Dogs and Outward Appearance

In the Campo San Margarita, two elderly women talk to each other, their small terriers tangling and untangling their leashes, completely ignored. Just as the women have coordinated clothing and carefully arranged hair, the dogs are immaculately groomed and have dainty harnesses, rather than collars. Clean and well conditioned, the dogs’ coats glisten in the sunlight. They are silent, but full of movement, and the women continue their conversation, seemingly oblivious to the creatures with them. Among the endless stream of passerby, the dogs are also unacknowledged. Children do not stop to pet the dogs, and teenage girls do not fawn over the lovely creatures. After a moment, the women part ways, exchanging kisses and looking down long enough to gently tug their pets apart before dispersing into nearby streets with their dutiful companions.

            Several streets over, a man strolls through narrow, busy streets, his toy bulldog unleashed and scurrying to keep up while darting from side to side, exploring the abundance of smells. The man stops to greet an acquaintance and the bulldog darts into a corner café. He weaves between the legs of the people enjoying their espresso and even dares to investigate the area behind the food counter. No one pays the dog any attention or minds that he is near the food, perhaps because his pristine black fur is a testament to his cleanliness. His master begins walking again and the dog lingers only a moment before resuming his exploration in the wake of the man. The man gives no indication that the dog ever left his side, or that he is there at all.

            Farther along in the Campo San Polo, two unusually large dogs are playing, a leashed golden retriever and an unleashed Australian Shepherd.  They dwarf the majority of toy breeds and terriers in the city, and the golden retriever is too large to be ignored while he leaps around the Australian Shepherd. His owner is pulled aside as he converses with a friend, but he braces himself against the animal and they do their best to continue talking uninterrupted. Several minutes pass in which the dogs happily jump and wrestle in the open space, as joyful as the children playing soccer on the other side of the campo. After a while, a woman steps in to calm the dogs, leashing the Australian Shepherd. The owners thank each other before going their separate ways. It is as if they have done each other a favor, allowing their pets a moment to be wild and enjoy the space of the campo in the normally tight confines of the city. As the owners walk off, the dogs follow obediently, happy to have played for a short while.

            In Venice, the dogs are treated more as show pieces than as loveable pets. As a general rule, they are perfectly groomed and well behaved, barking only occasionally. For a dog to casually wander a café, it must be expected that the dog is impressively clean and well behaved. Furthermore, the attention paid to the dogs in public is minimal. Where it is common in the United States to pet a stranger’s dog or for owners to periodically succumb to flamboyant displays of affection for their own animals, the dogs in Venice are largely ignored in public. No conclusion can be drawn about the private relationship between canine and master, but the public relationship is one in which the dog is clearly well cared for but affection is highly reserved and aloof. While the majority of the dogs are small breeds, there is no blatantly dominant presence of a popular breed. In the United States, Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, and German Shepherds overwhelm dog parks. Large and affectionate dogs are the clear favorite, whereas dog owners in Venice seem to pick small but flashy dogs of a wide variety. There is a sense of originality in the selection of dog breed that emphasizes the dogs’ use as a showpiece and even a status symbol, rather than a loving companion. The Venetian attitude towards dogs reflects their attitude towards outward appearance as a whole. The Venetians are always well dressed when the leave their homes, another indication of the importance of presentation. There is a sense that Venetians have a private face and a public face. Their dogs serve to enhance their public face, giving them a unique accessory.