By Le Lido

Menton: a busy summer evening. Our hero sits with his owner on the wall right by Restaurant Le Lido. In the photo below he stands by a tree in the square near to the restaurant - presumably waiting for someone - his Mama I expect?

Jules et Jim

Jules (the labrador who is 6) and Jim (the Golden Retriever who is 13) live in the village of Gorbio and had come down to the main square for the Blessing of the Animals. Below you see their owner telling them to look at the camera. In the background is the archway leading to the medieval village.

Bébé and the Blessing of the Animals

Today is the Fête patronale de la St. Barthélémy in Gorbio, a village near to Menton. The day began with the blessing of the animals and today there were several horses and many dogs present. This beauty - see below - is called Bébé which is what he was called when his owner took him from the SPA Refuge de Monaco. She told me he is an American poodle, which (unless you are referring to Mr. Blair!) is apparently a mix of a white poodle and a black poodle but my understanding is that when you do this mating you get either black or white poodles, not a mix like this one. No matter, he is a beautiful dog with a lovely presence. You can see more photos of today's blessing on my Menton Daily Photo blog.

Dogs at Dusk

This photo, plus another of the same dogs, has been published before on Menton Daily Photo but I felt I had to put it on Riviera Dogs. This is taken on the beach in Menton - at dusk - where this lady is exercising her dogs - or are they exercising her? She has a belt around her waist to which are attached three of the dogs and on the Menton Daily Photo link (above) you'll see they are pulling her along the beach.

Taking a break

Taking a break from the heat, this Bassett Hound is watching the world go by in the Casino Gardens of Monaco. The small towel is presumably to keep his face dry - bassett hounds have a habit of drooling!

Easy Rider

This golden retriever is riding the escalator of the Parc Palace shopping centre in Monte Carlo. I always worry when I see dogs on escalators: worry they will catch their paws or coat in the mechanism as they get on or off. However, this isn't an unusual scene - you often see dogs, large and small, on escalators in the Principality. Happily his owner has a protective hand on him, so in this case, I'm sure he'll be OK - and indeed he was.

Disgusted of downtown Carnoles

Can't you just see the disgust in this dogs face? Catsan! Perhaps he's waiting for his 'Mum' to come out of the supermarket in Carnoles with something a little more interesting - like dog food!

Pinky

This dog is very much a sheepdog type. Her so nice and so proud-of-her-dog Italian owner said she is a mix - 'pastoral' she said. I don't speak Italian and she spoke only a little French. I understood though that Pinky is hot in Menton (aren't we all, at the moment?) - and that she prefers living in the mountains. A couple very much in tune with each other.

These photos were taken near to the main market of Menton - above, you see the bay of Cap Martin in the distance.

I want some TOO!

Apologies for this beautiful Flatcoat Retriever being slightly out of focus - I made a sound to attract his attention, he looked at me for one second, then back to what really interested him: the food on the table at this Menton seafood restaurant! Hence, he's slightly out of focus. Below, you'll see the shot I eventually got but this dog wasn't remotely interested in posing. I wonder if he got given a treat. Personally I don't feed a dog from the table - ever. They get their treats just before bedtime - Biccies at Bedtime, I call it.

Dogs at Menton's Arabian Horse Show - 6

One man - two dogs. Are they tired and fed up? Probably not. Most dogs would rather be with their owner, even if they do have to wait whilst he watches the Arabian horses. Dogs need to be with us and we with them. They are family, after all.

Dogs at Menton's Arabian Horse Show - 5

This beautiful dog - is it an Italian Greyhound or a Whippet? Yes, I know I should know. Well I think it's an Italian Greyhound by way of its size. Yet another dog seen at the Arabian Horse show in Menton. In the last photograph you can see one of the horses being taken out for exercise prior to exhibition.

Chico, the dog from Orvieto

This little dog belongs to Don, a friend of mine who lives in Italy. Below you'll see Don and Chico outside the church in Gorbio village. Chico appeared one day at Don's house in Orvieto and despite a long search, the owner was never found - so Chico now has his forever-home. Lucky dog! Lucky Don!

'Skipper'

This little dog has got the art of being cute down to a 'T.' Only 8 months old, she's as bouncy as you'd expect a puppy to be. She wouldn't sit still until I make squeaky noises which made her sit up and take notice. Here she is with her owner outside a café in Carnoles, which is a suburb of Roquebrune-cap-Martin.

