Thursday, November 19, 2009

Japan Has Dog People


ScruffyDog has been on a bit of a blog holiday... Actually, I was on a real holiday -- in Japan -- and dealing with all the craziness that happens when work compresses leading into and out of a vacation. We had a wonderful time. Mom house-sat with the grand-dogs and the neighbor was our dog walker.

Upon our return, after being away for two weeks, the boys were happy to see us and jumped all over us for at least five minutes...slightly longer than the greeting we usually get for being away for a day. I think we were even happier to see them.

For me, a vacation in another culture is such a departure from familiar things, it almost feels as if reality is suspended for a while. Even so, it doesn't take long for us to start missing the presence of our dogs. My husband and I joked that we were dog stalkers on the streets of Takayama and Kanazawa. We'd spot a dog, make eye contact with dog and walker, and soon we were petting the dog and all parties were smiling. It's been pretty easy to spot the dog-people in every country we've visited... They share knowing glances...recognizing the looks on our faces that say "we have dogs at home and we miss them, can we just pet your dog for a minute?"

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