Geneva - city of dogs

Right, here goes some more bitching about Geneva... But then again, slagging off Geneva is mainly what this blog is about. This time it's the dog owners' turn to take a beating.
I have never seen quite so many dogs anywhere else as here, and they come mainly in two sizes: L and XS. The small size is primarily to be found in the commercial centre of Geneva; Bel Air and Eaux vives. Their owners are most often female and dressed in designer clothes with gold details. They drag around their ridiculous looking little rat-dogs on their shopping rounds in the city, in and out of designer boutiques and to the occasional fancy lunch spot. These dogs seem to function primarily as some kind of accessory to go with their fancy life style. I've never really seen the point of small dogs; in my opinion you may as well buy a guinea pig or a bunny, but I've never really had that much against them before I moved here either. But because of the way they seem to take over the city and shit all over the pavements (rich ladies tend to not want to pick up after their dogs) I have slowly started to resent them. These are not real dogs, they're living accessories.



The other, larger sized version, has its biggest population on the other side of the river, around the train station and in Paquis, as well as further away from the shopping area. Often, they are either German shepherds or Dobermans, and needless to say, these dogs function more as safety tools than as pets. On the ground floor of our building for example, there are two. They are owned by young, fairly rough looking people, and the apartments they live in are supposedly the same size as ours, in other words around 55 sq metres. One of the dog owners "solves" this problem by letting his dog sleep on the balcony... In any case, an apartment this size is far too small for a large dog, and anyone who cares about the well being of their pets would refrain from buying a dog if they happen to live in a flat of this size.
Something that upsets me far more though, is the frequent use of muzzles on these large sized dogs. I suppose the purpose of them is to protect the people around them, but the thing is that a dog that has been well taken care of does not bite! The use of muzzles only signifies that the dog has been mistreated.



I also strongly disagree with the way that some people bring their dogs into smoky, noisy bars and rock clubs full of drunk people. That is no place for a pet of any kind, and since dogs have very sensitive hearing, the loud volume in itself must be torture for them! The fact that their owners are often drunk and not capable of taking care of their 4-legged companions does not in any way make the situation better.

You would have thought that the fact that this city is so full of dogs would mean that the Swiss are a dog-loving nation, but after what I have seen during my 1,5 years here, it actually appears to be quite the opposite!