Free Market Dogs

Description

What has changed in the last twenty-five years in the relationship of Poles with their dogs? How have the free market and capitalism influenced Poland and the human-canine bond there? Are dogs "property," "friends," or "members of the family" in post-communist Poland? Free Market Dogs, edited by Michal Piotr Pregowski and Justyna Wlodarczyk, examines the interactions and relationships of dogs and humans in contemporary Polish culture and society, and explores how Poland's intense exposure to Western-and particularly American-cultural patterns influenced the status of dogs after restoration of democracy in 1989. This book discusses topics such as the emergence of pet cemeteries, dog memoirs, and presidential dogs in Poland; the growing popularity of dog sports and the feminization of said sports; the philosophical and ideological changes in dog training caused by exposure to state-of-the-art methods from American books and videos; dogs in contemporary Polish art; and the specificity and growing pains of local pet-facilitated therapy. Free Market Dogs was written by researchers and practitioners whose academic background includes sociology, anthropology, pedagogy, cultural studies, and literary studies, and whose practical experience involves either training dogs or working with them. Based on thorough research and personal expertise, this is a great book for anyone interested in human-canine relationships-and their similarities and differences-around the world.
Acknowledgments

Introduction

Four Paws of the Third Republic of Poland: A Timeline

1 Researching the Human-Canine Relationship in Democratic Poland, by Michał Piotr Pręgowski and Justyna Włodarczyk

2 Toward Mutual Understanding, Respect, and Trust: On Past and Present Dog Training in Poland, by

Agnieszka Orłowska

3 Canine Performance Sports in Poland: Another Look at the Dog Training Revolution, by Justyna Włodarczyk

4 Dog-Assisted Therapy and Activities in Contemporary Poland, by Agnieszka Wojtków

5 Representations of Dogs in Recent Polish Memoirs and Novels, by Małgorzata Rutkowska

6 The Future and the Moment of Animal Suffering in Space: Representations of Laika in Polish Contemporary Art, by Dorota Łagodzka

7 Pet Cemeteries in Poland and Beyond: Their Histories, Meanings, and Symbolism, by Michał Piotr Pręgowski

Contributors

Index

Sujets

• Pets
• Dogs

Informations

• Publié par: Purdue University Press
• Date de parution: 15 avril 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781612494517
• Langue: English

Extrait

FREE MARKET DOGS
THE HUMAN-CANINE BOND IN POST-COMMUNIST POLAND
NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE HUMAN-ANIMAL BOND
Series editors Alan M. Beck and Marguerite E. O’Haire
FREE MARKET DOGS
THE HUMAN-CANINE BOND IN POST-COMMUNIST POLAND

