Dogs With Bindis?

The other night, while still at our old republica, Guillaume and I went to get some açaí at the fruit stall just near our house. There, on the steps near the fruit stall was a very-neatly-trimmed grey Maltese puppy, looking up at his owner who was having his açaí. 'He's so cuuute', I squealed to Guillaume, 'he looks fresh, fresh out of a banho e tosa, as though he literally walked out of a grooming session before coming here!' 


Guillaume agreed in regards to the Maltese's cuteness, but disagreed with my remark, 'If he had just walked out of a grooming session he would have a lot of glittery shit stuck to his forehead, Shiva.'


I had to concur. This is something that I have noticed about Brazil in general: Brazilians absolutely love their dogs. And they demonstrate this love through the use of cute costumes, hair accessories, glittery jewels, and hairdoes on their canine friends. Cats do not seem to be nearly as popular.

I first became aware of this national obsession when visiting my friend Rodrigo's home in Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais. He also had a cute little Maltese named Nina, whose hair was adorned with little clips and who had a little diamante stuck to the middle of her forehead, almost like an Indian bindi. I asked him, why did Nina have a bindi on her forehead? 'She came from her banho e tosa (bath) like that. They always put decorations like that on her. At Christmas, they put green and red for example...' I remember finding this very amusing. Since then I haven't ceased to notice the extravagant dog-decorations on the Brazilian dogs I see in the streets.

This is the connection that my brain makes everytime I see one of these Brazilian toy puppies with diamantes stuck to their furry foreheads. Unfortunately, the original Nina was unavailable for a photo at the time of writing this blog as she lives 5 hours away in Minas Gerais.

That's okay - It's funny, and most of all, cuuute!!!!!