No Dogs Allowed!
There is no dog-friendly beach in Malta. In fact, the entire islands seems to be up in arms against man's 'best friend'. Dr. Zoran thinks we're just harming ourselves...and the dogs.
During my recent visit to Germany I was utterly impressed how well are dogs integrated into their society. People carry them all the way to mountain peaks in their rucksacks, have special little carts attached to their bicycles so that they can enjoy cycling together and swim with them in the lakes. They take them to hotels and restaurants and nobody pays even slightest bit of attention. Dogs in Germany, and their social integration, are normal.
A few latitude degrees south, and on our little rock, the situation is completely different. I do not know whether this comes from Phoenician – read 'Arabic' heritage, as most Arabs believe the dogs are unclean animals - but in Malta many places are out of limit for our canine friends. In practical terms we have turned them into second class citizens, especially, compared to cats. If you want to take your dog for a swim you are risking a €25 fine. At the moment swimming for dogs in Malta is forbidden. The law does not say it exactly in those words; it says that dogs have to be on the leash at all times whilst in public spaces. But in practical terms, this basically means that swimming for dogs is forbidden in Malta. Unless you are going to let the dog swim on the leash, which I definitely would not recommend.
Although the island boosts considerable population of canine companions of all breeds, there is no dog friendly beach in Malta, even though some of these breeds need access to water and swimming in order to thrive. Swimming is one of dogs' Five Freedoms – which we are supposed to provide to our pets as prescribed by the European Animal Welfare laws.
Most public gardens are off-limits for dogs, although they are full of stray cats and some of them even boast established colonies with feeders, shelters and all. Try and find nice piece of mowed grass where you can run barefoot and play frisbee or fetch with your dog anywhere between Valletta and Swieqi: it is impossible.  At the moment Qui Si Sana Garden is being constructed: this is supposed to have nice big patches of mowed grass – at least according to the plans. I bet it will be plastered with ‘No Dogs’ signs all over, you probably will not be able to pass with your dog along the promenade adjacent to the garden – as is the case in Marsalforn’s public garden and promenade. Is this not odd? Anywhere in England, and most of Europe, you actually take your dog to the park for a walk or a run. Here, 'parks' or public gardens are all about whoever designed them, not the humans and animals who will be using them.
I will not even begin with restaurants and cafés.  Most of the places have ‘no dogs’ policies and when you find a place like Fresco’s in Sliema where they even bring the dog a water bowl with your drinks you think you have stepped into the twilight zone. In the UK, dogs even get their own menu now, in some pubs: there is a reason for it - if the owners are happy, then they will stay there and spend more money.
Supposedly these stringent laws are in place because of dog soiling problem. But let me tell you something – whilst Germany and UK have the same leash laws as Malta, plus dog friendly public amenities, I have not seen a single piece of dog excrement on the public surfaces in these countries.
On the contrary, in Malta we have very strict leash laws, no dog friendly beaches or public surfaces and piles of dog’s dirt everywhere.
Why is it so? Maybe because of our culture, or lack of it?
I have been living in Sliema for the past 11 years and most of the time I love my town, crazy and hectic as it is. Overall I think our local council is doing a great job, given the circumstances.
Beaches are regularly cleaned, street furniture promptly maintained and improved, trees pruned, promenade scrubbed and everything else.
Trust me; it is not a small job to clean Sliema beaches. The terrain is rough, the sun merciless even very early in the morning, while most of our beach users, both tourists and local barbie freaks – are no better then pigs in their behaviour. I really feel for the Local Council employees who have to traipse the rocks every morning dragging the bags with litter with them collecting everything these humans leave behind. You would not believe the piles of rubbish humans are capable of leaving behind them, not to mention their excrement. Some people think it is perfectly all right to use the beaches as public toilets.
And then there are dogs and dog owners. In fact there is a great number of us. We may be freaks to some people, but we are a considerable community that the Sliema local council has to reckon with.
