Poles as a nation are great animal lovers. In particular, when you visit large cities you have the impression that they are only inhabited by dogs and their owners. During the weekend one of the largest parks in Warsaw, i.e. Pola Mokotowskie is packed with people and all possible and obtainable dog breeds in Poland. It is a great show and entertainment for dog-lovers. Moreover, it is a perfect place to find out which breeds are most popular at a given moment. Craze for particular breeds of dogs in Poland is focused on various factors such as popular movies, dogs owned by the celebrities, popular novels, and personalities and their dogs from the first pages of popular women magazines.
Nowadays the most popular breeds seem to be retrievers, labradors, and yorkies. However, there is also craziness about other less well known breeds. I can name myself a proud owner of the Bavarian mountain bloodhound. When I bought her two years ago, this breed was practically unknown in Poland. Only hunters were familiar with it and used it for duck hunting due to these dogs’ ability to follow the scent of the blood of the shot animal. Some people were calling these dogs dachshunds on long legs. Now, at least five in ten people in my neighborhood in Warsaw has this kind of a dog and many strangers I met during my walks with Fama are fascinated with this breed and asked me where I bought it.
Another type of breeds which are the objects of extreme fascination in Poland right now are all kind of Asian dogs, like shar pei, shiba inu, chow-chow. One of the most striking attractions of these dogs is their exotic fairy tale-like look. However, future owners do not usually bother to check their origins, temper and specific needs and are sadly surprised later. Due to the fact they were usually bred for the purpose of protection of people or animals of for fight they are not perfect friendly and warm family dogs. Their characters require strong skills, concentration on tough training, discipline and strong leadership, which is so difficult to follow especially for women who think that these are nice and soft pets.
Furthermore, in particular among the celebrities there is a fascination with small dogs which rather remind of plush little toys than real dogs. Previously these were yorkshire terriers now they are Chihuahua. In my personal opinion, the owners of these small-sized dogs have them for sheer entertainment to carry them everywhere squeezed in a bag. I always have that impressions that these creatures where just invented for the sake of human vanity.
The last types of
popular dogs in Poland are dangerous breeds like pit bulls, bullterriers and Argentinean dogs popular among criminals and all social rebels. It is sad that these dogs were not given a chance to be friendly just because their owners want to emphasize their worse features of character. They are usually kept by them for dog fights, and frightening the strangers. These dogs are simply predestined to become beasts because this is often their owners’ intention.
The media devote a lot of coverage to dog accessories, fashion and beauty salons, so we can easily say that we are dog-obsessed nation but not as much as the French who even invented a perfume for dogs called “Oh, my dog”. We do not spoil our pets that much but we devote a lot of energy and our free time to them. What is positive is the fact that in Poland many people decide to adopt dogs from kennels and according to many studies those dogs generally learn things extremely easy and love us unconditionally.
Anjas
