The Dogs of Bogotá: A Brief Introduction

Quick exercise: When someone says “Colombia,” what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

I bet you $50 it isn’t puppies. But maybe it should be. I don’t know what they put in the water (or dog food) here, but for some reason EVERY SINGLE DOG I’ve seen so far in Colombia is absolutely beautiful — even the strays. People here take excellent care of their dogs: they’re always out walking them and there are tons of stores around Bogotá that cater to pets (mascotas) or, I suppose, their owners, since they tend to be the ones with the wallets.

I basically make a fool of myself anytime I walk anywhere, because there are just too many dogs to stare at and fawn over. The worst is walking past the police academy, which I have to do twice a day, every day, as it’s between my home and work. It’s not that I have a problem with the police academy — rather, the problem is that they have the most beeeeeaaauuuutiful German shepherds working/napping outside all the time, and I am physically incapable of passing by without ogling the pretty dogs. Obviously, the two dozen cops hanging around the entrance doing nothing assume I am ogling them instead. How embarrassing. I haven’t yet figured out how to avoid this issue, short of carrying a sign around that says “Despite what your ego tells you, I’m checking out your dog, not you” (which, come to think of it, might be really useful for the rest of my life). But I’ll be damned if I let some cops in silly bright green vests ruin my daily dose of big fluffy German shepherds.

But you want to see the puppies, right? So I should probably just stop talking about them and show them to you instead.

Just hanging out at Ciclovia, with the fluffiest snowball in South America.

Clearly, this is not a dog. It is, in fact, a cat. It is also too cute not to include.

I think old dogs have officially earned the right to hang out on a front porch and do nothing all day.

What this photo is really missing is an Abbey Road-style crosswalk. Someday when I learn how to use Photoshop, I’ll make it happen.

Apparently these dogs (or at least the little one) were for sale. Why I didn’t snatch it and run away, I will never understand.

The same goes for the box of beagle puppies for sale that we saw up the street. BOXES OF PUPPIES EVERYWHERE!

As if that weren’t enough, there are also sometimes dogs, dressed in stylish Colombian flag jerseys, that do tricks and then come around holding a basket in their mouths to collect tips.

Don’t worry — when I gave it the money, I warned the dog not to just go out and spend it all on beer.

Ohhhhhh, this one. Just snoozing on a window ledge outside, the usual.

And thus continues Kate’s dramatic love affair with the dogs of Colombia. But can you blame her? Look at this guy!