At the end of 2001, the Affinity Foundation launched the campaign “A place under the sun”. The objective of this campaign was to vindicate the idea that it is necessary to allot a fourth of public spaces to dog owning families so that everybody, animal lovers as well as those who prefer to live without them, would have a proper place within our cities, without being discriminated.

The undeniable reality is that the number of pet owning families is tending to increase. In Spain, a fourth of families have a dog and/or a cat, and the percentage rises up to 50% if we include the homes where there are other kinds of pets such as birds and fishes.

The Foundation proposes that special areas be set up within all public spaces, in parks and urban gardens as well as on beaches. They could be surrounded by fences made thicker at the bottom so as to prevent small dogs from escaping. The entrances to those areas should be clearly indicated by means of graphic signposts. Furthermore, the flooring should be hard and even, avoiding lawns and earth areas, and it would be convenient to fit out automatic drinking troughs for the dogs, along with numerous litter bins and some rubbish skips near the exits.