If it’s true that Mark Twain said, Heaven goes by favor; if it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in, it’s also true that Icelanders probably think their Heaven must work differently from Twain’s ideal: otherwise, why would they be so stubborn with their dog bans?
The yearly celebrations for Iceland’s Independence Day (Þjóðhátíðardagurinn in Icelandic) are dying away in the course of this bright night: the music and the frolicking slowly fading, the flags taken down their poles. Still a few hours of nationalistic merriment, then by morning the drunken crowd will be fast asleep and everything will be over. The rest of the week-end will swallow up the festivity’s leftovers.
Iceland’s formal independence from Denmark took place in 1944. That’s quite some time and yet, it’s not that distant: the independent spirit of Icelanders is still regarded as a trademark to their identity. Remember the referendum that took place in April and, likewise, remember all the times in recent history that Icelanders, for the better or for the worse, decided on their own to go against choices universally deemed as obvious and sensible. Iceland’s popularity, or lack thereof, depended a lot on peculiar choices made at topical times by its folk. Icelanders thus deserved their fame of independent people, sometimes also thanks to totally unreasonable choices.
To an extent, independence should come naturally, but, as usual, humans devised all sorts of horrid traps and constraints to negate what Nature offered for free to everybody. States, governments and regulations have long ago become a vital necessity to most people, to let them express themselves and to protect their supposed liberties. This doesn’t mean that, even inside the most successfully self-determined systems, there is no space for injustice and subjugation. Freedom of the few is often exercised through slavery and injustice towards the multitudes.
Iceland seems to be an exemplary evidence of how independence’s notion can be, sadly, multi-faceted and ambiguous. Often labeled as a nation of oddballs, Iceland tends to promote general well-being through the enforcement of restrictive measures that are sometimes totally stupid and unreasonable. Yes, stupid. And this is a special tendency that indeed creates inner divisions that are difficult to perceive from the outside.
What has this to do with dogs?
For a coincidence, I discovered that in Iceland dogs are banned not only from many areas of the Capital’s city center — this I knew already — but also from social gatherings, which also included today’s festivities for Iceland’s Independence. A paradox, isn’t it? That a dog’s owner like the fellow in the article — bless him! — should be banned from public celebrations in the occasion of the country’s independence because the law established he’s not free to bring his dog along. For some people a dog is like a family member, rather than a disposable ornament, and this is something the majority of Icelanders still find extremely difficult to get. This is hard to understand especially to those in charge, obsessed with order and control, and for the — ignorant — bunch that supports them. Would they ban children from public celebrations just because they are noisy? Or would they consider unruly humans enough of a threat to demand their perpetual banishment from the public hullabaloo? Obviously not. But a dog is inferior even to the lowest human specimen and thus a dog’s owner, if he wants to make a point, cannot do anything else but to break the law. Is therefore independence one of these words we are encouraged to use all the times, without really taking the time to explore its meanings and implications? You’re free — no pun intended — to draw your conclusions.
Authentic independence should be granted to everybody, even to those who have no voice or means to openly express a preference; it should not be only the right of a privileged elite. And yes, a majority is still an elite, even if it’s vast. That’s not what independence should be like and it’s so evident that even animals know it. Iceland, I’m confident you will mature enough to embrace this simple truth, sooner or later.
I don’t guess Twain was sarcastic when he affirmed,
The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his Heaven, not man’s.
Well, I’m sorry to say this, but if things were up to me (thank god they aren’t) i would ban (keeping) dogs around where I live too. I made very bad experiences with dogs and it seems paradoxical to advocate independence for everybody and at the same time to argue in favour of domesticating animals and make them live inside men made cities.
Well, I’m sure it’s hard to do justice to this topic inside the range of rational arguements’ it’s more about love, isn’t it?
