Bite-Size Semiotics

Dog sign addressing the dog

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This sign was posted near the front gates of an orthodox christian graveyard in Helsinki, Finland. It is a laminated A4 paper taped to the wall and quite weather-worn. The content roughly states that:

Dear dog!

Please advise your master

to teach you how to do your needs somewhere else than the graveyard's

gates or

stone wall.

Here the "do your needs" is a polite euphemism for urination or defecation.

This is another example of a dog sign that superficially addresses the dog and not the owner. I found the various text-empasizes like underlines and boldening interesting. Especially with the "master" being in bold font. Perhaps reminding the dog walker that they are the master of the situation and thus responsible for the dog? Somehow very fitting in my mind to the setting of Christian ideology.