Crazy Dog Lady: Confusion and Hilarity
One of the great things about being an expat versus a traveler is that you get to experience simple, every day stuff. You get to find a favorite bakery, choose a local hang out, and get to know the people of your neighborhood. I would like to use this post to tell you all about one of my favorite neighborhood characters. I don’t actually know her name, I just refer to her as Crazy Dog Lady.
Buenos Aires is full of dog walkers. It is not at all uncommon to see someone with 10 or more dogs clipped to their belt walking around a park. It seems that most dog walkers choose a size or even breed to specialize in, but all of these dogs are of medium to horse-like size. That is to say, all of the dogs except the ones managed by Crazy Dog Lady.
Crazy Dog Lady Has Her Own Style
Creative Commons photo by Tracy Altman.
The Crazy Dog Lady has her own style. First of all, she only works with poodles. Do not even try to hand her anything other than a fluffy little poodle because she will not be interested. Where she is finding clients that cannot handle the daunting task of walking their 4 pound poodle around the block, I do not know. Regardless, Crazy Dog Lady always has around 4 or 5 jumpy poodles with her, each one of them shaking like someone filled their water bowls with coffee. She also seems to hate all dogs that are not of the poodle variety. She always glares suspiciously at my dog. Once, a stray dog followed me for a little while. The dog was harmless, only playfully trying to get my dog’s attention. Crazy Dog Lady chased him away from her poodles and demanded I take care of the situation. When I explained that the dog did not belong to me, she seemed to hate me that much more.
Crazy Dog Lady Hates Green
Second of all, she does not bother with parks or green spaces of any kind. In fact, I am fairly certain her route involves only a 4 block stretch within the neighborhood. I often run into her multiple times while running errands in the area. I rarely see her actually walking, she is usually stopped with her poodle crew, talking to herself or to the dogs. Her volume control seems to be off because she will begin in a whisper and randomly accelerate into a yell. I cannot tell you how many times she has made me jump in fear due to her strange need to start ranting loudly just as I pass her by.
Crazy Dog Lady Dresses Crazy
Lastly, her wardrobe is a constant source of both confusion and amusement for me. While dog walkers are not known for their sense of fashion, they tend to stick to cargo pants or jeans, weather appropriate tops and jackets, etc. Crazy Dog Lady wears cut-off pajama pants, boots and what looks like a medical scrub shirt.
I have taken the time to fully appreciate this ensemble and have realized that it is not the same outfit every day. Crazy Dog Lady has multiple pairs of PJ cutoffs. It is clear that she cut these pants into long shorts herself as the leftover threads are still hanging from the fringe. What baffles me is that she always wears thick, knitted socks under her huge, clunky boots that reach the tips of the PJ cutoffs. Why cut your PJs into shorts only to bundle up with thick socks and boots?! She also has bed-head 24/7. No matter what time of the day I see her, she is in pajamas and her hair is sticking straight up on 1 side and flat on the other. I think it is all just part of her crazy street cred.
So you see, settling down into the expat life has its benefits. It is small joys like noticing a new pair of PJ cutoffs on a crazy dog walker that keep life interesting.
