unlike Billy and the St Bernard’s I was looking after before, they were forest dogs, and were doing their « business » by stepping out. Especially Billy was cute doing this.)

Now a different story in Venice with Nigel. I’m not even sure that he is a real dog dog, he feels like a person incarnated as a dog. Seriously. He appears wise and thought through, while Billy was a playful jolly love machine.

Nigel knows where he wants to go, he is extremely strong willed and stubborn. Today I let him completely lead me. We went to the little piazza close by, where there is a tree and a monument, that’s his favorite place to go. Many dogs are peeing there, so it’s super important for Nigel to set his main mark, a big strong « water jet » as a signature “fingerprint”. After he sniffs his way along the whole place and the narrow back streets, setting additional « marks » where ever other dogs have done this before. It’s like « I Nigel was also here!”

Dogs sniff their way from pee place to pee place, like reading the dog newspaper. Who was there before? Was it a male or a female? What mark did they leave? What other Information did they give?

It seams to me, that this peeing and sniffing and marking is a secret information language only dogs understand. It helps them to orientate in the city.

Nigel pees about 15 times

around the whole quarter. I Can’t believe how much liquid this little dog carries, it seams like he is very economical with it. It’s never empty, because there is always an other corner or an other wall where he can set yet another Nigel mark. I somehow manage to lead him into some narrow back streets where I haven’t been before yet. The unfancy, untouristy, poor people back streets and poor little canals. There is the smell of fried sardines in the air and clothing lines hanging out of the window.

Suddenly a little yellowish dog follows us, he and Nigel are cornering each other and sniffing. The dog, his name is “Bumm Bumm”, can’t let go of Nigel, who actually wants to move on. Bumm Bumm belongs to an Italian woman who seams to be a dog walker, but has zero clue of dogs and zero control over him. Street after street Bumm Bumm follows us while she is calling him, her voice cracking in hysteria “Bumm Bumm! Bumm Bumm!”

Nigel and I are accelerating our steps and finally we are successful with shaking off crazy Bumm Bumm and his walker. They stay behind and we are finally at home.

All the pictures are from the poor backstreets where this little dog adventure took place today.