Because You Need to See Another Picture of a Peruvian Hairless Dog, Don’t You?

Me & the Peruvian hairless wonder dog in Pachacamac, Peru; photo by Jorge Vera c. 2007

El Fotografo shot these images in Pachacamac last year. The Peruvian hairless dog was strolling around the dusty parking lot, looking blase in his yellow t-shirt. (These dogs sunburn easily.)

The image on the left is the back of my head. I’m wearing a cotton scarf with a fish printed on it and looking at the dust-covered ruins. That is EF’s idea of a joke — an image of a fish in a desert where it never rains. Ha ha.

I’m posting the photo (actually a dyptich from an original tryptich) because for 15 minutes, the Peruvian hairless dog has become A Media Phenom, and I figure there are people who might actually like to see another photo of this unusual creature.

It’s all part of a sporadic information flow between this small Andean country and the rest of the world, in which Peru remains hidden from public view for months, only to surface in the most bizarre circumstances. We were just getting over the scandal of the cat-eating festival in October and were hoping that the world might pay attention to the APEC summit next week.

Instead, Peru grabs the headlines over a bald, toothless dog that could, in some inexplicable turn of events, end up snuggled in the arms of the next president of the United States.

The background: A Peruvian woman has offered to give her four-month-old Peruvian hairless pup to the Obama family, after learning that Malia, Obama’s daughter, is allergic to most dog breeds. The dog’s name is “Ears” because his ears are enormous.

Since I posted on the story earlier today, a Reuters news item has come out about it.  Blogger Carlos at Peruanista is annoyed that the Reuters reporter didn’t get all his facts right; read his rebuttal here.

I am not picky about how much the readers who stumble across my blog know about the Peruvian hairless dog. I just want to know one thing: Do you think it’s cute or creepy?

For more new works by El Fotografo, visit his photo.net website.

For a nice narrative history of the Perro Sin Pelo (hairless dog), visit Desperately Seeking Perros.

To vote for or against the Obamas adopting a Peruvian hairless, visit my poll.