sitianimalrescue

Details have been changed to preserve anonymity. “Grockle” a derogatory term for an inconsiderate holiday maker commonly used in Devon and Cornwall. As I have said before, calls to go to farms can be difficult. It is invariably the farmers wife that makes the appointment and I am never sure if the wife has told the husband and whether I will meet hostility. Mrs Tressilian was a typical Cornish farmers wife, a short, stocky lady and very hospitable and as we sat and drank coffee she told me why I was here. Mr Tressilian was a sheepdog trainer of note and highly respected in the farming community and I must admit watching a shepherd working his dog is for me poetry in motion.  Before I continue maybe a little snippet of information, just in case you are unaware, a sheepdog is not taught to go left or right he goes clockwise and anticlockwise. In fact if you watch carefully the dog very rarely moves in a straight line, he almost always travels in an arc untill he is very close to the sheep. Sorry I digress, back to the job in hand.  It appeared that Mr Tressellians latest dog called Jem was misbehaving, he had developed the habit of nipping the lambs; in fact on some occasions it wasn’t far off biting. According to Mrs T Gem was only being aggressive to the lambs not the fully grown sheep. Despite the  best efforts of Mr T the situation was deteriorating and to make matters worse Mr T took the farmers view that sheep worrying was a cardinal sin and such animals were shot. He wouldn’t play favourites even with a dog of his own so Gem had a limited life span and in fact was only alive because Mr T had not acquired another dog. It may not be understood that whilst the law states that a farmer must inform the police if he has shot a dog worrying his sheep, in practice the dog is sometimes just shot and buried and as one old farmer put it “Bloody grockles should leave their bloody poofy dogs behind; can’t be buggering about filling out bloody forms!” In fairness he had a point, going to the police station can cost a farmer half a day and can involve court appearances, no wonder then he takes a pragmatic view. So the question was, why was a Gem being rough with the lambs? To be honest I didn’t have a clue, but was helped by the fact it was unlikely to be a problem with the training so the reason had to closer to home. After numerous questions I was able to ascertain that untill recently Gem had slept in the barn nearest to the house but the building was required for the early lambs and Gem was moved further away to accommodate the newborns. Can a sheepdog be jealous? I had no idea. I’d never heard of anything like it but in the absence of anything else……. At this point I should point out that Cornish ladies whilst committed and loyal to their husbands can be formidable when what they view as injustice rears its ugly head. They have an innate sense of right and wrong, and Mrs T was decidedly unhappy with the situation. The dreaded moment then arrived, Mr T came in and from the look on his face he was not happy, however, courtesy demanded good manners and we discussed the weather, the price of animal feed  and EU legislation, none of which had any interest to me but gave me time to think. Finally I took the bull by the horns, I told Mr T that the only explanation that seemed likely was that Gem was annoyed that his place next to the house had been usurped by the lambs and as a young dog growing up his machismo had been threatened. I suggested that Gem be moved back to quarters closer to the house, and his status would be raised. This met with muted enthusiasm from Mr T and a look that left me in no doubt. He thought I was potty!!  I countered this by pointing out that he had nothing to lose by putting my theory to the test and as my fee was payable anyway why not give it a try. Now most people know that our Scottish cousins can be careful with their finance but I can assure you that the Cornishman isn’t far behind!! So the idea of having to pay for something that he had declined to try was too awful to bear. Mrs T was on my side and before I left she was busy making space in the porch for Gem to sleep; it was one of those small spaces attached over the back door where you hung wet clothes and wellington boots. In order to make Gem comfortable she found a cardboard box in which she placed a thick layer of hay. I departed and arranged to visit in a week’s time to check progress. A week later I returned, more in hope than anything, I really wasn’t confident, it was just that if I was wrong then by now Gem may well have met his fate. I was met at the door by Mrs T, not a word was said but I knew all was well, she gave me a smile and a wink Mr T was seated at the kitchen table a pint mug of tea in front of him, he looked up and gave a thin smile He wasn’t an effusive man and I knew that any praise would be minimal and to the point. “The wife will settle with you, I was wrong, you was right. Got to get back to work. Proper job young man!!” The dog represents all that is best in man. Etienne Charley

December 15th at Sitia Square

Come and join us, and see the amazing things we have for sale, lots would make perfect Christmas presents, like these lucky horse shoes…. they are made from used horse shoes, and are believed to bring good luck to any home they hang in. Plus lots more goodies available, there is sure to be something for everyone.

This story shows how important our amazing foster mamas are! When we find tiny abandoned puppies, or kittens, one of our foster mamas steps in, takes them into their home (and their heart), and cares for them as a mama would…… this means feeding every couple of hours, day and night, watching them carefully for any health problems, and doing everything in their power to make sure the little ones grow up to be healthy and strong so that they can be adopted. Sometimes the dogs or cats that need foster mamas are in a bad way, and need a lot of extra love, time and patience to help them heal and be ready for re-homing, without these amazing people we would be lost.

