Il Bastardo.....Not a Cockapoo In Sight!

Several years ago, on another sailing holiday in Greece we were wandering down the harbour after having eaten a lovely greek meal, when we came upon a lovely little floofy dog standing next to his owner who was partaking of a cigar.

Our sailing companions were my brother and his family, and they have a lovely little cockapoo called Tilley of whom Mike has always been quite fond of.

Mike was petting said floof and asked the man as to his breed... 'il bastardo' was the reply , and an Italian shrug!

Since then Tilley and the more recently acquired Polly are fondly known as 'il bastardos'!

It has been a trend now in the UK for many years for these 'first cross' breeds, in fact we ourselves had a fantastic labradoodle for 17 happy and healthy years, and now have a Sprocker spaniel .. a mad dog crossed with an even madder one, but once trained he is almost well-behaved.

And the Cockappos can get a bad name for being yappy and a bit uncontrolable (Tilley,Polly??) but generally it's because the owners see a ball of fluff and don't bother properly training their very intelligent hounds.

When we first considered doing this trip through France, we had always assumed we would take the dog, leave the cat with my parents. Sprocket has an EU Pet Passport from Portugal and so has more freedom of movement than do we!

He also is used to coping with high temperstures so we weren't too worried about that , and once at sea the sea breeze keeps everything much cooler.

Our main problems would be exercising him when we were sailing, so we decided that we would not do any overnight sails, and just day sail our way down the coast and generally not longer than a six hour sail.

There are always beaches along the coast, and if there aren't any nearby dog beeches then getting up at 6am to walk on the beach with him seems to be acceptable. He loves to swim also , so that helps with keeping him cool and exercising, though he doesn't lie to swim at the same time as we are in the water!

For the canal part of the trip he loved running along beside the bike and we often went ahead and set off the lock preparation ready for Mike to enter the lock, and for a lot of the canal journey the weather was not hot so no worries about overheating!

So generally travelling with the dog has worked out fine. Sometimes going to do 'touristy' things has been a bit more restricted, but he came on a Paris open topped sight seeing bus, the Petit Train in Collieure and has even sat with reception at castles whilst we have done the tour!

At the moment he is sitting with his head over the bathing platform watching intently all the shiny fish swimming around, he seems quite happy with life .

Why am I writing about this you ask? Well, I thought I would like to put pen to paper and note some observations of French dogs, or rather dog ownership.

The Positives

Previously, I remember the streets of France having an abundance of dog poo. This seems now to not be an issue as there are frequently dog bag dispensers with actual dog bags in them, and people are generally good about clearing up the dog mess.

Dogs are generally tolerated at most establishments, as long as they are on a leash and under control. Even in Paris, they were allowed to go into the large department stores and many restaurants, and didn't seem to cause any concerns.

If stopping for a drink or to dine, a 'toutou' - a bowl of water - will immediately appear for the dog, generally without being requested.

Peolpe will ask if they can approach your dog, or if their children may pet him, rather than either just lunging in or screaming in their face.

They are dogs, and still treated as such!

The Negatives

A bit like in the UK, lockdown seems to have created a mass of unsuitable breeds of dog.

There are large golden retrievers in the middle of Paris, and in the scorching heat of the south. They do seem to be a favourite breed generally but must be hard work in these situations.

French and British bulldogs struggling to breath whilst straining on the ends of leads.

Great big bully type breeds, which just look fearsome, and that's the reason they have them.

Loads of Belgian Mallinois, generally muzzled or throwing themselves at you as you walk past their garden fence.

Dogs in general just aren't socialised, they see you approaching and lunge towards you with an owner struggling to keep them away, though most of them are probably just wanting to say hi.

As is common with 'trainers' in the UK now, they seem to be told to keep them away from other dogs and have these ridiculous long lines which just serve to get everyone in their vicinity tangled up and cross!

With owners panickly asking if our dog est gentile, and yelling 'doucement, doucement',at the fast approaching bundle of noise launching itself noisily towards us.

There as still rural areas where dogs are obviously just left in the garden and their only purpose is to be a guard dog, which seems a bit sad for them, and quite frightening as they hurl themselves against the fence as you wander past!

Rant over...

Generally on our very early morning beach walks, there are many normal other dogs and owners with well behaved ,and trained dogs, just letting them be what they are and having a perfectly happy time whilst being respectful of others and avoiding the beach at busier times.

Anyway we're glad Sprocket is with us, it is a bit more responsibility but it also means I have to get out and walk him at least a couple of times a day, he is generally good company and quite amusing- like when he fell in the canal because he was so distracted by the fish he didn't see the end of the wall, and when he fell through the companionway hatch like a cartoon!

And he seems quite relaxed whilst we are sailing 😊