"The easiest way to return to the state of paradise before humanity was born for the healing of the soul is to get along with the animal'dog' that still belongs to that paradise world."
-From 『Human Meets Dog』-
At the end of last year, the Finnish Companion Animal Association selected loyal dogs who performed heroic activities that saved people and presented them with the'Hero Dog of the Year' award.
It is a year-end event that has already been running for over 20 years.
As a pet guardian who has been raising a beagle for 14 years, the article'Hero Dog of the Year' is always an interesting read.
In particular, this year, a special hero award was given to four corona dogs who screened corona patients through their sense of smell at the airport in Finland.
While these dogs were undergoing special training to identify cancer patients with their sense of smell, the corona burst and they were assigned a new mission.
It is said that their corona discrimination ability surprisingly surpasses most equipment.
The performance of the dogs who were listed in the'Hero Dog of the Year' was also great.
Anna, a hybrid dog that dramatically found the owner's father's missing dementia on a cold winter day, Rafaela, a Belgian Malinois servant who found a three-year-old missing child who was dangerously wandering by the train road to a neighbor's couple Nana, a hybrid dog that drastically woke up and evacuated his sleeping owner just before the broken debris was blown away. Bilma, a bulldog who stopped the flames with his own body in front of him until the children were rescued after finding a fire early and waking his family Even Kele, a Finnish Spitz, who saved the owner's life by telling her husband, who was sleeping next to him, about the emergency situation of her master's aunt, who fell into a coma due to a brain hemorrhage while sleeping.
"On average, dogs are better than people," said one prominent American journalist.
(The average dog is a nicer person than the average person) has once spoken sarcastically.
I don't fully agree with this, but, at least in loyalty, would dogs be better than humans...
There is no denying the thought of...
Fortunately, dogs' love for their owner is not unrequited love.
In Finland, dogs are called'four-legged friends' (Finnish: nelijalkainen ystävä).
Most Finnish pet guardians treat dogs almost like family, beyond friends.
The Finnish Companion Animal Association puts a cautionary note on the website that'treating dogs too much like humans is not good for dogs'.
In the late 90s, when I first arrived in Finland, it was quite impressive to see many people carrying dogs everywhere.
But from some point, it started to look like a dog is dragging a person rather than a person dragging a dog.
Perhaps I started to realize little by little the dynamics of the forces between them.
On one occasion, I visited a nice detached house with a spacious yard where I had a Shepherd.
The walls of the neatly arranged living room were curiously filled with dog pictures.
Photos of the front of the dog, the side of the dog, and the close-up of the dog were all nice color photos that were enlarged in the studio.
No matter how much a family of pets, it was actually quite a cultural shock at the time to have a bunch of photos of dogs, not married couples or photos of newborn daughters, in the living room.
Now that I think about it, there is nothing strange about having a picture of a family member in the living room.
In Korea, the word “companion” or “pair” is used more often than “pet dog”.
It is true that the status of dogs has been elevated.
However, in Korea, as the number of dogs increases, the number of abandoned dogs is also increasing.
Some people are cautious about the boom in adoption of dogs these days, saying that when the corona is released, only abandoned dogs will increase.
In Finland, the issue of abandoned dogs has seldom emerged socially.
This is because the family is not something to throw away.
In addition to the issue of abandoned dogs, animal protection laws, which are still open to the public, continue to be discussed in Korea.
Not long ago, in the Korean media, a case was reported in which a dog was abused by a dog hung on a string and thrown in the air.
Unfortunately, the dog, which had been quarantined for a while, had to return to its owner.
Under the current animal protection laws, even if the abused dog is quarantined, it must be returned if the dog owner requests it.
Animals are private property and cannot be forcibly taken away.
In Finland, in the event of such cruelty to animals, the possession or rearing of animals is temporarily or permanently prohibited, as well as the deprivation of their own animals.
The principle is that only those who qualify are eligible to keep and care for animals.
The concept of'One Health' is popular in Finland these days.
It is that human health-welfare is closely linked to the health-welfare of animals as well as the surrounding environment as'one'.
For this reason, even cosmetic procedures (such as ear and tail deformation) that can cause stress on dogs were banned.
Even Finnish cattle farms don't even cut pig tails.
It is
because we believe that
the stress that animals receive will circulate and come back to
one day counterattack us humans.
Conversely,
I believe that
if animals are happy,
humans will be happier.
These beliefs are not simple beliefs, but beliefs that have a solid foundation based on various research studies.
I try to put my hand on their faith.
#In-It #In-It # Meet'In
-It' to read along with this article.
[In-It] The child who died on Mother's Day, the Finnish version of Jeong In-i case