‘Africans going Dutch’: Part Fourteen – Dutch dogs don’t drink beer

One of the things that struck me when I arrived in the Netherlands for the first time was the many dogs in the streets. In Burundi, you hardly see any dogs.
People do have dogs though, but they stay at home. Their job is to keep the home safe. In the Netherlands, the houses are left unguarded and dogs are companion animals or bodyguards for their owners.
The first time I went shopping in a supermarket I was in for another surprise. If you are able to buy food in the supermarket, you are a big man in Burundi. In my land, the majority of the people can’t afford the very expensive supermarket products. Most people buy their food in the open markets, where things are cheaper. So I felt a kind of proud doing my shopping in the supermarket. But then I saw they also sold food for dogs.
I asked a Dutch friend:
Is this really food for animals?
- Yes it is.
People buy canned food in the supermarket for animals?
- Yes, of course they do.
Do they also buy beer for them?
- No, of course they don’t.
How can you buy food for animals? In Burundi dogs eat the leftovers of the family meals. It would be unthinkable to buy food especially for animals. Soon after my surprise became even bigger. I saw a car with the word dierenambulance [animal ambulance]. I thought: what is that!? Do animals have their own ambulance? In my country, it is very difficult to get one for people, let alone for animals.
The following weekend, a friend invited me to his home. His dog was sitting on the sofa, watching television. He made laughing sounds and sometimes moved his head rhythmically. Now they are exaggerating, I thought, how can they let a dog sit on the sofa?
Nowadays I am used to the Dutch dogs, but I am still wondering: if dogs are man’s best friends, eat food from the supermarket and are allowed to watch television on the sofa, why can’t they have a beer?