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Canines in Conical Hats: Lucy Does Vietnam


Lucy is a dog with wanderlust.  She loves to go just about anywhere.  And though she looks the part of precious pup–

My seven pound “princess,” in fact, behaves badly anywhere other than her black, backpack carrier—

Very badly!

Lucy does not possess anything remotely resembling a sweet disposition.  Her bark–loud, high-decibeled, and persistent–is her best weapon in an arsenal of ways to get what she wants.

But John Grogan, author of Marley & Me, insists that all dogs are great, and bad dogs–“the greatest of them all.”

And Lucy is indeed a great traveler—

Lucy is such a perfect companion on the road, that Sara and I have trotted the globe with her in tow—if for no other reason than she’s at her best, her most charming and well-behaved in planes, trains, and automobiles.

And on our world-wide odyssey to find canine obedience and tail-wagging good manners, our first stop with Lucy was Vietnam—a country Lucy traveled top to bottom, bottom to top.

Lucy behaved beautifully during our grueling 24 hour trans-global trip to Saigon.  Honestly, I couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome. 

However, day-to-day living with Lucy in Vietnam proved more challenging, since, for the first several days, I couldn’t locate a blade of grass within a 10 block radius of our apartment.   There was a park a 15 minute walk away, but it was so far that even getting there involved rehydration stops along the way:

And once we finally arrived, it turned out dogs were not allowed on the lawn.  I kid you not! 

One morning, a security a guard reprimanded me, “Not dog on grass!  Not dog on grass!”  When I showed him the pink poop bag with which I intended to pick up any excrement, pink poop bag I had brought purposefully all the way from the US—biodegradable and environmentally friendly—he seemed not the least impressed and repeated his demand with all the more irritation, “Not dog on grass!  Not dog on grass!”  But Lucy refused to pee or poop on pavement.  What was an environmentally conscious, dog-toting-to-the-Far-East American to do?

What I did was find this lonely square of grass in front of the Indonesian Consulate:

But once she adjusted to only a tiny turf, Lucy was off to places like the Reunification Palace:

She visited famous fountains:

She even participated in a student survey:

She insisted on praying at Notre-Dame Basilica:

Lucy traveled the 1,100 miles from Saigon to Hanoi by train—a nearly 30 hour trip:

She loved lounging in our compartment and mooching meals from Sara:

In Hanoi she visited the Temple of Literature by back pack:

She enjoyed Sunday brunch at the world-famous Metropole Hotel:   

Lucy took us shopping in the Old Quarter:

There she bought the smallest conical hat in all of Southeast Asia:

Lucy continues to turn heads even now that we live in Haiti,  but she still insists no well-mannered Maltese would do Vietnam without a millinery consultation. 

Hats off to Hanoi!

54 thoughts on “Canines in Conical Hats: Lucy Does Vietnam”

  3. What a lovely photo walk with you, Sara and Lucy! Lucy is undoubtedly the best travelled canine I know – oh the stories she could tell! Your photos are wonderful and my favourite – and it made me laugh out loud – was Lucy in the conical hat!
    Thanks, Kathy – I needed this today
    Sunshine xx

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  5. I love the pic of her in the bag in the restaurant! Tell the little gal that I feel her pain! Tell her I would not be able to poop or pee on pavement either! ha ha 🙂

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  6. I’m with The Idiot. I doubt I could will myself to tinkle on the sidewalk…Now, a lush lawn on the other hand? I’m all for it.
    Thanks for such a fun post this Monday morning. Her sweet face put me in a great mood 🙂

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    • I think she WAS indeed born to travel! She loves that black backpack because she knows it means she’s going somewhere. Now when I pull out the backpack our other dog, Ralph, also gets excited–cause he knows that if she’s going, he’s probably going too. He’s a hoot!

