One of the great dogs I’ve met through reading is Babur, whom Rory Stewart acquired, against his better judgement, while hiking across some of the remoter regions of Afghanistan.  Babur is big, stubborn, brave, fearful, and loveable.

Here he lays claim to new territory with Alexandrian confidence; I loved that closing comment on his attitude.

‘Babur seemed prepared to examine, mark with urine and take possession of every metre of the next six hundred kilometres walk. Only once or twice in my eighteen-month walk across Asia had I felt some magical claim to the territory I touched with my feet. But Babur apparently felt it all the time … He was like a canine Alexander.’

For other Babur tails, see ‘The Deciding Moment’, ‘Never Look a Gift Dog’, and, of course, ‘I love Babur II’.

Source: Rory Stewart, The Places in Between (London: Picador, 2014), p. 174

Photo credit: SitX at pixabay