Friends for Sale

It is hard to say what makes one muster the courage and get a dog to look after, especially a pedigree one, meaning daily care, adequate food, and plenty of dog cosmetics. It is also difficult to picture a man bottle- feeding a cute little puppy while dreaming of the time when it will grow into a huge Saint Bernard or brisk and strong Rottweiler and take the gold at an international dog show. Be it as it may, statistics say that last year 39% of the population kept one or two dogs at home. In other words, we have 20 million dog-owners.

Last weekend, Kyiv hosted the Ukraine Crystal Cup’99 all-variety international dog show with only purebreds admitted, in the presence of pedigree certificates executed in keeping with FCI standards. The show consisted of seven demonstration rings for various groups of dogs and plenty of stands selling dog food, vitamins, medications, brushes, and balls, everything for current and future dog-masters. As was to be expected, there were numerous contenders, and the audiences mostly consisted of owners. That was perhaps why the atmosphere seemed uninviting to the layman. After visiting a couple of rings and watching dogs being prepared for demonstration, such an ingenue would leave telling himself that a dog was, of course, man’s best friend, but that it also meant too much trouble and expense, something few can afford these days.