September 2019

One morning we had a phone call, from someone who does not want to be named… About her dog that had given birth, at the village of Pilalimata.  She did not want to keep the puppies, and demanded that we come and take them, or she would “take care of the issue herself”

So one of our volunteers, who was already in the area, said she would drive past and check out the situation.

What she found just past Pilalimata…. (why we called her Pilar) was a mummy with her pups, living in a wooden box….. exposed to the cold wet winter weather….

Mum/Pilar was soo skinny you could see all her bones, it was amazing her puppies were in such good condition, especially when you consider she had been living off cucumber!

We can not just take the dogs… this is against the law and could cause serious leagl issues…. We have to be given the animals, and the owner was nowhere around, the heart breaking choice had to be made to leave with out them, and contact the owner to arrange a collection.  The volunteer left some food and water, and with a very heavy heart had to head back to the office.

We were able to track down the owner and arrange collection the following day… but when our volunteer arrived at the same location, the puppies were missing!

The owner claimed that maybe they had run away! one month old puppies, who need to feed every 2 hours… run away…. not convinced!

Neither was our volunteer, and after what seemed like hours of discussion, the owner admitted to dumping them further down the road….

So we finally had the puppies…. but what about the poor mum! firstly these angels were still nursing every 2 hours!  And if we did take them and bottle feed them, what would happen to mummy Pilar? live the rest of her life on that chain…. eating cucumber?  No way….

We managed to convince the owner….. which was not easy… to hand over mum as well.

So we managed to get the family back to our shelter. and then set about making sure their were no health issues, some food for them all, and a warm bed.

Due to the ages of the puppies, and the state of mummy Pilar… we decided to wait until the puppies were older and weaned, and mummy had put on weight and was healthy again, before we would put them up for adoption.

These angels were not up for adoption for long… within a month Pilar and all the puppies had been adopted and off to their new homes…

Here are some photos we have been sent from all their new families of them in their new homes…

This handsome little man was found wandering the streets of a local mountain village called Mouliana.  He was soo scared of humans, that he would run away anytime someone would go near him… It took us a long time to try and catch him, we tried many different ways, including food and calm talking….. finally we did manage to catch him, and bring him back to the shelter for a check up with the vet and treatment for fleas and ticks.

Within the first couple of days at the shelter we could see that we would have to work a great deal with little Coby… He was showing signs of depression, and didn’t trust any human, and was also showing signs of behavioural problems…… all of which would need to be worked on if he was going to stand a chance of a finding a new home.

One of our volunteers, a kind and patient lady called Eleni Petropoulou offered to foster Coby….. To start working on his trust issues, whilst we tried to find a more permanent solution for him.

So we posted his story and photograph on our facebook page…. where by the hand of God a woman named  Julia Kontaros, who is from Sweden and  is married to a man from Greece.  She saw the post about little coconut and immediately knew that she wanted to help and got in touch with us.

It is one thing to say that you will help, then it is another thing to go through the lengths this lady went through to bring little Coconut to Sweden…. There were numerous messages back and forth between herself and Eleni (who was already fostering him) so that she could prepare for the work ahead… and then there was the technical side… getting him to Sweden, trying to find the best, most comfortable was for him to travel…. would someone drive him over, would he fly over…. In the end they got lucky and a friend of Julias was flying over…… and very kindly offered to escort him on his journey over.  At the same time Julia had managed to already find his forever home …. a Lovely lady called Nicoletter Lindvall-Rae and her family, who also lived in Sweden.

Whilst his transport to Sweden was being sort out, Eleni made a start working with him on some of his issues, giving him unconditional love, and time….. time to realise that this human was here to help him and not hurt or abandon him…. 

Unfortunately we do not know anything about his past, and what he went through before he was found at the village… so she was having to work without knowing if anything in particular would trigger him off.  One thing was for sure… He needed a bath and a brush…. Which did not go down well… And the judgment  was made that she would have to cut out some of the knots in his fur…. as he was not keen on being brushed at all…..

The day arrived for Coconut to leave…. His passport was ready, the paper work was done and he had all his injections ready to go….. this is a hard day for a foster mama….. But also a good one…. So a happy but sad Eleni bid good bye to coconut, and watched him fly away…..

