Well, it is a lovely rainy, cold day here in southern Germany. We are supposed to get cold rain for the next two days, and our temps are supposed to be in the upper 30s to mid 40s from now on. My kind of weather!!
My question for the day yesterday was "Are Germans cat people or dog people?" Well, honestly, I cannot answer this question factually; however, I can give you my observations. (I do want to emphasize, though, that I did try to find statistics on pet populations, but there was nothing out there on the internet that I could find.) Several people I have met here have birds and/or dogs. They love their dogs and consider them children in the home. Also, any store or restaurant we go into, there is bound to be a dog there - even in the mall or grocery store!! Most dogs are VERY well behaved and can walk with their owner without a leash and stay right where they are supposed to be. I had always wondered how they keep their dog from using the bathroom while they are in the stores, but so far, I have not found any evidence that this is a problem. As for cats, I have yet to see one here. I have not met anyone with a cat either. Now since this is a city, rather than countryside, there may be many cats that never see the outside world and live only in their owner's apartment, but I have not been able to tell from my perspective. No one even talks about them, like they do dogs. For dogs, there is even a television show showcasing them.
Perhaps that is because of the long history Germans have had with breeding dogs. The obvious breeds from Germany are the German Shepherd, German Spitz, and the German Shorthaired, Longhaired and Wirehaired Pointer, but others include Dachshund, Boxer, Schnauzer, Great Dane, Rottweiler, Weimaraner, Doberman Pinscher, Poodle, German Spaniel, American Eskimo, and the Pomeranian, to name the more common breeds. There are several others, but they were less known to me.
Being around so many well-behaved dogs makes us miss our former family member, Tipper. I find it hard to believe that this January will be 4 years since she passed on. I think we will all be ready to accept another big lovable family member once we come back to the USA.
My question of the day is "What is the difference between an apartment and a flat?"
The words for the day are cat and dog: die Katze (kahts eh) and der Hund (hoond with the oo making the oo sound like in coo.)
Auf Wiedersehen,
Frau Spitzer
