Here in Helsinki, the weather is still a bit on the cold side, but yesterday we saw a bit of sunshine. When walking my Westie, Marta, I meet a lot of dog people out with their pets of different breeds and colours.

Funnily enough, Finns are very shy people normally, not even greeting neigbours in the elevator, but when it comes to hounds, it is a different matter.

Dogs greet dogs by sniffing, and owners start lively conversations about habits, healthcare, grooming etc., of their dear four-legged companions.

During the week I have stayed here I have made many new friends, and Marta has got a lot of new canine pals. This is so different from the average Spanish dog owners, who seldom or never walk their dogs, keeping them in the garden as watchdogs, day and night.

Or worse still, owners who keep their dogs on the balcony day and night. There are a lot of exemplary dog owners in Spain, who take excellent care of their mascotas.

At a golf course in Las Mijas I once met a guy who showed me a picture of his Golden Retriever in his wallet. But on average, a lot has to be done to change the attitude towards animals in Spain.

Here in Helsinki, the sidewalks and streets are free from dog poop. Every dog walker has a biodegradable ‘poop bag’ in his or her pocket. Dustbins are scarce in Helsinki, so people sometimes have to walk several hundred meters to get rid of their little doggy baggy.

In Almuñécar you find dustbins at every In Spain, dog droppings constitute a big problem. I refer to what David said in an earlier issue of the Gazette, that people he knew had accused him of not greeting them in the street. He put it down to the lamentable fact that he is always too busy looking down trying to avoid stepping into dog poop on the sidewalks of Salobreña.

The same goes for Almuñecar, dog excrement everywhere, in spite of numerous campaigns encouraging dog owners to pick up the stuff.

In the village of Brunete, a small municipality outside Madrid, dog owners may have been surprised to receive a foul smelling package in the mail. However, these putrid presents were no prank. In order to combat its considerable dog feces problem, the town sends dog poop back by mail to the pet owners that left it behind, according to Europa Press.

The town council of Brunete had asked a top advertising agency to stage a public demonstration and circulate a video to encourage dog owners to be mindful of dog droppings, according to Spain’s The Local.

In the video, a motorized dog poop follows guilty pet owners with a sign that reads Don’t leave me, pick me up. With this campaign the amount of dog feces on the streets of Brunete diminished considerably, but as soon as the volume started rising again they knew they had to try a more direct approach.

So the town enlisted 20 volunteers to keep an eye our for irresponsible dog owners and find out the name of the offender. With the name of the dog and the breed it was possible to identify the owner from the pet database.

After 147 special deliveries were mailed to owners the reported sightings of dog excrement decreased by 70 per cent. Something for Almuñécar to consider? Something for Costa Tropical in general?