mad cachorros

Brazilians love blond dogs.

For serious, there are enough golden retrievers and yellow labs here to make Travis feel maybe not so bad about having to shoot the rabies out of Old Yeller.

I mentioned this observation to a Brazilian friend, and he told me it's because of the movie Marley and Me.

And I laughed.

And I laughed.

Who better to set trends than Owen Wilson? You? Me? Marley? Me? Dupree?

Any which way, the prevalence of labs and retrievers gives the city an awesome atmosphere, or maybe just accentuates the already existing one: spastic energy, frenzied enthusiasm, nonstop nose-to-crotch joie de vivre. When São Paulo gets excited, it pees a little. If you throw a stick, São Paulo will bound after it, break it, drag it back to you all deformed and whine until you throw it again. I don't know what that means.

But for real, I can't stop thinking of what a WIN this is for Brazil. Think about it: the last time a breed of dog became trendy for a stupid reason in the US it was because Paris Hilton carried a chihuahua around in her purse. Then a couple of years later there appeared a generation of refugee chihuahuas, probably abandoned around the time their owners realized dogs can shit in purses.

Well Marley and Me is a few years old now and the Brazilians have shown themselves to be not as fickle as fans of ... what the hell did Paris Hilton do again? Act? Reality show? I guess just be everyone's favorite anorexic head on a stick.

tickby snapped this noise in Ibirapuera Park

It could be that they're just living out the entire Marley and Me plot, like owning the blond dog from puppyhood to deadhood, but even then, even if the loyalty is to the trend and not the dogs, it is a win, because even if Owen Wilson is kind of a dumb blond, he is not Paris Hilton.

Anyway, as a dog lover, and an (obviously) excellent judge of character, I conclude:

Brazil: 10
USA: 0