Jeri Smith-Ready

Bon Voyage, Spot!

DogFriendly.com just put out their new list of Top Ten Dog-Friendly Cities to Visit in North America. I was stunned to learn that most of these cities allow leashed, well-behaved dogs to ride on public transportation. Our dog is a total motorhead--she'd really dig riding on a bus, I think.

The way I see it, dogs are like children in the way they fit into society. If a culture accepts them and expects them to be a part of public life, then their caretakers/parents ensure that they are well-socialized and know how to behave in such situations.

It's for this reason that both dogs and children in urban areas tend to be more laid-back. In the suburbs, dogs and kids are relegated to the fringes of society--PetsMart for dogs, or in the case of kids, "family-friendly" restaurants where the food sucks and the children, for lack of knowledge of how to behave outside the home, treat the public place as an extension of their own living room, screaming and running around with the desperate pent-up energy of a sailor on leave.

I'm sure there's a comparable list online for children, cities that celebrate kids and expect them to participate in their world like any other citizen, to share a common culture with adults, rather than being ghettoized and isolated into DisneyWorlds and Chuckie Cheese'ses. Chuckie Cheeses. Chuckie Cheeseses. Anyone know the plural of Chuckie Cheese's?

• posted by Jeri @ 8:50 AM
• 2 comments