At the super cute puppy stage. This one lives at the kayak club.
Türkiye is famous for the cats and dogs who live on the streets and “belong” to everyone. The dogs who have been fixed so they can no longer produce, have a tag on an ear. There are bowls of water and food in front of many shops and people generally take care of these animals, including grooming them.
This dog has a tag on the ear.
So if you don’t want to have your own pet, you can just get friendly with the ones on the streets. I am accustomed to the one dog who hangs out by the exit to the mall. And the other two who sleep on the steps. It just seems normal.
Dogs napping on the mall steps.
As for the kittens and puppies, watch out. You might end up adopting them.
It is often “bizarre foods” that are old traditions that no longer are available. In Italy, people asked me if I had tried “Casu martzu” which is maggot cheese. No, it’s illegal and I do not need to have maggot larvae jumping at my face while trying some cheese. I am not Andrew Zimmern. Like most of us, I was raised to try everything one is offered. But, I think that is different when offered things that are a bit on the special side. Often, I think that people are pulling one’s leg. When the situation is legit, then I will try it. Unless my gag reflex tells me not to. So I have tried moose nose and it was okay, but I was not offered the seal blubber because I was not of high enough rank. I have also tried to eat steamed aloe vera, but could not because it was worse than snot.
This is in Annandale, Virginia.
Other odd foods I have heard of are “virgin boy piss eggs” in China where eggs are marinated in urine. Apparently this was done with horse urine in Korea in the old days. Speaking of Korea, the Koreans have outlawed eating dog. Apparently there are parts of China that have banned eating cats and dogs. In several places in the world, I have seen unfortunate sign juxtaposition of Korean restaurants and veterinary practices. Was this oblivious, on purpose either from malice or humor? Whatever the reason, this will, with time, disappear as the people slowly realize that the Koreans no longer eat dog.
This is in Rome, Italy.
Because of the connection with Koreans and eating dog, I was a bit surprised when I saw what I thought was an oven for dogs… but it was a specialized dog dryer — a sign of the opposite end of the spectrum for dogs — from meat to pet.
