By Alma Kadragic
The German Shepherd in the photo is Sasha. She’s not my dog – she’s a dog I met when I sat down for a sandwich and Coke in the courtyard of Books & Books, an independent bookstore that is one of my favourite places in Miami.
Sasha was with her owner. I asked her owner if I could pet the dog, if she was friendly, and other typical questions that a dog-lover asks about an unknown animal. As usually happens, the owner was happy to talk about Sasha and happy that I wanted to pet her. Obviously, it’s something that happens regularly to both of them.
Of all the differences I have seen and experienced since coming back to the US after eight years in the UAE, the relationship of people and pets is one of the most interesting.
I arrived in Abu Dhabi in early August 2005. A week later my dog Jingles followed. We traveled separately because I would be spending the first week at the Beach Rotana Hotel, and Jingles would have had to be put in a kennel.
So by the time I picked up Jingles from the late night Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, I was in an apartment and set up to take care of him. Although I had very little furniture at that point – a bed, a table, and two small armchairs – I bought a rug so that he would have somewhere soft to sleep. The floors in the apartment were all tile.
From the first moment when I had to pay a special driver from the hotel who was willing to transport a dog in his car, I realized that having a dog in the UAE was going to be different than what I was used to in the US or for that matter in the European cities where I had lived like London and Warsaw.
Many people around the world are not used to dogs as pets. The UAE isn’t unique in that. If there is a dog around, it lives outside in a doghouse, not inside. It is a guard, not a member of the family.
In Orlando where I had been living before coming to Abu Dhabi, I was used to driving everywhere with Jingles in the car. As a freelance writer and media consultant, I had appointments to see clients and potential clients, and the dog always came with me. He slept on the back seat – used to being in a car and completely relaxed.
When I went to a luncheon event at a local hotel, I often gave the car with dog to the valet. As long as there was indoor parking, it was fine. I remember one valet bringing the car back to me and saying with a smile, “The dog licked my neck.”
In Abu Dhabi, I realized as I walked with Jingles that many people were careful not to come near us. Others scowled. Once in a while, someone would mutter something that I tried not to hear. Naturally, the dog was always on a leash and I kept a tight hold.
When we walked on the Corniche on Fridays, we often passed groups of young men enjoying their day off. Sometimes they would ask if they could take a photo of Jingles. He must have become known that way to people who never saw him.
One of my first observations when I returned to the US almost two years ago was the number of dogs everywhere. Jingles passed away in the UAE when he was 14 ½ so I came back alone. I’m planning to get a dog again which is probably why I took photos of Sasha.