Yes, thankfully they’re not up to you and in some countries it’s prohibited to ban dogs =P I had bad experiences with a lot of human categories and I would gladly ban a few of them from cities as well. I cannot keep a dog but I have to keep disorderly people? Living in a man made city doesn’t mean you can use excuses to promote human idiocy circulating in it — and here I’m using the word idiocy in an improper manner, according to its original meaning of selfishness. I don’t know: as I see it, this is not about love, it’s about common sense. You have a problem and you sweep it under the carpet: what common sense is there in it? Dog owners have the same right to go around freely as anyone else has, given that their dog will behave properly — without demanding impossible things: a dog barks sometimes, for instance. Dog owners shouldn’t be treated as lesser members of the community just because they keep a pet a bunch of people with bad experiences like yours or simply with no experiences at all doesn’t like. Educating people to keep dogs is better than banning dogs and pretending they do not exist. And just to remind you, in some countries women are treated as dogs too, so you see, it’s all a question of perspective and cultural differences, not love =)
I agree with icelanders in this topic, at least to a certain degree. In Barcelona and Spain we need most restrictive measures not against dogs but against certain irresponsible dogs owners: in Barcelona, a lot of streets are not practicable and even salubrious because they are full of dogs excrements, and the semaphores and other urban furnitures are rotten because the dogs urine,and the city becomes a pigsty. A lot of people walk with dangerous races of dogs without chain and without muzzle…and try to say something to theirs owners: they dont argue or quote Mark Twain like you,they almost kill you in defence of their animals.Evidently,I cant imagine nothing like this in the streets of Reykjavik.I had nothing against dogs,they are great , very good ,very clever, they make a lot of company …but ,at least in my country,their owners need more control, more education and more banners.Well ,at least a part of the owners of dogs.
Spanish cities, as far as I know, are dirty enough without deeming dogs responsible. Italian and Portuguese cities as well. And Irish and Austrian cities are quite dirty too, if I remember well. Just sayin’. Dogs don’t leave their cigarette stubs everywhere or throw away soda cans, beer bottles and plastic wraps, they don’t spit chewing gums on the sidewalk either. Here too, some streets are dirty because people are dirty and because a trash bins is, apparently, by far less useful than a dog ban sign, so the administration spends money on the latter item rather than on the former. Why are smashed bottles acceptable, while dog poo is so outrageous? Dog owners are supposed to pick up their dog’s crap from the street. If some of them don’t, you cannot for that reason blame dog owners in general. They can be fined, but then you would have to fine also people spitting on the sidewalk and leaving their candy wraps everywhere — or banning them would be easier?
So what’s the problem? All stupid, except the dogs? Then just get rid of the fridging people. It will be wonderful for u: nobody will disagree with you anymore. At least nobody you couldn’t convince with some noisy gestures …
Isn’t that a bit exaggerated? Where did I say that “all” are stupid except the dogs? Some people are stupid and disrespectful, dogs owners included, but this is not a reason to put bans on everything. Targeting a category isn’t a good way to improvement, but quite the contrary. Rules should be valid to everybody. That’s what freedom is supposed to be like. I think you missed the point of the post entirely. I have picked the dog ban as an example, but I could have picked some other and somebody else would have come to disagree like you did in this case.
I have to agree with Pu on this one – the point here is that in Iceland we seem to have a problem with excess of control in some areas, and complete lack in others. Even without dogs, Reykjavik’s city center is dirty, at least by comparison with even bigger cities I have worked in abroad; you see cigarette buts, beer cans, and all sort of shit a bit everywhere. If you live in a basement, this can become a serious problem. And let’s not talk about the situation by the end of the weekend – gallons of vomit flowing through the streets, on your car, on your bike, on your door, and other bodily fluids and solids we can avoid discussing here, in the same streets where dogs are banned. So yes, there is a big difference in the way some categories of people are treated vs others – dog owners have a difficult time, in my opinion, because after all a lot of people are afraid of dogs (including those writing the laws).
The problem is simple. Dog owners pay a fee, yearly, which should be around $150. This fee seems to be used to do nothing for dog owners; the council seems to be spending it all to place new “no dogs allowed here” signs. The same money – not other taxpayers’ money – could be well spent in creating dog friendly areas around the city – we have so much empty, unused space – or even to just place more trashcans – which I am sure dogless law abiding citizens would be happy to have as well, so they will stop throwing their shit around.
