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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
From my flat on the eighth floor, I enjoy the panoramic view of the bay and beaches of Montevideo. Except for days of rain and stormy weather—which happen often in these months of winter—the beach is frequented by dogs and their masters and mistresses. I have a passion for dogs, and every morning and afternoon I take short breaks to watch from my window the playfulness of my four-feeted soulmates. They differ in race, color, and size, but from a bird’s-eye view, these differences are negligible, as are the differences in their behavior: they all stop to sniff and deposit their “biological fingerprints” at exactly the same places, they leap and jump around, they move back and forward in different directions, always close to water—a few of them even risk brief visits into the water—and always ahead of their guardians, though not too far away from them. Only occasionally do I observe barking confrontations. Often, however, I see them joined in ceremonial acts aimed at repeatedly outshining each other with regard to “depositional” pace and outreach.
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3. See note 1, Häyry 2010:38.
4. See note 1, Häyry 2010:33ff.
5. See note 1, Häyry 2010:18.
6. See note 1, Häyry 2010:32.
7. See note 1, Häyry 2010:18.
8. See note 1, Häyry 2010:33 and 36.
9. See note 1, Häyry 2010:32.
10. As explicitly stated by Häyry himself: ”I do not aim in this book to criticise other ethicists’ views at a normative level” (p. 30).
11. See note 1, Häyry 2010:27.
12. See note 1, Häyry 2010:27.
13. See note 1, Häyry 2010:31.
14. See note 1, Häyry 2010:32.
15. See note 1, Häyry 2010:32.
16. Throughout the book he makes reference to some of them, but no female scholar is attributed with the same level of critical attention and space as are his six male pets.
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