Edited by Michał Piotr Pr ę gowski and Justyna Włodarczyk
Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana
Copyright 2016 by Purdue University. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Pr ę gowski, Michał Piotr, 1978–, editor. | Włodarczyk, Justyna.
Title: Free market dogs : the human-canine bond in post-communist Poland / edited by Michał Piotr Pr ę gowski and Justyna Włodarczyk.
Description: West Lafayette, Indiana : Purdue University Press, 2016. | Series: New directions in the human-animal bond | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015048694 | ISBN 9781557537409 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781612494517 (epub) | ISBN 9781612494500 (epdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Dogs—Effect of human beings on—Poland.
Classification: LCC SF422.6.P7 F74 2016 | DDC 636.7009438—dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015048694
Cover photo copyright by Agnieszka Bie ń ko-Kuczy ń ska and Łukasz Kuczy ń ski, dogografia.eu .
The book is dedicated by Michał to his human family, Kasia, Piotr, and Olaf, and its nonhuman member, Okami—without the latter all this would not have been possible; and by Justyna to the memory of Uma, an extraordinary dog .
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Four Paws of the Third Republic of Poland: A Timeline
1 Researching the Human-Canine Relationship in Democratic Poland
Michał Piotr Pr ę gowski and Justyna Włodarczyk
2 Toward Mutual Understanding, Respect, and Trust: On Past and Present Dog Training in Poland
Agnieszka Orłowska
3 Canine Performance Sports in Poland: Another Look at the Dog Training Revolution
Justyna Włodarczyk
4 Dog-Assisted Therapy and Activities in Contemporary Poland
Agnieszka Wojtków
5 Representations of Dogs in Recent Polish Memoirs and Novels
Małgorzata Rutkowska
6 The Future and the Moment of Animal Suffering in Space: Representations of Laika in Polish Contemporary Art
Dorota Łagodzka
7 Pet Cemeteries in Poland and Beyond: Their Histories, Meanings, and Symbolism
Michał Piotr Pr ę gowski
Contributors
Index
Acknowledgments
T his book would not have been possible without the contributions, support, and advice of many people. As editors of this publication, we would like to express our gratitude to those who helped us and provided guidance and encouragement throughout the process of preparing this book. We would particularly like to thank Robert W. Mitchell for his enthusiastic support, genuine interest, and care, as well as his insightful critical feedback for some of the chapters; Alan M. Beck for believing in the value of this publication and supporting our book proposal strongly from the very beginning; and Margo DeMello, Helena Pycior, and Jane Desmond for their encouragement and editorial advice at the preliminary stages of the preparation of this collection. Furthermore, Michał wishes to thank the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, the administrator of the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence Program, and the Department of Psychology at Eastern Kentucky University, his host in the Scholar-in-Residence program, for the opportunity to work in great comfort on the development of this book.
Additionally, we would like to thank our colleagues from our home universities who have supported us in our animal studies research—Zbigniew Król, Marek Pary ż , and Zuzanna Ładyga—as well as Jennifer Drake and Iwona Jakubowska-Branicka, two scholars who have served as long-term sources of inspiration and support. We are also grateful to Tomasz Mo ń ko, Zosia Kwiatkowska, and Dogografia.eu for donating their photographs for this book and to our copy editor, Kelley Kimm, for her enthusiasm and dedication.
Introduction
Michał Piotr Pr ę gowski and Justyna Włodarczyk
I n June 2012 an inconspicuous white Bolognese, a curly lap dog of the Bichon type, became the talk of the town in Poland. Her name was Ramona and someone sent her a small amount of marijuana, drawing attention from the local police. Authorities assumed the drug was in fact meant to reach Olga “Kora” Jackowska, Ramona’s guardian and a famed Polish singer. An investigation ensued but was eventually discontinued, predominantly due to the insignificant size of the drug parcel. Nevertheless, Ramona became a cause célèbre in the Polish mass media. The case of Ramona Jackowska , as the dog was by then officially dubbed, was picked up with excitement by tabloids such as Fakt and Super Express and gossip websites such as Pudelek.pl and Plotek.pl ; however, even more serious media, such as NaTemat.pl , the Polish equivalent of the Huffington Post , and Dziennik daily, succumbed to the temptation to write about the canine. Surprisingly, it was the latter who, in its entertainment section, reminded Poles about the name day of “the most famous dog of Polish show business” ( Dziennik.pl , 2012). In journalism ruled by infotainment, sensationalism, and shallow messages, it does not take much to be noticed.
And yet merely 30 years ago Poland and other Eastern European countries were fundamentally different. Not only did dogs of celebrities not make the tabloid headlines in Poland, the Czech Republic, or Bulgaria—there were no tabloids. In fact, there was no freedom of speech either, and censorship gagged the press. The communist era that symbolically ended in Poland in 1989 allowed Poles to reap the benefits of democracy and the capitalist, free market economy. The June 1989 elections and the establishment of the government, led by Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki, in September of the same year were the harbingers of tremendous social, cultural, and economic changes in the newly established Third Republic of Poland. For the first time in more than 40 years Poland had a government led by noncommunists, and Polish citizens were once again able to benefit from freedom of speech—as well as from uncontrolled access to American, British, and French press, books, films, art, ideologies, philosophies, and other layers of previously hard-to-reach Western culture.
One of these layers concerns dogs and their role and place in contemporary society, as well as their relationships and interactions with humans. Even though Poles should be considered avid dog lovers—working breeds such as the Polish Greyhound, Polish Hound, Polish Hunting Dog, Polish Lowland Sheepdog, and Polish Tatra Sheepdog were developed in the country centuries ago—the intensity of the socioeconomic changes of the last 25 years strongly influenced how Poles treat their dogs and how emotionally invested they have become in their four-legged companions. Our book is a testament to that change and to the effect the transformation from communism to democracy, and from a state-run economy to a free market economy, has had on Poles and their dogs. Although this collection focuses on Poland alone, numerous remarks and observations can be generalized and may help readers understand the transformation to democracy and its impact on the postcommunist societies of the former Eastern Bloc.
Our decision to prepare a book in English stems from the local success of Pies te ż człowiek? Relacje psów i ludzi we współczesnej Polsce (A dog’s life? On humans and canines in contemporary Poland), a book edited by us and published in Poland by Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra in March 2014. The volume drew attention from the national, mainstream media, resulting in multiple interviews with authors and editors. The fact that an academic book about human-canine relationships garnered public attention in Poland can be considered a sign of changing times.
The current book comprises heavily expanded versions of articles previously published in Poland, as well as completely new material, absent in the Polish version. In some cases we asked the authors to provide information that would benefit the international audience and to highlight issues that would be particularly interesting to those less familiar with Poland’s past and present political, economic, and social situation.
In the first chapter, “Researching the Human-Canine Relationship in Democratic Poland,” Michał Piotr Pr ę gowski and Justyna Włodarczyk provide a detailed look into socioeconomic changes in Poland during and after the transformation, including the post-1989 appearance of premade dog food in Polish stores and the dawn of the popularity of certain North American dog breeds and significant decline in the popularity of other breeds. The authors also present the rise of presidential dogs in Poland (very much in the mold of the “First Dogs” of the United States); the emergence of dog sports (agility, flyball, and rally obedience, among others); issues surrounding dogs in urban spaces, including dog feces (identified as a social issue only in the last decade), as well as the “turf wars” with regard to letting dogs go off leash in municipal parks; and the commercialization of the human-canine relationship in contemporary Poland, as witnessed by the availability of dog-related products and their profound specialization (very much like in the United States and the United Kingdom). The chapter ends with a brief presentation of shelter dogs in Poland and the rising popularity of crossbred dogs, a somewhat new trend adopted (nomen omen) by Polish celebrities and ordinary citizens alike.
Agnieszka Orłowska’s “Toward Mutual Understanding, Respect, and Trust: On Past and Present Dog