Then there is the widespread way a lot of people see dogs – just dirty scavengers. I was once asked how I was going to clean after the dog had peed against a tree in a public area. Of all the cities I have been Reykjavik is the most impossible capital to live in for a dog owner in Europe – and I think it is a cultural problem more than a real issue. Maybe it is because we have been allowed to keep dogs in the city for just 10 years, so a lot of people, politicians included, are scared by dogs.
Sure, dogs need to be educated; but in my experience, it is much more difficult to educate a man than a dog.
No Pu, I don’t think getting rid of the people is exaggerated, as I can’t see any pinch of understanding towards the people around you in your explanations.
Not only Borkur says it in its posting but every tourist book tells you that dogs for cultural reasons are very unpopular among icelandic townspeople, that people are not used to them and that people are often afraid of them and react strangely when they come across a dog and it’s keeper. So why on earth would somebody who loves dogs and really wants to keep one move from italy to reykjavík, the one place in the world that had a ban on dogs till recently? Out of ignorance? To proselytize people? No, of course not, I think it’s just lack of respect for them people. Blanking them out. Getting rid of them.
Damn, am I disrespectful towards you right now. Sorry, I hate myself a bit for it.
Freedom and independence … as you say: great words! But what do they mean? I’m a free and independent homosexual atheist – would I move to start a life in Vatican city? No, of course not. I would run into deep within five seconds.
I’m not gonna tell you, to do you and your dog a favour and leave Rvk, no. All I wanna say is, that, what you as a keeper of a dog perceive as lack of freedom, is not only there because of the ignorance of the people who put on that laws against dogs many years ago for hygienic reasons, neither the ignorance of the people who are afraid of dogs cause they haven’t made any (good) experiences with them. It’s foremost your disrespect.
Sorry for the harsh words. I am very disrespectful again right now, I know.
What I meant with the paradox between advocating-pro-freedom and dogs-in-man-made-cities is, that nowhere on earth there are less opportunities for a dog – a vivid and extravert animal, stemming from the wolf – to be free than in a man made city.
So, again Pu, I am sorry for this posting, I have a strange allergy towards dogs and it’s not coming from nowhere, but from keepers of dogs who are more busy with keeping their dogs (whatever that means) than to pay attention to the people around them.
Well, I cannot agree with torsten, as I think your post is a mixture of ignorance and fear – sorry if it sounds disrespectful. I also think your post sounds very rude and childish in a way, especially for a “free” thinker.
I think that having lived in RVK most of my life, I know that a lot of Icelanders love dogs and want to have them as companions. Also, many parts of your posts show that your allergy (true or metaphorical) also comes from ignorance. Dogs didn’t exist before man. Before dogs, there were wolves. The modern dog is fruit of “engineering” of man. The dog is an animal created by man to serve man, and it is an animal that can live a wonderful life in a city environment – when the city is respectful of everybody’s rights. Dogs were bred to live in man-made environment.
Dogs and pets are part of modern life in the city, and I thank god for it because we are also animals and we need animals to know ourselves as well. Kids growing up with animals in a family often become more open minded and FREE people. Most countries in the civilized world, including Japan, are moving more and more in favor of legislation that promotes integration of dogs, cats, and pets in the city life. In Japan, when I looked for an apartment, I found out that there must be a minimum quota of apartments on the market allowing dogs or cats.
In Reykjavik, and in any city I have been, there is a lot of human behavior I cannot withstand. Bikers running on sidewalks and nearly killing me a couple of times. Kids crying the whole day through in the neighboring apartment. People vomiting on my car close to the city center every weekend. Sperm on the sidewalk. You can clean as much as you want, that will be always worse than dog poo. And so on, and on. But know what? I accept it – otherwise I’d go living in the wild, in a hut, all alone.
