Are French people dog-friendly?
Well, even though I'm French, I find it a bit difficult to give you an unbiased answer, cause I come from a family of dogaholics who, whenever they meet a dog, first greet him, talk to him, play with him, and, then, at last, realize that there's somebody at the other end of the leash!
Anyway, I tend to think that in my country everybody has an inner
dog-lover ready to make friends with any dog pawing around.
Let me give you an example.
The very first time we took the train with Jolux (the cocker who turned my fear of dogs into a dog-devotion), he was just a three-month-old puppy, and our journey to the countryside went swimmingly.
We had booked his own ticket (quite cheap for a dog weighing less than 6 kilos), and bought a bag where he could curl up and feel comfy.
When the ticket inspector asked for our three tickets, he looked at our dog, muttered a vague "ok ", and went away.
Our holidays in Auvergne were fabulous. The hotel was dog-friendly, of course, but still now I wonder if the hotel manager was not an anonymous dogaholic, cause whenever we came across him, he never failed to greet our dog with a " Hi, good boy, how are you today? ", and often spoiled him with a biscuit.
The people we met, while walking through the breathtaking places of that region, often made a beeline towards us to say hello to...our dog!
Unfortunately, one month later when we got on the train back home, we had to face the facts ...
Thanks to the hotel manager's treats, and the chef's table scraps, as well, Jolux, the tiny puppy, had turned into a plump cocker and couldn't fit into his bag!
Well, we thought that if he laid still at our feet, everything would be ok, but the ticket collector would have none of it, and asked us to put our pet into his bag.
The passengers nearby told him that Jolux was as good as gold, and didn't disturb them, but the inspector was uncompromising, and said that pets must travel in a bag, that was the rule!
After vain efforts to put our dog's four paws into his bag, it appeared quite clearly that he had made the most of his holidays, and had gone a bit too far on the chubby side.
That was the only excuse we could find to coax the hard-nosed inspector.
He gave us a stern frown, came close to our dog, squatted near him as if ready to squeeze him into the damned bag.
We were holding our breath, expecting Jolux wouldn't bark, or even worse, start peeing cause of that scary stranger facing him!
Nothing of that kind!
Our well-bred and well-fed dog turned the wagging tail button on, then pawed at the inspector gently, and that's when the French railway employee's inner dog popped out and said :
" You're really a cute boy, a bit podgy, for sure, but I was born in Auvergne, and I know there's no way to resist all the regional yummy specialties. Have a nice journey, and tell your owners to buy a stretchier bag next time you travel by train ".
So, if you ask me if French people are dog-friendly, I think I can answer :
" Yes, we are! ".
Don't believe me? Have a look at the link below!
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