This is the story of Minnie (formerly known as Naomi).

We had a phone call from a tourist, who was on holiday in Sitia, and she had found a tiny little ball of fur behind her hotel. One of our volunteers went and met her, and this is when Minnie entered our lives…. She was tiny… not even a month old…. So we knew that she would need a foster mama if she stood a chance to make it….

Maria Proistaki is one of our amazing ladies who will often take in these little angels and be their foster mama’s, and this time she took in little Minnie….

Maria took little Minnie home, and set her up with a little bed, and safe area, i say safe area, as it is important that she doesn’t wander all over the house, and it helps her learn to use the puppy pad for her toilet.

And so begun the long days and nights, with feeding every 3-4 hours, and making sure she felt loved and was ok. This meant that if Maria needed to go out somewhere and would be missing for a few hours, she would either take little Minnie with her, or arrange a puppy sitter for her.

Once she had been with Maria for around a month, she was strong enough to meet Marias other 2 dogs…… Minnie thought this was amazing… as you will see further below there is a big size difference between Minnie and Marias dogs! this did not stop her for one minute….. charging around and causing all sorts of mischief…. she definitely thinks that she is a lot bigger than she actually is!

Little Minnie was doing great! and was now ready to start looking for a new home… so her photos were put on our facebook, instagram and website…. and the waiting begins…. Whilst she was waiting, she was having a lovely life with her foster mama and family… playing, going for walks and even went to the beach!

And it was the last photo that actually caught her future mamas eye!

A good friend of Tracee Walton happened to be with her, when i sent her some photos of little Minnie…. A lovely lady names Caroline Gill. Who had previously had a Greek rescue dog named Arthur, who unfortunately had passed away earlier this year…

She saw little Minnie and feel in love straight away!

This is the hard part of being a foster mama…… normally when we get the news that a dog is being adopted it is a happy day, but for a foster mama it is a 50/50 sort of feeling….. half super happy, and half super sad…. the little baby that they have had in their life for the past few months (sometimes even longer) is going to be leaving them.

The arrangements where made, and little Minnie would be leaving with the Zounis Pet Travel. An amazing transport company, that transport dogs from Greece to England in a special van, where they have special cages, with blankets and toys. They make regular stops and send updates to all the families waiting at the other end.

Little Minnie would be making a pit stop in Athens first of all, where the wonderful Tracee Walton (once again, helped us a great deal and made all the arrangements for us) would foster little Minnie for a week whilst her paper work was being finalised and her passport prepared.

We were sent regular updates on how Minnie was getting on, through out here journey…. and like the little princess she is, it was not long until she had made her way to the front seat of the van! with a special cushion…

On a cold wet morning she finally reached England, and met her new family…. and it was love at first site for all of them… she has settled in straight away, and is loved more than anything in the world.

We would like to say a huge thank you to:

Tracee Walton: her help and knowledge is invaluable

Maria Proistaki: for being an amazing foster mama, and taking such good care of little Minnie.

Zounis Pet Travel For the brilliant care they take of the animals they transport, we would recommend them to anyone who needed ti transport their beloved pet

And everyone else who helped Minnie.

When it comes to theft probably the biggest canine criminals are gun dogs. Golden Retrievers, Labradors, Springer Spaniels etc, are the most obvious culprits and then to add insult to injury they proudly strutt around the house just out of reach! To be fair this is instinctive to gun dogs and after all we humans created this type of dog for this very purpose! There is, however, a positive side to this, we learn to be tidy!!
Now regardless of breed of dog there are certain responses we must avoid, we never chase the offender, we never try to prise the dogs jaws open unless the item stolen is dangerous and we don’t play tug of war in order to retrieve the item.
We must also understand that in our world we consider stealing as a criminal offence, it is our property, it belongs to us but to a dog it is a discarded item, there for the taking. It goes back to what I said earlier, be tidy, the only things that you should leave lying around are toys that our canine companion can legitimately pick up.
So what to do.
Well, having taking the opportunity to have a good tidy up around the house and removed temptation from the offenders path we know that the inevitable will occur and we need to be ready.
The old maxim “Exchange is no Robbery” comes into play.
We need to be ready so we can offer to exchange the stolen item for a tasty titbit or a toy. It doesn’t take long even for the most delinquent felon to work out that bringing the proceeds of crime to us brings its own rewards.
Stealing off tables an work surfaces is slightly different. We need to find a way to discourage this delinquent behaviour and the following should only be tried when you are at home. It is an old fashioned dog trainers trick that was regularly used but has fallen out of favour these days.
You need 10 empty drinks cans, the modern light aluminium variety and stack them in a pyramid at the edge of the table or worktop. A line of 4 in a row a small space in between 3 on top followed by 2 then one in the very top. Tuck a tasty titbit behind the middle two in the bottom and wait. In trying to retrieve the tasty morsel the consequences will be the tumbling down of the cans. This very often discourages the thief from repeating the offence, the cans are so lightweight they cannot harm and with your gentle admonishment adding to his surprise you may find that in future just putting one empty can on the edge a table or worktop should be enough.