So, I understand that other people don’t like dogs or cats or whatever. But it is a matter of fact that dogs are part of man’s life, and even if only 10% of the population wants to have a dog (truth be told, I believe much more people than that love dogs in Reykjavik, but they cannot have one in their apartment – like my grandmother), it is their right to do so within the laws we have. And just in case you did not know, the legislation to get a dog is already harsh enough here:
– Payment of a tax, every year
– Permission to own a dog requires a dog course OR signature of two people vouching for you
– Permission requires agreements of ALL tenants in the building and can be revoked at any time
– Dog food’s tax is high (dog food in Iceland is more expensive than anywhere else I have been)
– Dog is to be kept on a leash EVERYWHERE
The lack of respect, dear Torsten (the dear is not sarcastic in any way), and I can tell you this is the view shared by a lot of Icelandic dog owners, is also that of people that do not want to educate themselves a bit more instead of giving up to limited “bad experiences” of the past or what their grandfather told them to believe.
I pay my taxes, and I pay additional taxes to keep my dog – and I want to have services, not just prohibitions. Once a well-behaved dog is on a leash, nobody can complain – the dog does you no more harm than a bike going in your street. So, let’s all stop being pussies. You don’t like dogs? Well I do not like your bike either. Or your cat maybe. But I respect it and I am happy that you re free to do what you want within the limits of mutual respect. Dogs can make everybody’s life fuller, and it is not by chance than more and more older Icelanders are starting to adopt a dog.
First of all, let me clear one point: I have not brought my dog to Iceland when I moved, I adopted him from an Icelandic family who wanted to get rid of him. He’s an Icelander, if you want to put it that way, and thus he has more rights to be in Reykjavik than I do, haha.
Even if you think I don’t, I have understanding towards those with some reasonable motives, and I surely don’t want people get into trouble over dogs. But as you said yourself, there are all kinds of people in the world and just banning this and that won’t lead us anywhere on the long run. Some are afraid of dogs simply out of ignorance, not out of culturally founded reasons.In the case of my dog, his previous owner got the dog as a Christmas present for the kids and didn’t bother to educate him properly– or couldn’t do it for lack of time, I don’t know — , so that when the dog got too big and annoying, he didn’t want to keep him anymore. It’s not a dog’s fault if his previous owner believes a pet is a disposable object one can get rid of when it becomes too much of a burden, is it? Where is the culture in this? It’s simply selfishness and lack of responsibility. As it is lack of responsibility what dog owners as those described by Jose do, using a dog as a way to pamper their virility. I know this kind of people too well, ’cause in Italy a lot of dog owners are just the same. But these people are a minority, and you cannot, for protecting a minority from another minority, put bans into effect anywhere. I didn’t want to persuade anybody, I was just stating general facts also in the hope that things can be changed for the better. A lot of Icelanders — not the majority, I know — think the same as I do: they like dogs and consider them their companions. Thus I can safely say not every Icelander fits your description, which means: it’s lack of culture, not the opposite, that often make them so wary of dogs. And this is sadly true not only for dogs, but for other animals. As you know, Iceland has no serious policy towards treatment of many animal species, also towards those considered as endangered. They hunt whales and puffins, kill stranded polar bears and so on. This is considered normal by the majority of Icelanders, but nowadays it’s just a shortsighted way to deal with environmental problems and, hopefully, sooner or later even Iceland will have to clash against its own regulations. As for dogs, I don’t want to sound like I’m trying to be offensive, but if I had a medical condition or another serious reason preventing me to be around a particular thing, I wouldn’t in any case assume a ban is the ideal solution — even if sometimes it would be tempting ;P
Baukur, I understand you totally and I fully understand the people who love and keep dogs (well, 2 b honest I don’t understand them at all, but I tolerate them really very much) and usually I don’t complain about them as long as they don’t complain about me or as long as their dogs don’t complain about them, which also happens from time to time, at least around here.
The sidewalk in front of my house is sometimes a bit full of dogshit and you know what: I like it. Makes the quarter less attractive for hipsters, keeps the rents low. Besides it is part of urban life. Dog grafitti.
And I also understand everybody who dislikes dogs. I dislike dogs. Their smell, their barking, their devoteness. And I really don’t want to let myself educate about how wonderful that smell is and how great their barking sounds. There are many things I want to learn. Dog stuff is not on that list.
Well, what I wanted to say: Since there are dog lovers everywhere around here I start to think, what Reykjavík is to dogs, this forum thread is to me: a not so good place 2 bark.
Baukur, Pu, see you guys somewhen later,
Torsten