One of the first things that one notices when one spends
some time in the Czech Republic is how much Czech people really love dogs. They’re
everywhere!
According to expats.cz “more people have dogs as pets in Prague than anywhere else in the world.” (read
the full article here).
Here dogs are also
allowed in pubs, coffee shops and restaurants, so it really seems like wherever
you go, there are dogs.
The second thing besides the sheer quantity of dogs one
notices is how amazingly well-behaved they are: the majority are not on a leash
at all, but just walking happily beside their owners. Some even wait outside
grocery stores for their owners without a leash. This is something I never see
in Finland. In Finland dogs are off their leash only in parks. So somehow it
seems that Czech people train their dogs better than people of many other
nations do. Why or how, I know not.
I read on-line that the law here does require dogs to be
kept on a leash (except in some parks), but at least in Ostrava, this is not
enforced at all; the dogs run free and it does not seem to be a problem because
they are so well-behaved.
The next thing that one notices about dogs is that some of
them are wearing muzzles. This is also something I never see in Finland. When I
first saw this, I wondered why many dogs, especially big ones, wear muzzles: is it a legal requirement? Or do these dogs
have a history of biting? After some googling, I found out that animals can be
taken on public transport, but they must be either in a cage or bag or, in the
case of bigger dogs, must wear a muzzle. So my theory about dogs being
well-behaved is not shattered by this muzzle-thing after all.
In the Czech Republic, it seems that both people and dogs
are well-behaved. But more about the manners of the two-legged Czech population
later on…