Dogs at Menton's Arabian Horse Show - 4

This little cutie - only three months old - is proudly held by her owner. Yet another dog and a very small one this time, snapped at the Menton Arabian Horse Show.

Dogs at Menton's Arabian Horse Show - 3

This is a Sloughi with a bandaged foot. Yet another dog present at Menton's Arabian Horse show. The plastic bags you see in the background are fixed onto the ends of rigid wires and waved about to 'get the horses going' - to energise them. I suppose they are used to it but it seemed to scare some of them. You can more on the beautiful Sloughi breed below.

The following information on the breed was taken from the Sloughi Fanciers Association of America website - click here to read more.

The exact origins of the breed date too far back to be completely known and remain speculative. Representations of African Sighthound-like dogs go back to the 8th-7th millennium BC. and artifacts of Ancient Egypt show us how valuable straight eared and lop-eared smooth Sighthounds were in those days. The smooth lop-eared Sighthounds of ancient Egypt are thought to have originated from Asia (east of Egypt), but they were also part of tributes to the Pharaohs from Nubia (South of Egypt). This ancient hound resembles today's Sloughi, Saluki, Azawakh and smooth Afghan, and it is impossible without any genetic study to know whether it was a breed of its own, whether it was identical to one of these 4 breeds, or whether it was the ancestor of all lop-eared Sighthounds.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Sloughi was almost extinct. Political upheavals had disrupted highly sophisticated breeding by leading families. A French law introduced during French occupation which prohibited hunting with Sighthounds had resulted in the shooting on sight of these dogs. Epidemic rabies had further decimated the Sloughi population. In spite of dedicated efforts which started at the end of the 1960ies in Europe, North Africa and the USA, the Sloughi is still not very common, and its breeders have an important responsibility in the conservation of this ancient breed.

The Sloughi's native countries are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. It is the hound of the Berber and Bedouin who have always highly treasured the Sloughi's tremendous hunting skills, beauty and loyalty and treated him like family.

In the old days, the Sloughi used to hunt desert hare, fennec (desert fox), gazelle, large mountain gazelle, hyena, ostrich, and jackal. Today it hunts mainly desert hare, fennec, rarely gazelle, and protects the goat and sheep herds by hunting their predator the jackal. Like all Sighthounds, Sloughis are open space hunters which rely on excellent vision, speed and stamina to catch their prey. They chase on sight anything that moves, however far away. Although the breed hunts mainly by sight, it also relies on scent and sound to do so.

The Sloughi is also an alert watch dog, which remains aloof and cautious with people it does not know. Sloughis take time to warm up to strangers allowed to enter the house, and it is always best to let them do it at their own pace. With its owner the Sloughi is gentle, affectionate and very loyal. Once it has bonded with someone, the Sloughi does not always change owner with ease. Bedouins treasure this attitude and have bred their Sloughis accordingly.

© Dominique Crapon de Caprona

Dogs at Menton's Arabian Horse Show - 2

Here's another dog at the Arabian Horse Show in Menton - there seemed to be almost as many dogs as horses! I posted a photo of a Shar-pei a few days ago - here's another - this one, however, is just waiting outside one of the horse boxes. She was here for hours, waiting, waiting. Dogs are so patient, aren't they?

Bundle of fluff

This dog walked past with his owners as I made my way up to the Old Town of Menton. He is a cross between a Chow Chow and a Pyrenean Shepherd Dog. You can see more of the sheepdog than the chow but he has a touch of a chow's black tongue.

Dogs at Menton's Arabian Horse Show - 1

The horses were wonderful and you can see photographs of them on the Menton Daily Photo blog. However, so were the dogs and here is the first - a lovely Shar-pei with her young owners who came from Belgium.

Rapport

This kind gentleman allowed me to photograph his dachshund in Monaco - just outside the Hôtel de Paris. These two, man and dog, seem a very good pairing to me - they had a great rapport. I got the feeling he so loved his dog and had a great and gentle respect for him.

Vide grenier - 2

This dog is helping his owner sell 'stuff' at the Vide Grenier in the medieval hill village of Gorbio. Eventually tho, if you look below, you'll see he had enough! Time for zzzzzzzzzzz.