I’m back with some Portugal Life information for you! I’ve had fun sharing with you all about my crazy life of living abroad. If you haven’t read about my Portugal Life yet, you can catch up. I’ve shared about Portugal Pottery twice, part one and part two, and I also revealed all about Grocery Shopping in PT. So…in thinking about my next topic regarding sunny Portugal, I decided to cover pets. Here is my Portugal Life – Pets post!
Europeans are more relaxed in general. Kids stay up late in restaurants, dogs walk without leashes, many times you can park wherever you feel like, and guard rails are not necessary (one should know better to not lean over the edge).
In many ways it is much more refreshing. The lawsuit nature of liability is just not as prevalent here. There is more personal responsibility which also translate into how they treat their pets.
Cats in Portugal are not much different from in the States. I don’t see many of them and there are strays occasionally out and about. But nothing has really stood out to me here. We allow our cat Fiona to roam inside and outside and she is as happy as she can be.
My first experience with the Vet here was when Fiona didn’t come home one night until the wee hours of the morning. I eventually found her on the top bunk in Berkley’s bedroom and she was definitely injured. We had only been living here a little over two months and I decided to wait a little bit to see if she started acting more like herself, as I didn’t really know what was wrong with her. She looked liked she might have been mauled.
By the end of the day I decided to make an appointment with the Vet, because she wasn’t really moving and looked to be in pain. I headed out with Fiona and Connor and we squeezed into a parking spot (if you can call it that) and we went to the Vet’s office that reminded me of entering the Disneyland ride Jungle Cruise. It’s a unique Vet office, tied to a pet store.
We enter the office and the receptionist takes Fiona in her cat carrier and insists on putting her up very high onto a tall bookcase. I didn’t know how to respond. I mean the last thing I wanted was for her to fall and become more injured, but I didn’t know if this was a normal thing? The receptionist told me she would be more comfortable up high. Really? Up high inside of a pet carrier?
She ended up being just fine. I was stressing more than her I’m sure. Luckily, with a little medicine and a check, the Vet thought that she had just had a bad fall and would be back to normal in no time! Whew. The Vet care is very similar here and the Vets that I’ve met are all wonderful.
Now…I’ll highlight some of the similarities and differences between what I’ve observed with dogs here.
Barking – we live near a farm (or some land) and many of the dog owners around us have dogs that bark A LOT. All through the night in fact. It’s sad to me but it seems somewhat normal now. (And thankfully I’m a very deep sleeper!) So there are a lot of barking dogs and many dogs that maybe don’t get the time and attention that they deserve. On this same note there are many dog owners out and about walking their dogs and getting them plenty of exercise! (These dogs are probably not at home barking as much – I hope.)
Leashes – about the same but I do see many dog owners who are very relaxed and have their dogs trained to walk off of their leash. It is refreshing to watch the calm nature that these dog owners exhibit. Cesar Milan would love the “calm assertive” energy that is everywhere. I’m hoping I’ll get there one day with Olivia. I take her off leash on the beach but that is it for now.
Poop – sorry to be so frank. But, this is a surprise. Not everyone picks up their dog remains. For some reason it is not as encouraged? There are sacks out and about, but often there are trails of dogs left on the side walks or streets. I don’t understand it, but have come to realize it is just the way it is.
Strays – I’m not sure exactly how they keep on top of their stray dogs but I know for a fact that there are some dog groups that go around. There are two that hang out all of the time at our neighborhood grocery store. They seem sweet, but I avoid them. I even heard that some Portuguese owners just let there dogs out when they go on vacation and when they get back they let them back in. Not sure if that really happens, but it might explain some of the roaming dogs.
Crates – I bring this up only because my tennis instructor thinks I’m SO mean that I have crate trained Olivia. He calls it the “cage” and does.not.understand why I would be that cruel to crate her when I leave. I tried explaining how it has helped us to house train her and how it helps her not to get into things when we can’t watch her. He did not get it, still doesn’t get it. That’s ok. I have to live with her!
But what I love the most is that I would say the Portuguese are dog people. I often take Olivia to a cafe and have a coffee, I usually have three-five people come up and love on her. They ask me her name, her age, her breed, they pet her, and make kissy noises. Even though Portuguese people can be more reserved they are very warm to dogs.
So I’m happy to be raising my sweet Olivia here and I’m enjoying the relaxed nature of pet ownership. It’s always important to glean from other cultures and to recognize the benefits that different cultures and philosophies provide.
I also just finished two great books on dog training, my current passion with my girl. If you are looking to better train your dog, I highly recommend these two books.
