Dog Hearted

City authorities unleashed numerous measures against street dogs: dogcatchers, poison on the streets, impoundment, death. Cities thereby became ever more dangerous places for street dogs. One of their French human defenders, for there were some, imagined a letter sent from a dog named Figaro to one of his friends, Azor, in the provinces. Having left his peaceful village to see Paris, Figaro finds himself falling ‘victim’ to the police prefect’s ordinances and treated like a ‘vile criminal’. Snatched off the street and brought to the ‘hell’ of the pound where ‘bodies cover the floorboards’, Figaro is thrown together with all kinds of innocent dogs. Figaro is about to be slaughtered when his frantic owner appears and rescues him. Advising Azor to never go to Paris, Figaro vows to return to the village as soon as he can.

It seems likely that British dog owners imported the disease in their pedigree pets, but colonisers blamed local street dogs who bore the brunt of the violence.

The lead is a very simple piece of technology that lies at the heart of human–canine relations in the West. It connects me and Cassie and makes it obvious to passers-by that she is my dog and that I am responsible for her.