Dog Ownership, Belfast Style

Dogs are nothing new to me.  It is hard for me to remember a long period of time in my life when either my family or I didn’t have a dog.  Therefore, I thought that I knew at least one or two things about owning a dog.  I am learning, though, that owning a dog American-style and owning a dog North Irish-style are two different things indeed.  One of the first things I learned about dog ownership here is that it is the few dog owners who actually pick up after their dogs.  The city council recently enacted a new campaign to try and clean up dog poop by imposing a £80 ($125) fine on anyone caught not picking up after their canine companion.  Although this ordinance does not seem to be catching on, Dave and I are trying to be trend setters by picking up after Toby on walks (no one seems to be following our trend).  Leashes are another controversial contraption.  When we first visited our vet to get Toby up to date on his North Irish shots, the vet all but accused us of animal cruelty by utilizing a leash ("Let him run free!" we were told).  There is no leash law in the city (I found out after I emailed city council complaining about off leash dogs), but some parks have signs that say “Dogs Must Be Leashed” within the boundaries of the park.  However we seem to be the only dog owners who obey these signs.  We have actually seen more children on leashes than dogs – no joke.  Due to the high volume of dogs off leash, we find ourselves always a little on edge when we walk with Toby around other unleashed dogs whose owners seem oblivious to their actions.  Somehow we have managed to only have two negative experiences with off-leash dogs: one dog stole Toby’s toy and ran away with it while the owner sat talking on the phone, and another dog jumped on Toby and nipped him while the owner kept walking and turned a blind eye to the cruel behavior.  Although we are not as brave as some dog owners I have seen walking down the busy streets of Belfast’s City Centre with their four legged friend off leash and crossing busy streets, we have taken advantage of this unenforced park leash rule and had some fun times throwing Toby's toy for him in one of the open fields near our house.  It should come as no surprise to me that the North Irish dog culture would be just as different as so much else in this culture.  However, somehow it has managed to take me by surprise, and just when I thought I understood dog ownership, I moved here and had to learn it all over again.

Toby, looking very unimpressed with the jacket he has to wear on some of the colder walks.