“When I was growing up, everybody had Fox Terriers. There weren’t any Staffies. Fox Terriers then were like Staffies are now, I don’t remember any other dogs. These terriers are like a rare breed today though. When I was young they were common. He’s my third one and he’s eight now”
I was talking to Bob, 72, on Blackheath Common and I’m paraphrasing slightly but this was the jist. Deptford born and bred and now relocated to Greenwich, Bob grew up off Deptford Church Street in a family selling used clothing and other articles. It didn’t sound like an easy life.
He walks his dog 3 times a day on Blackheath Common and I look forward to bumping into him and his lovely terrier again. If his last two terriers each lived to 15 years that is 38 years of walking his dogs. 3 x 365 x 38 = 41,610 walks. No wonder Bob looked so fit.
The previous Sunday we met a guy in Greenwich Park who was celebrating (only) the 4000th walk with his beautiful slightly curly coated black Labrador. He was a large dog, fantastically fit, well kept and obviously pedigree to the hilt. Very expensive both to acquire and keep. The owner was obviously not Deptford born and bred though, more Blackheath.
Last week we were walking Gizmo past the Magistrates Court down the road and met one of the biggest Pit Bulls I have ever seen. He had what looked like a chain-link fence instead of a lead around his neck and probably the biggest bollocks in SE London. The three people accompanying him looked like stereotypically dysfunctional Pit owners. Lots of people would have avoided eye-contact or even crossed the road. However Gizmo wanted to say hello and we got talking. The Pit was actually a sweetie and the owner enthusiastically proud and articulate about him. Preconceptions confounded we continued to Greenwich Park.
This is all part of the democratic and leveling (though paradoxically hierarchical) aspect of dog ownership that I am now learning about. I’ve talked to more dog owners in the last few weeks than in the whole of the rest of my life. Usually about our dogs, but sometimes, like with Bob from Deptford, about our lives. It is fascinating.
It got me thinking.
When you leave our estate you can go left or right. Right takes you up to Greenwich, its park, Blackheath and in general the area known as a World Heritage Site. Nice… Immediately left is Deptford and New Cross, relatively few open spaces, and a jaw dropping response from some people when you say you live there. It is not so ‘nice’. This is also a real case of “the right and wrong side of the tracks”, since the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) conveniently bisects these two areas. Which is the right or wrong side is completely open to question and optional though
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So now I’m going to make some REALLYÂ broad generalisations.
To the right we meet a huge number of purebred dogs, usually expensive and often rare varieties. The last Labrador we met wasn’t just a Labrador, but a rare Australian variety. A lovely white long haired 4 month old German Shepherd turned out to be the elusive Canadian German Shepherd, not an ‘ordinary’ one and the owners were at pains to point this out. As if we gave a flying fuck. He was just a lovely dog. Likewise the Belgian Shepherds I met the other day. We’ve met a Poodle the size of a small horse complete with the full haircut looking utterly ridiculous. Herds of Schnauzers roam Greenwich Park, literally. Purebred Bulldogs seem really common now too. They were an absolute treat to see when I was a child since they were so unusual. Today they are almost ubiquitous, there is even one that rides a skateboard through our estate.
When you turn to the left, the number of pure breeds drops dramatically and are usually Staffies and Jack Russells. There are more crossbreeds, particularly Staffie crosses. I can’t imagine walking that giant poodle we saw down Deptford High Street, though maybe its owner does.
Generalisations aside, my observations support this to some extent.
Firstly, Gizmo is crossbred. Staffie ears, Staffie snout, Staffie tail, Staffie temperament. The rest is up for grabs. We’ve been asked if he is a Puggle (a bizarre cross between a Pug and a Beagle). People have spotted Chinese Shar Pei, Mastiff, Rhodesian Ridge Back, Boxer, Labrador, Pit-bull and many others. These questions are almost always asked in Greenwich Park and Blackheath Common and there is much speculation about his beautiful mascara eyes. Some people find it hard to comprehend that he is a mixture and not a rare breed. They seem disappointed when they find out. Walking around Deptford we get none of this. Everybody assumes he is a Staffie/Pit cross because they are so common round here, and they are probably right. He gets very little attention and actually blends in quite well.
So what is my point? Not quite sure yet. Because of Gizmo, I’m talking to loads of people from “both sides” of our tracks simply because of the dogs, and the conversations are different. My assumptions about the owners are challenged far more frequently around Deptford than Greenwich. To be honest, the conversations in Greenwich Park have actually reinforced some of the assumptions I’ve made about the owners. Bob was one exception. He was an exception in another way too. I walk Gizmo during the day since I work from home. I haven’t counted but it feels like many of the owners I meet during the day around Greenwich and Blackheath are women. The reverse is true around Deptford. Does this reflect employment or ownership? This may of course just be fanciful bollox and not grounded in any kind of reality.
There are obviously issues of wealth, class, background and perceptions (mine included). Including on one side at least, competitive market-segmented dog ownership, and on the other, the size of your dog’s bollocks. Both have aspects of willy-waving that I simply can’t be doing with. I jest. But only slightly. Never having had a dog before, I’ve never been exposed to the leveling aspect of ownership and the inherent pecking orders. I’m fascinated by it and want to explore it.
And what does it have to do with photography? That is simple. I’d like to photograph the people I meet and make some sort of record of the conversations. Kate is interested too and a collaboration with hangbitch would be an interesting project.
by skinnyvoice
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A really good post.
It would be interesting to know what each dog owner thought about dogs on either side of the tracks as well. Do they mix? I’ve seen heaps of staffies in Greenwich park but not very many fancy purebreds (like poodles) down Deptford Park, so obviously the traffic only goes one way…