Insensitive caring

Sometimes Danes have a way of showing care that may come as a bit of. The first time I wittessed it was when I started language school. We had a meeting where the teachers explained to us how is the system working. I need to explain it a bit. So, language school is divided into 6 modules and on every module you get a certain amount of time in which you should pass the exam. After every exam you can choose do you want to continue, make a break and continue later or stop. If you signed up for the module your time is ticking. If you passed the module your time stops. When you start on the next one it starts to tick again. While you are attending a module there is not a thing in the world that can stop the time from ticking, no matter what. After the teacher explained that to us, she started giving examples.

Let's take a pregnant woman, she said. Let's say she started on a module and two days before the test she goes into labor. It would be better for her to hold the baby in until she passes the exam because if she passes we can stop the time. But if she decides to give birth and because of that she won't be able to continue on the module and attend the exam there is nothing we can do about it. Her time will keep ticking and it will expire.

I was shocked that the teacher would even use such an example. And if that isn't a good exception to the rules I don't know what is. After talking a bit more about how the time system works I did get the feeling that she really cares that we do well and succed but that one example never left my mind. But I kinda sidelined it for a good six months until last week when I read a story in one local newspaper.

In Denmark there is a dog law that puts a number of dog breeds, that are deemed dangerous, as illegal to own. If people already have them, nothing will happen to them if the dogs behave - their owners keep them in check - with the police keeping the right of taking the dog away for no apparent reason. In the news, police decided to take such a dog away from it's owner, even though the dogs was not causing any problems. So, the dog was from a breed on the list of illegal dog breeds and the owner was controling him well. The dog never attacked or bit any other dog or human. Usually in cases like these, police doesn't meddle but this time it did. They took the dog away, the dog was put down and the owner had an opportunity to see the dog for two hours before the dog was put down.

What happened was that the dog owner was so attached to his dog that he just couldn't handle it and after the dog was put down, he commited suicide.

What I find unsettling in this story is that usually in such cases the police doesn't meddle if the dogs are behaving well. This time the police decided to meddle and take the dog away, which is their legal right. On the other hand, the man was solitary and that he was keeping to himself, sometimes not talking to others for weeks and his only other companion was that dog and they took it anyway. I do no believe that nobody saw how much that dog ment to him. I do not belive that nobody saw that it would break him mentaly but they did it anyway.

In this case Denmark decided that certain dog breeds are bad for its citizens and in order to protect them they made them illegal to own. Even if one man commited suicide, greater good was still served. At least no one else will be harmed by that dog anymore. Despite all this I still wonder was anyone resposible for that man death?

Dogs

One common mistakes of all Scandinavian countries is that they are a bit overprotective of their citizens. When they figure out that some activity has the slightest chance of causing harm. They will immediately regulate it by law so that the possiblity of harm comming to you is reduced as much as humanly posssible.

I had an opportunity of witnesing that when I was volunteering at Roskilde festival. I was assigned to the refund station, where we were basicaly sorting cans and other refundable wares. On the beginning of my second shift a woman came to me, waited until I finshed my work and then she told me: "In one of the refund stations, one time a person went in with her arm straight into the bag with cans and a needle got stuck under her fingernail. Because of that we do not do it that way any more but...". After she told me that I started to think about how huge Roskilde festival is. You have more then 20000 volunteers running it and there was one accident of that type once in more then 20000 people. So, it was a freak accident and they are trying to regulate it. I do feel for that person, it was certainly painful and maybe dangerous but it was still a freak accident. I do not think you can regulate against freak accidents. If there was a pattern I would understand but when it is a one off...

And that is how it is in general in Scandinavian countries an allegedly even people living here started to realize it is going a bit to far with this overprotective behaviour.

One moment where I find it really sad is with dogs. Even though I miss my ex-wife dog that I left in Croatia, I must say that I wouldn't like to have a dog in Denmark. With overregulation they knocked out all the charm of it. Often times I get the feeling that dogs are being treated like a vicous blood thirsty animals that are just waiting to slay a human. Since I came to Denmark I haven't seen dogs playing anywhere ever. The reason is that the fines of having a dog walking without a leash are huge and the only place you can let it roam free is in the so called dog forest. Yes, it is just what it sounds like. It is a fenced patch of forest, far far away from other humans where you can go and let your dog run free. 

On couple of occasions when we went to some nice nature site, where you see couple of people here and there. Even in those places dogs were still being walked on a leash because someone may call the police, I must say that is just sad. But one time, I was smoking out on the street at the small intersection and I saw a woman passing by with her small dog and then I heard she said sorry in Danish. I turned around to see what is she appologising for, there was another man walking his dog and that woman appoligised because her dog wanted to sniff the other dog. I described the situation to my girlfriend and asked her what was that all about. She said that the woman appologised because her dog went to sniff the other one and that is looked down upon because it is taken as a sign that you don't have a control over your pet. At that point you know it is going too far, since sniffing is just so basic and instinctual dog behavior and that is being looked down upon.

Do I need to mention that some dog breeds that have the reputation of being more agressive are illegal. It translates into that if you already own a dog of that breed, you can keep it but it must be constantly on the leash with a muzzle and if anything happenes, fx. display of agression to another dog, he will have to be put down. Also, these breeds are illegal to grow, buy, sell and import. 

Funny enough that law backfired a bit. Couple of years back, wolves migrated to southern part of Jylland and some danish farmers started having problems with wolfes attacking their livestock. In order to protect their heards they wanted to buy some mastiff dogs but they couldn't because they are illegal. So their possibilities, legally are very limited because all dog breads that would be good protection against wolfs are illegal. I think that also tells that Denmark went too far.

I love dogs and I miss having a dog but I think that because of all insane restrictions for dogs and dog owners in Denmark, neither dogs nor dogs owners are having a great time here.