Walking The Dog: A Get-out-of-jail Card In Lockdown Spain
Once a twice-daily chore that drew a chorus of complaints, walking the dog has become an enviable get-out-of-jail card in lockdown Spain with some wily punters even offering their hounds out for hire.
Unlike in Italy, where people can go out to stretch their legs despite a national lockdown, Spain has banned all such sorties under its state of emergency.
![A man uses the chance to stretch his legs by walking his dog in the central northern town of Burgos -- one of the few means of beating Spain's coronavirus lockdown](https://d.ibtimes.com/en/full/2942934/man-uses-chance-stretch-his-legs-walking-his-dog-central-northern-town-burgos-one-few.jpg?w=736&f=e20c178c12083e12820fefa25f7abfa6)
But they can go out if they have a four-legged friend -- for a brief walk and only to carry out the bare necessities.
"You go out more often but for less time," says Luis Fe, a 49-year-old teacher walking Dara, his border collie, near a church in Madrid.
Other dog owners are the same, he says: going out "just because they can, or because they are bored at home."
![Two people walk a dog at a virtually deserted Terminal 1 of Barcelona's El Prat -- while in Madrid, barking is one of few sounds breaking the silence in the capital's desrted streets](https://d.ibtimes.com/en/full/2942936/two-people-walk-dog-virtually-deserted-terminal-1-barcelonas-el-prat-while-madrid-barking.jpg?w=736&f=599e346ef9650a1528d0d1bde7623ef7)
With numbers of cases spiralling, Spain on Saturday introduced a nationwide lockdown to try and curb the spread of the virus that has now infected more than 17,000 people, making it the fourth worst-hit nation in the world.
And barking is one of the few sounds that break the silence of Madrid's eerily-deserted streets.
![Walking the dog used to be a twice-daily chore for owners -- but under the coronavirus lockdown it has become a get out of jail card, allowing this owner to nip to the baker's in Madrid](https://d.ibtimes.com/en/full/2942938/walking-dog-used-twice-daily-chore-owners-under-coronavirus-lockdown-it-has-become-get.jpg?w=736&f=71deb35a5b7b593edd7f45e71f5caee0)
With no scientific evidence that animals pass on the virus to humans, having a dog is now seen as an enviable freedom pass for housebound Spaniards.
![Have dog, will travel -- a canine companion helps this woman as she rushes out to load her shopping trolley in Madrid](https://d.ibtimes.com/en/full/2942940/have-dog-will-travel-canine-companion-helps-this-woman-she-rushes-out-load-her-shopping.jpg?w=736&f=f41aeb7dffecbd73f31210064575894f)
"One dog owner told me someone had sent him a message asking if they could rent his dog," Fe says.
And the idea seems to be catching on.
"If anyone wants to get out for a walk, I will rent them my dog," read one advert on Milanuncios, Spain's online classifieds site.
Not everyone thinks it's funny.
"That's a nightmare -- for other people's health and for the dog itself who's going out with a person they don't know," tuts Alicia Barrientos, 39, who is out walking her Australian sheepdog.
And rival classifieds site Wallapop also pooh-pooed the idea, urging users to report any such dodgy dog offers.
But the subject had sparked a flood of humour on social media, from posts of pups punting themselves out at 15 euros a walk, to others collapsing in exhaustion: "But you've already taken me out 38 times today".
At least one man in northern Spain thought he could get away with faking it -- until police caught him dragging a stuffed toy along by a leash in a hilarious moment caught on camera by sniggering neighbours on a nearby balcony.
And it has caught on online with Facebook and Twitter flooded with similar clips, with one even showing a man getting ready to "walk" his daughter who is disguised as a dalmatian.
It's not only in Spain, with a mayor in Sardinia forced to issue a public clarification that the dogs being walked "have to be alive" while in Rome, some people have even been spotted walking pigs.
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