Fear is a social product. The circulation of discourse is essential to its creation. Fear spreads through images, stories, stereotypes, and fake newsThere is no fear without stories. The cultivation of fear depends on the imagination, especially on those who create prejudices. We think of racism and the creation of images of an always dangerous "other." Let's think of misogynistic discourses and the many fears they fuel. This association of symbolism and fear is inseparable from the institutions that have the power to articulate public discourse. Religious groups have always played a special role in the manipulation of fear. The same is true of newspapers, radio, and television and their participation in the creation of moral panics and fear of crime. However, today social media has taken the generation of fear to new dimensions. Rumors and gossip have reached unprecedented levels, while fake news New fears are spread and fueled. Countering fear also depends on stories, which will break or invalidate the narratives that proliferate fear.

The number of people in Barcelona who live with dogs has not stopped growing in recent years, to the point that, according to the City Council, there are already over 180,000 dogs living in the city (174,316 of them identified with a chip, according to data from the College of Veterinarians), which is considerably more than, for example, the 171,863 children under 12 years of age who are registered on the census. But, despite the growth, the city has not yet resolved an important aspect for the coexistence with pets in squares and streets: defining where they can and cannot be let off the leash. This issue has been dragging on since 2014, when the Council modified the ordinance for the protection and keeping of animals to allow police to fine dog-owners whose pets were off the lead. At that time it was already agreed that the measure, which was to involve fines of at least €100, could not be enforced immediately because the city at that time was not ready: it was necessary to ensure that there were sufficient spaces for the recreation of dogs before prohibiting them to go off the lead.