In most cases, the subculture of the Slimizi is made up of sensible people who clean behind their dogs. No respectable dog owner would ever be caught outside with their dog without ample supply of poo bags, and if it happens that we run out of them during walk we will readily borrow them from other community fellows. That is a widely accepted part of our etiquette – poo bags are shared freely no questions asked.  This is not because we are afraid we will get fined, it’s because no decent person who loves their town could walk away with clear conscience leaving a pile of smoldering dog poo in the middle of promenade. It is as simple as that – if you are decent human being you know what is right and what is wrong. You either have shame or not. You don’t need rules or fines.
But unfortunately not all humans are equal, contrary to the literary cliche'.  It seems that in Malta there are still many dog owners who don’t even flinch when their dogs relieve themselves literally on someone’s doorstep.
Most probably these are the same people who think it is okay to keep your dog all day long on the roof or in the garage.
So far the restrictive laws and no dog policies have not really yielded acceptable results. The amount of dog excrement everywhere is the same as it was 10 years ago.
No matter how strict leash laws are there will still be a lot of people breaking them. Especially in Malta, where people traditionally take pride in evading oppressive laws.
Maybe it is the people's conscience that local councils and the government need to work on, rather than forbidding all dogs from many public places. The only way to do this is to educate, to promote and to enforce responsible dog ownership, not leash laws.
A while ago government announced stricter enforcement and conditions for dog licenses. Nothing has happened since then. If this was followed up and one of the requirements for the licence was attendance to courses about responsible dog ownership with a few basics in dog psychology, behavior, care and nutrition thrown in, then maybe our streets and beaches would be much cleaner, our dogs healthier and instead of garages, sizzling roofs and yards they would spend more time on the beaches and parks with their owners enjoying life to the full .
Comments
Like I said the leash laws have very valid reason to be in force. Not all the people like dogs and not all the people are comfortable with them. We have to respect this. The whole point is that if you are to strictly enforce laws than you should look at the issue from all sides and provide a solution which would fit all involved parties. And most importantly regulate dog ownership since clearly many people who have pets are not fit (one way or another ) to own them. Raising the consciousness and knowledge being the key issue.
As for the cue 'if you don't like it go home' this is something that I regard as part of island's charm. Once you are aware what it takes for someone to voice 'argument' like this you can only feel compassion for such an individual and you take it in your stride same as you take dog's poo. Similarly raising-the-awareness-and-knowledge formula can be applied as a solution.
In that vein, perhaps a little anecdote is in order: A friend of mine who is Maltese, Tal Pepe maybe but nevertheless born and breed Maltese finds his car blocked by vehicle plastered with tattoo signs and silly quotes ( of course in English). So he starts honking. Very soon an angry troll, plastered with tattoos and gold same as his car, appears and the first thing he says in English - after the barrage of cuss in Maltese - is of course: "Go Home!"
To which my friend calmly replies: "I 'd like to, but you are blocking my car"
Go figure - or should I say X'affarijet dawn!
While I agree that dogs should be well treated and not harmed, I also do not favour the majority of dog owners that allow there dogs roaming about and leaving there pooh all over the place. Although the Local Council of Birkirkara provided a doggy loo in a green spot near St Alosyous Square close to the college, you have to see it to belive it. This spot in a state of disgrace, who ever is to blame I do not know but there is doggy pooh all over the soft area. Surely if the dog owners of this area have any interest they should ensure that this spot is kept in good order. Above all more Local Councils should take up the idea and find a spot for these doggy loos. As for dogs if they should be on a leash or not, it is mostly worldwide accepted that dogs are not allowed to be without a leash, especailly in habitate and populated areas. Not necessary to be tied on a long leash in a front Garden behind a gate as a guard dog.
I'm not sure you can have it both ways...either you can "take pride in evading oppressive laws" including clearing up after your dog or, as appears to be the case in the whole of Malta, not just Sliema, pick and choose according to the day of the week/prevailing weather conditions or which side of the bed you got out of this morning!
Stricter enforcement of ALL laws is what seems to this outsider to be necessary before Malta can become the jewel of the Med' which it should, and easily could be.
With a massive floating vote it's got to be pretty easy to change the policies one disagrees with, rather than taking the easy route of disregarding them...not very Christian either!
(cue the usual cries of 'if you don't like it, go home etc....)
