Two of our wonderful volunteers tell the story of how they met and adopted 2 rescue dogs…

We came to live in Crete in 2001 and had the company of our lurcher called Merrick for four years. We had promised ourselves that we would not have another dog until we had done a bit of traveling to see the island where we had settled.

Daffy

It became obvious after 3 weeks without a dog that this was not going to happen. My son had been spending his first 2 week holiday in his renovated house in a tiny village in the valley below us. He contacted Ray and asked him if he could come down to the village whilst I was at work. It transpired that he had been feeding a little cream and tan spaniel type bitch but was now concerned about her welfare when he left to go back to work in two days time. The village was almost deserted and knowing how much Ray was missing Merrick, he wondered if I could be persuaded to adopted her. Ray took one look and knew that I would fall in love with her but they would have to give her a good wash and brush up before they presented her to me in the office. Of course we took her in; she was such a sweetie and we called her Daffy.

Taz

Working as an estate agent took me to many parts of East Crete. An owner in Athens wanted to sell his house in Agios Georgios and In the garden, tied up under a tree, was a little black hairy dog who was supposed to be guarding the chickens. A nearby neighbour was using the garden whilst the owners were away. On several visits to show buyers around, this little dog was so pleased to see us but was gradually looking more and more neglected.  His coat was full of fleas and ticks and he must of being fed  but his water bowl was empty, despite a water tap nearby. On two occasions, midnight visits were undertaken by my boss, to spray the dog to control the flies and ticks. We found a buyer for the property and the neighbour had to clear the garden. Ray had fallen for this little dog and had asked the boss a few days before, what was likely to happen to it. We had just taken on Daffy two days before, so when Ray expressed a wish to adopt him his appeal was answered with, well we have already got one so another will fit in fine. An urgent Sunday morning call had Ray rushing off with a dog box in the car to collect the dog before the owner changed her mind. Ten minutes after putting him into the box at the back of the car, Ray glanced back to find that he had escaped and was standing on top of it looking out of the back window. My daughter named him Taz after the Tasmania devil because of his protruding dog tooth and the two dogs became inseparable friends for many years until Daffy’s accidental death deprived us of her company.  Taz lived for several more years and recently died of old age. As far as we could tell he was about 14 years old and both dogs had bought great happiness to us and their many friends especially the children in the village.

And here they are now enjoying the good life….

Written by Joy Hodson