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  8. How adorable! I love it that your dog has such broad horizons! So many dogs, mine included, only know their backyards and maybe a few houses and a park or two. Yours knows different countries! I think there should be a series: Lucy in cultural hats. More hats, please! 🙂

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  10. I always love a great dog story, even though, at heart, I consider myself to be a cat person…the photos are The Sauce!
    glad to get to know your doggie…I bet he’s happy to have you two!
    blessings
    jane

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    • In used to consider myself a cat person, and for years I only had a cat. In fact, part of what I think I enjoy about Lucy is that she acts a lot like a cat–she spent the first year of her life being socialized largely by a Mama cat we had at the time. She’s a funny little dog.

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  11. I wish Reggie could travel as well as Lucy! He rides well in the car, but it takes him a while to adjust to new places.
    “Hat’s off” to Lucy!

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    • How old is Regie? I think we started taking Lucy places when she was young enough to adapt. Generally dogs DO love routine. They love to know they’re home. Lucy, I think, associates me with home, so that wherever I am becomes home to her.

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  13. I have traveled so very little (so far) in my lifetime. I think if I had a traveling companion like Lucy, I’d soon be an expert traveler. May I borrow her? She is so darn cute, I think I could put up with her otherwise not-so-well mannered disposition.

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  16. Pingback: Miscellaneous Monday (and more Mindy to come) | reinventing the event horizon

    • I think she’s pretty cute. And sorry to hear it didn’t work for you to bring your dogs. Actually, it’s lot easier than it sound. Unless Japan has mandatory quarantine. Even the US no longer has it, but I suppose a country that does not allow women to bank independently from their husbands, may not be real open to animal rights either.

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  19. Oh my word, I looooove Lucy. What a beautiful little dog – makes me miss my animals back home.
    My favourite photo is the hat 🙂 I could never get my pups to wear those – my yorkie gets depressed when the doggie parlour gives her a bow or a pom-pom.

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    • Isn’t she a hoot! She really loved that hat, but then she puts up with a lot from me in terms of hair fixing and grooming. I thinks she enjoys the attention. Sorry you have to be away from your Yorkie–that must be hard!

      But thanks so much for stopping by, reading, commenting, etc. I hope you’ll come back. We’d love to have you!

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  20. Pingback: Recycling Feline Love: Art to Meow About! | reinventing the event horizon

    • I’m so pleased you enjoyed Lucy’s hat. She doesn’t have any dresses, so I won’t mention Lily’s to her. God forbid she be envious. LOL

      Thanks so much for reading! Hope you’ll be back soon! It was great having you!

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  23. Lucy’s beautiful! It’s amazing all the places that she’s been to! Is it hard to get the paperwork done for pets to travel? I currently live in Taiwan and now have a dachshund called Millie. I haven’t figured out all the details of how to take her back with me to North America yet. But in the long run, she’ll be moving with me for sure.

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    • Great to hear from you! It’s pretty easy to bring a healthy pet whose had all of her shots into the US. You only need a health certificate that a vet there in Taiwan should be able to provide and current proof of rabies shots. I’ve ususally gotten through immigration in the US in a matter of 5 or 10 minutes when I’ve entered the country. An immigration official will only look at your paperwork to be sure all is in order, and you can go one. No quarantine here anymore.Oops, she will also have to be microchipped, I think. My dog already is, so I forget if that’s requitred or not. No one has ever scanned her to be sure she actually has one, and she’s been in and out of the country a lot. I don’t know about Canada, however.

      Hope you’ll come back again soon. It was great having you visit!

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      • Thank you for sharing about your experience.

        Millie has her shots on schedule and is already microchipped. The vet said to go back for paperwork when we confirm that we are travelling. Right now, we don’t have fixed schedule yet, but we want to be ready.

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    • Ah, what happened to your dog? I know how hard it can be to separated from an animal you love. I hate that for you. Hang in there! Thanks for taking the time to read and leave a comment. Hope you’ll come back again soon. It was great having you, old post or not!

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  25. The best-travelled doggie I’ve come across! Actually, I do know a girl who travels the world with her black lab. Regularly gets upgraded to business class with her, as she’s one of those detect-a-fit dogs. Cats don’t do travel so much!

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