Finland has a lot of dog owners – and many/most of those people abide by leash laws. YET, I can look out of my window and occasionally see the one or two people in my neighborhood who do not feel these laws are for them to obey. Their dog is never on a leash. Not once.

Thankfully, for dog owners in my area, there are fenced dog parks where dogs are able to run unleashed, and have the opportunity to play with, and interact with other dogs in these set-asides intended for them.

Coastal areas though, and Finland has a lot of coastlines – these areas are not for unleashed dogs. What is Finland doing in relation to dog-free or leashed-only coastline use that so many other countries are finding so hard to do ?

[https://hakaimagazine.com/features/gone-to-the-dogs/](https://hakaimagazine.com/features/gone-to-the-dogs/)

4 comments

  1. Beaches are generally off limits for dogs in Finland unless there is a sign saying its ok, most people follow these rules.

    Plenty of forest lakes and ponds for dogs to swim in so there really is no need to bring them to crowded public swimming spots.

  2. > What is Finland doing in relation to dog-free or leashed-only coastline use that so many other countries are finding so hard to do ?

    There are rules but they aren’t actively enforced. Obviously it would be impossible to do that

  3. My main suspect is climate. When coastal birds are most vulnerable (mainly springtime), it’s usually too cold to spend a lot of time at seashore, with or without dogs.

    Other than that our hunting laws state that dogs must be kept on leash (or owner must be able to leash the dog immediately) from March to end of August to protect the wildlife. Even when someone owns the land/seashore they must still obey this with their dogs (unless it’s their actual yard, i.e. next to the house).

  4. Finns tend to be law-abiding so dogs are usually on leash or in control of their owners and cases where they unintentionally bother wildlife are rare. But for some reason people still think that it’s OK to let cats roam free. They kill a lot of birds and small animals.

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