Cani Italiani: The Dog Days & Dogs of Italy

4/9/2016

Cave Canem = Beware of the Dog!

Dog Days, indeed. It's sure hot in Italy, even in October (as we discovered), but this time I'm not talking about the weather. This story is all about Italian dogs--cani. Some are historic, some we me hand-to-paw, others we experienced as passersby, but all were very interesting...

There are several mosaics in Pompeii warning visitors about guard dogs... either on the floor or wall of the entrances. This shows either a fear of dogs in ancient times, or like today, some trained their dogs to protect their homes. The beagle on the left was one of the most fierce dogs in Italy--protecting his Locorotondo 2nd floor balcony by barking incredibly loudly. Anyone walking on his little street got a taste of his fury--albeit above their heads.

And the next dog was protecting his little herd of goats on a mountaintop near Pietrapertosa. He came out of nowhere and charged the car as I got a shot of him. Who knew they had goat dogs?

The photo below shows a long line of sheep (five times the length shown in the photo) that was going to pour across our road. I really wanted the shot. I stopped, got out of the car and then heard two loud barks. WOOF! WOOF! All the sheep stopped dead in their tracks--frozen. Like statues. The entire long line of them. They would not move while I was in the car--and leaving the area. There was no shepherd around--just this smart, Italian sheep dog.

Locorotondo Balcony Guard

He was in attack mode--to protect his goats.

Amalfi tile mural of a sheep dog.

Guard dog on a wall in a Pompeii taverna

Sheep dog in circle. Two barks means EVERYONE STOP!

The two sheep dogs are in there somewhere, blending into their flock.

The Matera Twins

Then one night driving back to our Cosona agriturismo in the dark of night, my headlights came upon a heard of sheep huddled near the roadside. I stopped to take a photo and out of the darkness we heard growling and barking from two sheep dogs. They were the white fluffy type--which are raised with the sheep as puppies. They think they ARE sheep, and do anything to protect their flock. Again, no shepherd, just the dogs doing their job.

Most dogs in Italy are just pets. City dogs are usually tiny and leashed or carried. Many are cute. Lucas had a great time getting to know some of them. One of his favorites are the pugs we met in Matera we call the "Twins", although the owner said they weren't related. I imagine their real names are Francesco and Marcos. They look very Italian with their old man, social club, people-watching persona.

Stephano, our balloon pilot, with one of his 5 dogs.

Another of Stephano's dogs showing Lucas her belly.

Lucas nearly put her to sleep!

Truffle hunting dog

It seems that people love their dogs, but in Italy there are all types. For instance, in the country, dogs live outside and tend to fend for themselves--there are plenty of old barns to shelter in. They tend to eat table scraps and not dog food. Owners think of vets for larger animals like pigs or horses--never dogs or cats. Kennels and dog spas are few and far between. Dogs are like cats in rural areas in that they are

working animals--for pest control. Ratters--like little Jack Russells--are really catching rats... and snakes (Italians, like the French, hate snakes). Some also protect properties against human snakes--the kind that break in and steal all your plumbing while you're away on holiday.

People also hunt with dogs, mostly for birds or pigeons. It seems most of Italy has been hunted out--there's not much left for hunters, so now they shoot little songbirds or bring their own stock of pigeons into the forest, let them fly up and then shoot them down. The dog fetches their triumphant "catch".

In Italy, they there are other types of hunting dogs... They use dogs instead of pigs to locate truffles, mainly because dogs don't try to eat the truffles like pigs do. These dogs are perhaps worth more by weight than the truffles that they find.

"Swept Away" by Giancarlo Giannini puppy eyes

In towns and cities you see many small lap dogs--small like everything else in Italy, perhaps due to the small apartments and homes. These dogs have personalities similar to the owners--some vibrant, others sweet and lazy, a few fat, all have an eye out for trouble, many are stubborn but all with those deep, passionate Italian eyes--like Giancarlo Gianinni has.

However, I did see few owners of incredibly cute fluffy dogs treat them badly--smacking, hitting and even kicking to stop bad behavior. (Dog Whisperer where are you?) There was one "lady"--a mom--we saw in Vinci while having gelati... she was gabbing to her friend as she was walking and tripped over her little white dog, threw a fit and smacked him for tripping her! Even her kids had that same tail-between-their-legs look about them. Some people!

One example of the many homeless Pompeii dogs... someone must be feeding them.

There are also many homeless dogs in Italy. In fact, it seems that in Pompeii its part of the fabric of the place. There are homeless, listless dogs laying around everywhere. Many are big but lethargic--more than likely someone feeds them the way people in Manhattan feed the pigeons. None were skinny. Lucas thought they were all sweet, but I thought it was pitiful and potentially a health threat, so I made certain he didn't try to pet any.

In the ancient city of Ignazia in Puglia we learned that dogs were lying around for around 2000 years--as fossils. Some dogs guarded families or businesses so well that they were honored in marble or mosaic, like the carving of a collared dog (right photo, center) made to honor a favored pet.

To the right is a sad and compelling image of a Roman dog from 2000 years ago. It is a plaster casting of the void left in the ash by a dog in the last gasps of his life, frozen in time as Vesuvius covered Pompeii in 30 feet of scalding ash. The agony of this poor dog in the last seconds of his life are palpable. The details are amazing... you can even see his collar. There are many castings such as this of the human citizens of Pompeii as well.

Ignazia fossilized dog.

“For darling Metilianus, Lucius Novius Aprilis made (this)”

Pompeii plaster casting of a dog covered in ash.

A Molfetta harbor morning dog walk.

In Italy dogs are pretty much allowed everywhere--even in cafes and restaurants. There are some rules, although I don't think anyone cares about rules for dogs. For example, many towns have some pretty serious dog poop problems. I stepped in dog poop a few times, Lisa only once, but Lucas was luckier--few people seem to pick up after their pets. I've read that in cash strapped Naples, one new scheme for drumming up money is to start keeping a DNA database of dogs and then testing DNA in dog poop so they can hit owners up for fines as high as 700 bucks! No kidding. (Check it out here.) If they can't get the city workers to pick up the garbage, how are they going to get anyone to pick up after their dogs? People don't care because the government allows their city to remain filthy. And how many poop DNA inspectors would they need to hire? How are they going to get DNA samples of each and every one of the estimated 80,000 dogs pooping on the streets of Naples? How about trying to stop the humans in Naples from peeing on the streets? That would be progress indeed!

Dog villa at Villa Rufulo in Ravello

Dog houses. I didn't see any like we have in the States, but I did see masonry ones. A dog has a nice life when he has fancy villa style digs in the courtyard of a villa or castle. It might be cold inside, but then again, this is Italy where a cool floor might help a dog get by during the Dog Days of October...

--Jerry Finzi

You can also follow Grand Voyage Italy on:
Twitter
Google+
StumbleUpon
Pinterest
Facebook
Tumblr