Now i don’t think i will be amiss to say that Coconut owes a great deal to all three of these ladies, but Julia especially went above and beyond… from the beginning she was in communication with the shelter, Eleni and Nicolette…. she was the glue that held it all together.

Once he arrived at her house, she had a great many behaviour problems to work on with Coconut…. many were going to take training, others were going to take time, love and patience.

Julia had another dog, and Coconut would become possessive over food and toys, and most things… So this took a lot of training and calmness…..

Over the next weeks… she worked tirelessly on all his issues…. And he started to come out of his shell….. Started following her around the house, letting her brush him, and eventually stroke and hug him… The whole time she was keeping everyone up to date with his progress… until he was ready to go to Julia and his forever home.

He still has a few issues, and these will fade with time and love, but wouldn’t you?

He is a very happy boy now….. He now goes by the name Coby…. He loves to have his tummy rubbed, he adores Julias and especially her son…. And likes nothing more than going for a walk and then home for a cuddle.  

We had a phone call about an abandoned mama dog with her 2 puppies, walking around a local village….

One of our volunteers went out to investigate, and found this little man hiding in a bush….. cuddled up to his mum and sister.

She had a look around, and asked if anyone owned them, they all replied the same, no…. they are just strays, they don’t have an owner or home….. they just wander around the village.

So our volunteer took henry, his mother and sister to our vet, where they could have a thorough check up, and treatments if needed.

The vet gave him a thorough health check, and found that his mum had no microchip.  They were all covered in fleas, and henry and his sister were about 5 months old.  

He was not too much under weight, as his mum had been trying her hardest to feed them all.  Living off scraps of food that sometimes a kind villager would throw for them, and drinking rain water.

Our volunteer brought them all to the shelter, where they were given a nice warm and dry bed to snuggle up in.

One of our volunteers spent the rest of the day giving them loads of cuddles and love, and made sure they all had a good meal and plenty to drink.

The following morning we set about a very important job… photos! so that we could put him (and his mother and sister, but i will tell their stories another day.) on our site, and try and find him a home as soon as possible…. This is easier said than done sometimes, and this was the case with henry!  He did not want to have his photo taken at all… was far more interested in giving kisses and cuddles… amazing how some dogs can just be so trusting and full of love even when they have been abandoned.

We uploaded his photos, and information.  We are very lucky that we work along side some sister organisations… to give an example: Germany, England and France.

So like we do with many of our puppies and dogs, we sent them his photo and information…. this means he has a far greater chance of finding a home.

Well this time Germany really did it for him…. His little face was seen on their website by a lovely lady called Sylvie Frey.

Without even being able to see him in the flesh, she wanted to adopt him…..

So we went through the official paper work for the adoption, got his passport sorted, and got him ready to fly off to Germany to start his new life!

 

Here he is a few months later, at his new home….. where i am told he is a brilliant addition to the family.  He loves children, other dogs and cats.  He even just won first place in a good learning dogs competition.  He is very much part of the family and is showered in love and affection every day.

 

This little angel was found walking alone, along the main highway towards Agios Nicholaos, close to the town called Sfaka.

He was found in a terrible state.  As you can see his fur was soo badly matted we could not make out if he was a boy or girl, if he was injured at all, or if he had any skin problems underneath it all.

It took a while to try and get him to come close enough to be caught… eventually he was won over by a cheesepie… 

We took him straight to our vet, who after what seemed like hours, was able to remove all the matted fur from his body…. what a weight it was, it weighed more than his actual body weight.

He was given a full health check, which revealed he was a boy, around a year old.  He was severely malnourished, had fleas and ticks but no broken bones….

We took him back home to the shelter, where he was given his first meal in who knows how long.  And a blanket to keep him warm. 

It took pepito a while to trust a human again, he had obviously been alone for a long time….. And would prefer to sit back and watch from a far… But with time and love he slowly started to understand that we were there to help him, and we would never let him be alone again.  

We took some photos and put them up on our facebook page, then all we can do is wait, hope and pray that some one would see him and want to take him home.

Luckily for little Pepito here he didn’t have to wait to long….  he was seen by a lovely lady called Ioanna Papapetrou, who instantly fell in love with him, and wanted to make him a part of her family….

So after we went through the formal adoption paper work, and one final health check, off he went…

And here he is now….. what a difference!

He now lives in a home filled with love, walks, cuddles, playtime and soo much more….