To me Russia is not best symbolized by \u00ab<\/strong>\u0431\u043e\u0440\u0449<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [borscht] or \u00ab<\/strong>\u041a\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0441\u043d\u0430\u044f<\/strong>\u043f\u043b\u043e<\/span>\u0449\u0430\u0434\u044c<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [The Red Square] or \u00ab<\/strong>\u043c\u0430\u0442\u0440\u0451<\/span>\u0448\u043a\u0438<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [\u2018matryoshki’<\/em>; sets of nesting dolls] or \u00ab<\/strong>\u0443\u0448\u0430<\/span>\u043d\u043a\u0438<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [caps with earflaps] or \u00ab<\/strong>\u0413\u0430\u0433\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0438\u043d<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [Gagarin; first man in space<\/a>], not even by \u00ab<\/strong>\u0414\u043e\u0441\u0442\u043e\u0435<\/span>\u0432\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [Dostoevsky]; no matter how strange it might sound my Russia has the symbol of \u00ab<\/strong>\u0431\u0435\u0437\u0434\u043e<\/span>\u043c\u043d\u044b\u0435<\/strong>\u0441\u043e\u0431\u0430<\/span>\u043a\u0438<\/strong>\u00bb <\/strong>[pl.<\/em> stray; homeless dogs]. Nobody who has been to Russia has made it out of here without encountering at least one of them somewhere. (Perhaps some visitors to Russia were lucky enough to escape such an encounter, for example, if you only visited Saint Petersburg or Moscow for a couple of days.) When people back home ask me if I’m not afraid of living so far away in such a \u2018dangerous’<\/em> country as Russia, I have always answered them, and continue to do so, in one and the same way: “The only thing I fear here are Russian dogs.” During my years here I’ve seen many ugly things and been the victim on many unpleasant episodes, but by far the worst have involved not Russian people, but the hoards of stray dogs that are to be found everywhere in this large country. If it weren’t for the stray dogs, Russia would be a much better place to live in. If I didn’t have to calculate my running routs by where I’ve seen stray dogs lately, I would get a lot more running done, for example. Today I bought my weekly dose of Russian news in the form of the superb magazine \u00ab<\/strong>\u0420\u0443<\/span>\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439<\/strong>\u0440\u0435\u043f\u043e\u0440\u0442\u0451\u0440<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong><\/a> [Russian Reporter] and saw on the cover a heartbreaking picture of a homeless dog feeding her four puppies and the headlines: \u00ab<\/strong>\u0427\u0442\u043e<\/strong>\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u043b\u0430\u0442\u044c<\/strong>\u0441<\/strong>\u0431\u0435\u0437\u0434\u043e<\/span>\u043c\u043d\u044b\u043c\u0438<\/strong>\u0441\u043e\u0431\u0430<\/span>\u043a\u0430\u043c\u0438<\/strong>\u00bb <\/strong>[What to do with the stray dogs] and \u00ab<\/strong>\u0412\u044b<\/span>\u0431\u0440\u043e\u0448\u0435\u043d\u043d\u044b\u0435<\/strong>\u0438\u0437<\/strong>\u0436\u0438<\/span>\u0437\u043d\u0438<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [Thrown out of life]. This number [\u2116 7 (086<\/em>) February 26th<\/sup> – March 5th<\/sup> 2009<\/em><\/a>] of the magazine contains two stories focusing on this huge problem in Russia today: \u00ab<\/strong>\u0423\u0431\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c<\/strong>\u043d\u0435<\/strong>\u0431\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043d\u043e<\/strong>\u00bb<\/strong> [It isn’t painful to kill] about a man who’s job it is to kill stray dogs, and \u00ab<\/strong>\u0421\u043e\u0431\u0430<\/span>\u043a\u0438<\/strong>, <\/strong>\u0443\u043b\u0435\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u044e\u0449\u0438\u0435<\/strong>\u0432<\/strong>\u0440\u0430\u0439<\/strong>\u00bb <\/strong><\/a>[Dogs that fly up to paradise] about people who try to sterilize and take care of stray dogs. My opinion before reading the article mentioned last was that all stray dogs in Russia should be shot and not shown any mercy at all. This has to do with what I have seen with my own eyes – dogs attacking small children, old babushkas, terrible scars on the faces of friends from such attacks, and the lack of freedom of movement they create for all of us who are living here. In Russia, unfortunately, one cannot go wherever one might want to go. You must always be cautious, and throwing stones at dogs, as a French fellow student suggested once when we were being followed by a large group of dogs outside the Chinese market in Omsk, is impossible in larger cities because a)<\/strong> there are not many stones around and b)<\/strong> during the winter all stones are covered under heavy layers of snow. Living in Russia does make a person wiser. Russian life teaches you many things you might never have learned in other countries – how to run away from dogs, and that a woman should always walk on the pavement against traffic, never with it. Why? Because here it often happen that suspect cars stop to pick up young women, posing as taxis or just pretending to be asking for directions. Walking against traffic saves your life and should not be underestimated. This I didn’t know in Sweden. But that’s a whole other chapter in the book on the dangers of life in Russia. Let’s stick to stray dogs today.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2009\/02\/russiandog2.jpg\")
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