Violetta Teetor is a South African resident in Helsinki.

I am a dog owner, the owner of a handsome Siberian Husky with ice-blue eyes. He looks frightening to those who don’t know him and his gentle nature. Somehow, I think that he doesn’t really need to be vicious since his looks are enough to scare off anyone who might just consider messing with the person at the other end of the leash.

Interesting situations have arisen – wide-eyed kids calling him ‘susi’ (wolf), tourists asking to photograph him and almost everyone (except Americans) wanting to know what breed he is. Now the latter really surprises me – coming from South Africa and knowing what a Husky looks like, living in a country where the breed actually belongs, and no one seems to know what he is! There may be more Huskies in South Africa than there are here, but I find that hard to believe!

Being a dog owner in any city is not easy. In South Africa, people tend to live in houses with gardens or at least communal gardens where dogs can roam free and come and go, in and out of the house as they like. The weather has something to do with this, I’m sure. In Helsinki, however, our apartments are small, garden-space is definitely limited and hence dogs have a completely different purpose. Guarding the property and its inhabitants is not paramount, and therefore people keep pets for the sake of companionship at home and on their walks which Finns enjoy so much. Loneliness is mitigated by the unconditional friendship for which animals are so well-known. And there are many such people in Helsinki, sad to say.

The dog-culture is young in Finland, or so I am told and I am always reminded of this when I see how afraid some people are of dogs. Even their owners are not excluded from this group. Judging by the number of small breeds such as Daschunds, one can only assume that the size of one's living space and knowing that a smaller dog is easier to handle than a larger one or a more ‘exotic’ one are deciding factors when choosing such a companion. Moving from the free open areas of Africa to constricted living in Helsinki has been quite an adjustment, I must tell you.

When I first got Rocky, our home was in Kauniainen. No lack of space there. In winter, dog owners would gather at Gallträsk, the local lake (pond, really) and turn it into a dog kindergarten. Because there were so many of us, no one ever complained about dogs running free. But try this even in remote spots, and you will certainly be told off by some passer-by. It is funny how subdued, introverted, minding-their-ownbusiness Finns, all admirable qualities in certain contexts, can turn into policemen when they come across a dog off the leash.

But we do have the dog parks – a phenomenon never before witnessed by this pet lover. Typical of the Finns, they think of everything. Man, isn’t that just true! Public transport (most of the time ON time), triple-glazing, showers that massage, affordable health care, taxis that make a passenger feel like a million dollars, I could go on and on. Yes, and dog parks. Say what you will but they’ve even thought of our canine friends!