J’embrasse mon chien sur la bouche — really
By Gina Spadafori
June 18, 2007
A few years ago a friend gave me a T-shirt that had on it an expression in French: “J’embrasse mon chien sur la bouche.” Translated, it means, “I kiss my dog on the lips,” but the design didn’t help anyone guess at that. The shirt had nothing but words on it, no illustration.
As a result, total strangers would come up and ask me to explain what I was wearing, and over the handful of years before I wore out the garment, I noticed a big difference in the reaction to the translation.
The dog-lovers would smile, sometimes laugh, and more than a few times would sheepishly admit the shirt’s motto was one they, too, personified.
But then, there were those people whose smiling faces went very, very sour at the thought of kissing a dog at all, much less anywhere near the lips. The polite ones would recover with a wan smile and shrink away, as if I were somehow contaminated and possibly contagious. And then there were angry people, who’d feel compelled to share their disgust of dogs, usually launching into a diatribe about a neighbor whose dog left calling cards on the lawn or barked all night.
And then they’d stand there, waiting for me to defend all dogs and all dog owners because … well, I kiss my dogs on the lips, see?
In any language: Get over it. I kiss my dogs (and my cat, rabbit and parrot) and I am not ashamed!
Nor am I alone.
Dr. Becker loves to tell a story of when he and his wife were traveling and one of them had forgotten a toothbrush. I don’t remember how it went exactly, but one of them suggested they share a toothbrush, then both decided it was too gross to even contemplate. And these are people who’d been married for years, happily and with two children.
So … he won’t share a toothbrush with his beloved wife, but when Dr. Becker meets a friendly dog he doesn’t think anything of getting a big sloppy dog kiss.
We were talking about this whole dog-kiss thing, and decided it would make a fun book, a collection of pictures of people kissing dogs, dogs kissing people and dogs kissing each other. We though it would be a fun Web site first, so we got Black Dog busy. The whole thing was supposed to be up April 1 — no foolin’ — but with the pet food mess, it got pushed back a bit. We’re still tweaking it a little, even now.
One of those tweaks is to display the most recent picture on this site, so people can take a look, go rate the picture and even add one if they want. We may or may not end up with a book, but we hope people will have some fun with the site no matter what. So click at right and go check it out. And tell a friend, will you?
Pictured: Drew. Who wouldn’t want to kiss him?
Drew is lovely! And I would want to kiss him, but I would ask first! ;) I’ve had people come up to my pup and do the swoop, grab face and go in for the kiss before I could react. I quickly learned to step in front when I saw a ‘swooper’! I find it funny in retrospect, because I now think she is visually adorable, but I didn’t think that when I got her. I never saw her that way. I also never intended for her to be my dog. Talk about denial! lol!~ If people in the ‘hood see me without her they get concerned and come over and ask where she is. Kinda tough to go to the bank with her, although they have let her in . . .
yup! I kiss my dog on the lips and damn proud of it!! I’ll have to borrow that phrase and make myself a t-shirt, iffin’ ya don’t mind!
Can ya pass on a kiss to Drew from me, please?!
Comment by straybaby — June 18, 2007 @ 4:50 pm
Itchmo is back in Action
Comment by Steve — June 18, 2007 @ 5:56 pm
“I kiss my dog on the lips”? How chaste. Puck thinks French kissing is the way to go, and she gets her way often enough (like in the morning if I am asleep with my mouth open). I know what her tongue tastes like. Oh no! How disgusting! Too bad. She and I share all our germs, and neither is the worse for wear.
Comment by Carol PW — June 18, 2007 @ 7:44 pm
Oh, Drew, you are so hansome and now your stealth kissing secret is out!
Comment by Rose — June 18, 2007 @ 11:49 pm
I kiss my dogs on the lips all the time, and I grabbed me little girl dog and smacked her lips right after she puked up grass or bile or something, before breakfast - I got a taste of slimy slobber string and now I always look first before I smooch my pooch.
Comment by Linda — June 19, 2007 @ 8:48 am
Gina—maybe you should issue a warning to all newcomers to you website:
USING THIS SITE MAY BECOME AN ADDICTION.
USER BE FOREWARNED. (Just kidding, tired of being serious all the time.)
Comment by Evelyn — June 19, 2007 @ 9:42 am
It’s the special melamine coating we add to the blog. :)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — June 19, 2007 @ 9:54 am
Oh my dear! I’m the original dogkisser! I even have the websites to prove it! haha! I have a blog called dogkisser and I have a website at http://dogkisser.ca/ ! The subtitle to my blog is “Me and my dogs in Halifax, Nova Scotia” - and it’s all about the adventures that me and my dogs go on here in Nova Scotia - but I am an unabashed and unapologetic dogkisser. These days it’s much safer to kiss a dog than just about anything else I’d say! Joan Sinden and her dogs Buttercup, Charlie and Daisy in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Comment by Joan Sinden — June 20, 2007 @ 4:47 am