Patches will joyfully run after him down the "street," jumping up as high as he can with his mega tongue sticking out to get a taste of that face! (Patches is a jumper.) And the boy just runs along and giggles so sweetly.
Patches' relationship with all the kids here has improved greatly as he's built rapport with them. Before when they saw Patches charging at them they feared he was coming to attack them. People just generally fear dogs here. But now they are one-by-one resisting the temptation to run (which is only asking him to chase them.. just what they didn't want to happen!) and realizing his intentions are only to say hello and play.
Similarly, Patches will also notice our colleagues walking to and from school and run alongside them to greet them playfully. Patches' approach to adults is not all that different from that to the kids. So they also know better than to fear them. Several have recently told us how sweet they think Patches is, especially with the kids around the neighborhood. And with Lady (featured in the post: Lady and the tramp).
They also think he must be incredibly intelligent (which, of course, he is ;-) ) because he somehow understands what we are saying (which is really just the commands we've taught him). Example: Patches, get it! (*throws stick*)
He's quite the anomaly compared to most Namibian dogs (and in general ;-) ).
If people are more fearful of dogs, and not likely to have dogs as pets, I wonder at their attitudes about your grooming, buying dog food and the general care and time you give to Patches. "Lady" you mentioned before but she didn't seem to be the norm for your area.
ReplyDeletePatches has gotten soooo big! What a cutie :). Hope you are staying warm and enjoying the Nam winter! xo, aly and crunch
ReplyDeleteI'm sure our ownership of Patches, in so many ways, only makes our neighbors and colleagues think we are crazier white people than they did before! Still, pet dogs are cared for to varying degrees, and yes Lady is looked after more than the average Namibian dog.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, my learners, who have a bit of a fascination with Patches, will ask me, "Does Patches sleep in the house?" To which I answer as casually as possible, "Yeah, sure.." Don't want to share any more details than that!
Dude, Aly, we were totally commenting on this post at the same time!
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot! He DID get big! Hope YOU are well in the States. And Crunch. :-) Keep wanting to message you but feel like you must be so busy! Still very interested in your COS itinerary! (What can I say, once a planner, always a planner. Not even Africa can change that! So far.)