Power Play

A couple of weeks ago I was walking my dog from the River Seine back to our apartment down a road called, "Rue Royale". Rue Royale starts at the Place de la Concorde at the bank of the Seine, passes some grandiose public buildings and then collects itself into a Haussman-style avenue of designer shops. The road eventually ends at a famous church called, "La Madeleine".

Majerle rarely poops when I walk him. He usually saves that for his walks with my wife (I think it has something to do with comfort). The incident happened around 9:00 am so the street was busy with people going to work and carrying on with their business. It was the type of foot traffic that required some foresight and footwork. Somewhere between a Louis Vitton store and an artisan patisserie Majerle stopped and went into position. If you have a dog you know that there is no way to make this kind of thing look discrete. He looked like a tiny, NFL fullback before the snap.

The dog weighs about 38 pounds but he has developed a voracious appetite since we have moved to Paris. He had been making some deposits on our street that probably led our neighbors to think that a zebra was inhabiting the area. He couldn't have picked a worse spot than Rue Royale. Its a pretty ritzy neighborhood. I was getting some disturbed looks from the people sidestepping us so I finally cut him off mid-shiver but the damage was done. While I felt great shame as I squatted to pick up my dog's crap off the street, I believe Majerle had something quite different on his mind.

This was nothing short of a power play for him. He was making a statement. It's kind of like taking off your shirt to show you ink during your first day in prison. He had reason to be confident. He has strong German heritage (Rottweiler/German Shepherd) which sent a not-so-subtle message. The occupation of Paris by Germans is still fresh in people's minds. You see dogs are territorial by nature. My dog was new in town and was simply claiming that small square as his own. The rest of the walk home I felt like he was walking me.