A report from our dog field correspondent, Ludo.
By Ludo
Many North Fitzroyans (Fitzroy Northians? Fitzizens? North Fitzroyalty?) spend the large majority of their week at the dog-field set in between Brunswick Street Oval and Alfred Crescent. Owners come from all over, after or before work. Who cares? Not me. I don’t care about humans. It isn’t a graphic designer field. It isn’t a family therapist field. It isn’t a solicitor field. It’s a dog field. So let’s talk about the dogs.
Thankfully, the Edinburgh Gardens dog field is an egalitarian one – this is not the case with all dog fields (I have heard rumours regarding some in the east, with cliques of sadistic chihuahua bullies, who discriminate against dogs that don’t meet their standard). At our dog field, however, we are free to play with whomever we want to, and I, a Groodle, can easily fraternise with Jack Russels, German Shepherds, French Bulldogs, you bark it.
“COVID-19 hasn’t affected us much. We don’t really have an economy to look after.”
COVID-19 hasn't affected us much. While it's true that some dogs come from rough families, most come from loving families, and being home all the time has been fun, at least for me and most of the dogs I talk to. We don’t really have an economy to look after, and we can’t get the virus, so the usual suspects have been frequenting the field as regularly as ever: Buddy, Goose, Alfie, Olive, Turtle, Raffy, Lenny, Buzzley, Penny Lane. (By the way, sniffing each other’s bums is a far more COVID-safe greeting than shaking hands. Try it some time.)
That being said, it’s not always fun and games – for Adam Smith and Lisa Patel and Jane
Rossi, it might just be a lighthearted puppy pilgrimage; for Spike and Rocko and Rover and Rex it’s a chance to talk business. This business can get murky and controversial.
Last week, Rover (Irish Setter) took advantage of Rufus, a fourteen year veteran of the field (and a fellow Groodle, so I might be biased) and traded him two tennis balls for Raffy’s chew toy. This is a terrible deal. Rufus got way under market value for the toy, but he is 98 (in human years) and approaching senility -- Rover sniffed an opportunity. It’s caused something of a rift within our community.
But that’s life here at the dog field. Always some fun, always some drama. Some dogs get on, some dogs don’t. I’m not the biggest fan of pitbulls, OK? I’ll admit it. And the German Shepherds and French Bulldogs haven’t been happy with each other since 1940.
There’s a lot of characters. Thankfully, I was able to chat to one of them: Alfie, a 3 year old Labradoodle, to discuss him and his life at the moment.