Balto, the golden retriever, pads through the church benches guiding his owner through the tricky passageways, wagging his tail as the congregation resists the urge to cuddle him. The dog's instructions on his harness are clear: "Don't pet me, I'm working".
Sitting by his owner's side, Balto attracts a lot of attention because he is the first dog to venture where no other dog has gone before, be it the supermarket, the health centre or travelling economy on Air Malta.
Balto is the first guide dog to roam Malta's streets, bringing to fruition the dream of Ron Colombo, his 69-year-old owner and chairman of the Malta Guide Dog Foundation, who is blind from one eye and has one-tenth vision in his "good" eye.
"It was dark, now it's light. Before I used to fall off pavements because I didn't see the kerb or bump into a rebellious lamppost that got in my way. All that is a thing of the past," Mr Colombo says, stroking the 22-month-old dog's fluffy paw, which lies possessively on his lap.
Since he became chairman of the non-profit organisation, Mr Colombo made it his mission to introduce guide dogs on the island, giving people with sight problems a sense of independence.
He feels a bit uncomfortable that the first guide to walk the streets in Malta will be his but the Helen Keller School, in Sicily, has given him Balto as a gift. One good turn deserves another and he is comforted by the fact that the dog which the Dorloc Trust, in the UK, was sponsoring for him is now going to another person.
Two other guide dogs have already arrived from Slovakia and are with their trainers and a locally-bred Labrador will have finished his training in June. "Seeing all this fall into place is a reality," Mr Colombo says, speaking in Italian to instruct his dog to sit down.
Mr Colombo has been quite amazed with the level of acceptance the Maltese have had to guide dogs going everywhere: "We just had a minor problem at the supermarket when a staff member told me to leave the dog outside. And another time the bus driver wouldn't have it and said it was either him or me. I just waited for the next bus. Apart from that we have had a surprisingly good reaction."
Balto has already programmed his master's route and Mr Colombo laughs as he recounts how he can get a bit stubborn and insist on a particular path, barking to point out he knows best.
The cream-coloured dog is extremely timid and obedient. The only obstacle he has to encounter is his fear of black garbage bags that line the pavements every morning.
"The minute he spots the bags he freezes. He thinks they're monsters or something, so I try and walk between him and the bag. We're working on it and at home I spend time patting the garbage bag as Balto watches on suspiciously," he says.
"He's not exactly Balto the Lion Heart. When my Chihuahua that weighs 1.7kg is sitting on my lap and she growls at him he just runs away."
Since Mr Colombo and Balto returned to Malta a few weeks ago, they have become inseparable and they spend any free moment they have outdoors.
Guide dogs are an expensive business and each one costs some €10,000. The foundation estimates it needs 45 to 50 guide dogs in Malta where there are about 800 people with sight problems registered and receiving benefits.