"One day on a walk with my Choochay, a couple of neighborhood high school boys saw her and sniggered in an offensive way. I was just irritable enough to turn on them and ask them what they were looking at.

"Your dog, it is a bad dog" they commented.

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Well she has no chest, and is not big enough to win a fight. She is a small poor example of a dog".

"Oh" I answered. "But you are mistaken. She is not a fighting dog. Men do not even have permission to walk her. In fact, she is an 'Afghan Women's Walking Dog'.

They looked at Choochay with astonishment having never conceived of such a dog, or in fact of Afghan women ever walking dogs.

"She protects me." I said smugly.

"Oh!" they said "in this case she is a very beautiful dog and it is right that she is with you"

I could hear them as they walked away... agreeing that an Afghan Women's Walking Dog is an imminently sensible idea -- if you could get an Afghan women to agree to get near a dog enough to walk with one.

This success in establishing the usefulness and beauty of my dog in the neighbor boys eyes has gone to my head... I am now dead bent on getting some henna so I can dip her paws and make them red -- the ultimate sign of regard for a dog, after red boots.

(if you want to help regarding the stray dog and cat situation in Afghanistan, please make a donation to the Mayhew Animal Home and Humane Education Centre, and tell them you want your gift to go to their efforts in Afghanistan. They are working to help spay and neuter dogs and cats there, to train Afghans regarding veterinary medicine, and to change Afghans' cultural practices regarding dogs, which have no basis in the Koran. I have spoken numerous times with a representative of this organization; they ARE making a difference, and your support will help them do even more!)

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