Holy Dog!
You may have heard rumors indicating that Koreans have a different sort of relationship with dogs than do Americans. It's all true. They eat dog.
There are three different categories of dog here, however. There are "yellow dog" mutts (Nureongi, 누렁이) that are bred under miserable conditions to eat as gaegogi (개고기, a local delicacy most enjoyed in a summertime soup thought to fight off heat in the body. Then there is the Jindo (진도), which in all reality don't look much different from the closely related mutts and are very much like the popular Japanese Shiba Inu. Unlike their bastard step-siblings, these dogs are protected as the national dog of Korea. They are thought to be very loyal and brave, and are often kept as guard or work dogs further from the cities (or sometimes in the city slums), where they tend to be pushed towards aggressive, territorial natures more suited for their assigned duties. Finally, there are toy dogs. Millions of them. All over the city. And they are the most awful, badly behaved little creatures I have ever encountered.
And then there is my sweet Harrier mix Lilly, who doesn't fit into any of these categories. She's an Anglo-American gal with genteel manners who likes everyone but other dogs because she doesn't yet understand that she is one.
Unfortunately for poor, loving little Lilly, Koreans in our neighborhood are terrified of her. I mean, petrified.
You see, Lilly is about the same size as a Neurongi or Jindo, which are extremely uncommon pets in the big city of Seoul. They are considered large dogs in this country, though in most places they are measly medium-small. Most city slickers only own toy dogs (real picture below), none of which are trained by any stretch of the imagination. They run around unleashed like yappy, overly adorned rats who pee on everything and get all up in Lilly's face, stirring her into an aggravated state. Which of course leads to the irresponsible owners screaming at me in angry Korean (which I swear sounds more angry than any other language) about how my dog is about to eat their poor, precious be-ribboned fluff ball. Of course, she won't, but secretly I wouldn't mind if she did.
Furthermore, Koreans, who appear to have very little or very odd dog training experience, only tend to poke or hiss at bigger dogs -- if they even stick around at all instead of running away screaming in terror. Apparently this stems from the belief that getting a dog's adrenaline pumping makes its meat tastier. Eww. They also tend to provoke aggression and chain up the more valued guard dogs. As a result, men tend to be more fascinated with Lilly and make many clicking noises while they poke at her, while women slink to the other side of the sidewalk.
Just an hour ago, I took Lilly out for her nightly potty run. We were both outfitted in our pink and grey sweater outfits (yes, BOTH of us), the perfect picture of delicacy and winter couture. She trotted slowly by my side, never rushing ahead or falling behind, so as we entered the building, I unleashed her to enter the elevator, which I expected to be empty. I was wrong. Oops. Lilly amiably climbed into the elevator just as a woman walked out. As most city dwellers do, this lady rushed out without looking around or acknowledging anyone, only to be surprised by a "big" dog dressed as a human entering the elevator seemingly alone. She screamed and jumped nearly a foot in the air, both feet flailing like a cartoon character, breathlessly escaping as fast as her skinny legs could take her.
The incident made me giggle as I remembered the time a delivery man shrank into the corner of the elevator when we entered. Lilly gently reached out her nose to him for a pet, causing him to scream like a little girl and enter into a jittery frenzy, dropping boxes everywhere as he bounced along the elevator wall towards the door, where he cemented himself until arriving at his floor. Poor guy. How emasculating to be showed up by a dog dressed in pink.
I try to be cognizant and respectful of local sensitivities, but every now and then it's just too much fun to watch people pee their pants as my basically over-sized beagle sits and stares at them with her ridiculously sweet hound eyes. Call me a sadist.
There are three different categories of dog here, however. There are "yellow dog" mutts (Nureongi, 누렁이) that are bred under miserable conditions to eat as gaegogi (개고기, a local delicacy most enjoyed in a summertime soup thought to fight off heat in the body. Then there is the Jindo (진도), which in all reality don't look much different from the closely related mutts and are very much like the popular Japanese Shiba Inu. Unlike their bastard step-siblings, these dogs are protected as the national dog of Korea. They are thought to be very loyal and brave, and are often kept as guard or work dogs further from the cities (or sometimes in the city slums), where they tend to be pushed towards aggressive, territorial natures more suited for their assigned duties. Finally, there are toy dogs. Millions of them. All over the city. And they are the most awful, badly behaved little creatures I have ever encountered.
Unfortunately for poor, loving little Lilly, Koreans in our neighborhood are terrified of her. I mean, petrified.
You see, Lilly is about the same size as a Neurongi or Jindo, which are extremely uncommon pets in the big city of Seoul. They are considered large dogs in this country, though in most places they are measly medium-small. Most city slickers only own toy dogs (real picture below), none of which are trained by any stretch of the imagination. They run around unleashed like yappy, overly adorned rats who pee on everything and get all up in Lilly's face, stirring her into an aggravated state. Which of course leads to the irresponsible owners screaming at me in angry Korean (which I swear sounds more angry than any other language) about how my dog is about to eat their poor, precious be-ribboned fluff ball. Of course, she won't, but secretly I wouldn't mind if she did.
Furthermore, Koreans, who appear to have very little or very odd dog training experience, only tend to poke or hiss at bigger dogs -- if they even stick around at all instead of running away screaming in terror. Apparently this stems from the belief that getting a dog's adrenaline pumping makes its meat tastier. Eww. They also tend to provoke aggression and chain up the more valued guard dogs. As a result, men tend to be more fascinated with Lilly and make many clicking noises while they poke at her, while women slink to the other side of the sidewalk.Just an hour ago, I took Lilly out for her nightly potty run. We were both outfitted in our pink and grey sweater outfits (yes, BOTH of us), the perfect picture of delicacy and winter couture. She trotted slowly by my side, never rushing ahead or falling behind, so as we entered the building, I unleashed her to enter the elevator, which I expected to be empty. I was wrong. Oops. Lilly amiably climbed into the elevator just as a woman walked out. As most city dwellers do, this lady rushed out without looking around or acknowledging anyone, only to be surprised by a "big" dog dressed as a human entering the elevator seemingly alone. She screamed and jumped nearly a foot in the air, both feet flailing like a cartoon character, breathlessly escaping as fast as her skinny legs could take her.
The incident made me giggle as I remembered the time a delivery man shrank into the corner of the elevator when we entered. Lilly gently reached out her nose to him for a pet, causing him to scream like a little girl and enter into a jittery frenzy, dropping boxes everywhere as he bounced along the elevator wall towards the door, where he cemented himself until arriving at his floor. Poor guy. How emasculating to be showed up by a dog dressed in pink.
I try to be cognizant and respectful of local sensitivities, but every now and then it's just too much fun to watch people pee their pants as my basically over-sized beagle sits and stares at them with her ridiculously sweet hound eyes. Call me a sadist.
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