43: A Bear of a Dog and Moldovan Mutts

I wasn't planning on doing animal posts three days in a row but yesterday I had another encounter with the largest dog I have ever met. She lives with a family who work in the embassy and have dinners at their house once a week. Since the dinners usually happen in the middle of the week I have been unable to go since July and when I was there that time I didn't have my camera so I wasn't able to share with everyone the bear of a dog I got to eat dinner with the last time I was there. This time, however, I had my camera.

However, since this is supposed to be posts related to Moldova I will run with the topic of dogs and see what I can come with.

Peace Corps Moldova's newest member

The first thing that comes to mind is the overwhelming amount of stray dogs you find in the capital city. They are usually friendly but are a lot more apprehensive to human contact since people in Moldova have more a tendency to hit or kick them if they get in the way. They also tend to form little dog packs so its not unusual to be walking down the street and have a pack of 5 dogs just run past you on their way to their next meal.

Our guard dog Vova (which is the short form of the name Vladimir)

Also, no Moldovan house would be complete without its guard dog. Whenever someone comes over to visit they usually stand outside the gate of the house and call out for the person they are looking for, usually though unless the windows are open you probably won't hear anyone calling out for you. This is where the dog comes in, as soon as someone calls out from the gate the dog starts barking and the barking is usually a lot more effective than the actual calling out. 

I should also note that almost all dogs you will find in Moldova are mutts and are all about the same size. Whenever, I have run into pure-bred dogs or at least dogs that held stronger resemblances to specific breeds I have usually caught myself doing a double take. Which brings me to my next subject: ляля or Lyalya.

The face she gives me when I don't give her food. 

Our other dog is not a mutt like Vova she is purer bred though I really can't think of what she might be. However, I can tell you that she is a bottomless pit for food and will forget within a minute of her last meal that you fed her and will constantly bark until she gets more food...although you can distract her for a while by playing she will eventually get bored of playing and go back to barking.