R

Don’t litter, neuter.
Anon

This story is very close to my heart, as it was myself and my cousin Kalliopi Metaxaki who actually found little Fiongo.

One morning, when i went next door for a coffee to kallipoi’s house, i noticed something strange in her dogs house…. upon further investigation, there was a tiny little puppy! now her dog is a male! so no chance he had given birth over night! Unfortunately people quite often dump dogs and puppies up where we live, as we are surrounded by olive trees….

Because i am still learning Greek, i had actually just learned the word ‘fiongo’ and it just stuck….

For the next couple of weeks, we tried to find out where he had come from, and track down any possible owners…… none where to be found.

So we contacted the shelter, and as he had not had any vaccinations or treatments for fleas or ticks, we took him to the vets for a check up, and then kept him at Kallipoi’s house (as we didn’t want to risk him given any disease to the puppies at the shelter or vise versa)

When it was time, he came to the shelter and was introduced to the other puppies around the same age as him…. To start with he was very shy and quiet with the other puppies….. but that didn’t last long, and he showed us what a cheeky playful puppy he was.

Once Fiongo had had all his vaccinations, and was at the right age…. it was time for his debut to the world…..

And so his photo and information was put here on our website…. And this is where 2 very special people enter the picture…… Layla Wingate and her boyfriend Josh Bidgood…… Who after just having finished renovating their home, where just checking out the site…. not with the intention of adopting right now (plan was for a little bit in the future) but when they lay eyes on little fiongo they fell madly in love, and knew straight away that he was the one for them!

So the wheels were set in motion……. We owe a massive thank you to Tracee Walton (of Ambers Hope) who helped us massively, she was the one who organised his whole trip to England, and anyone who has transported a animal into the U knows, there is a lot of paper work, and small print that needs to be fixed 100% correctly. She was able to book his travel with Thompson Pet Transport who we can not recommend enough… the level of care they show to the animals that they are transporting is amazing, they have regular stops, with walks and play time, and they make daily photos and videos so that everyone waiting can see exactly how there precious cargo is getting on.

So Fiongo had to be in Athens (with Tracee) before he would leave, so that she could make sure all his paper work was in order, and make his papers for travelling to England….

So one evening, we took him to Heraklion to catch the over night ferry to Athens…. this little boy, travelled like a star… when you think that he had never been in a travel crate or a van before! he just lay down and slept the whole way… in fact when we arrived at Heraklion, i tried to get him out for a walk…. he just lifted his head and looked at me… as if to say… really?

The next morning he arrived safe and sound in Athens, and met the wonderful Tracee….. And i don’t think she will mind if i tell you, this little man stole a piece of her heart… He was such a special little boy, who wanted nothing more than to snuggle and cuddle!

At this point i would like to mention something that a lot of people do not realise…. whilst fiongo was at the shelter with us, he was always very aloof…. he was not one of these puppies that would come running up to you like the others….. no! he would make you work for his attention…. and would much rather be running around playing. I am saying this as a lot of the time, when a dog is in the shelter he may show or act different to how he will in a real home…. we can never know for sure how he or she will react in a home environment….. and like in this case, who was a very shy boy in the shelter… as soon as he was in a home, was a completely different dog!

Tracee looked after this little angel for 2 weeks…. and in the time he was with her, he started to learn what it would be like to be in a real home, surrounded by love! and he liked it…… a lot!!! It was not all cuddles, he did some lead training and other important stuff as well….. but a lot of cuddles where had….

It took Fiongo a week to travel over land to England… we choose this way to bring him to England, firstly as it is the most stress free… Thompson Pet Transport have a DEFRA approved travel van, with special cages with blankets and toys in, and they treat each animal they are transporting as if it were there own… and secondly, the price, To fly in England is very very expensive….

Every day, me, Kalliopi, Tracee, Layla and Josh would be sent new photos and videos of how he was getting on, and we found out that this little man seems to touch the hearts of everyone he meets! everyone who has met him, says how sweet and loving he is.

After what seemed like eternity (as i believe it has now been a month since we set the ball rolling) Layla and Josh were waking up to go and collect their new family member……. They had decided to travel up the night before, and so they could be there bright and early the morning of the pick up….

What a beautiful moment!! Little fiongo…… who will now be named Bear! Who started his life thrown away like a piece of trash, unloved and unwanted, Had his photo seen from a little town in Cornwall…. and was now finally meeting the 2 people who would love him more than anything in the world……

From day one Bear has settled right into his new home….. not shy, not hiding….. but straight in for cuddles and love, as if he has always been there. There will be the usual hurdles now to over come…. house training, and general training…. But we are sure that Bear is going to have the best possible life, He has 2 very special people who love him to bits, and lots of extended family with other dogs for him to play with, and run around in the large fields that surround his home.

We want to say a huge thank you to:

Tracee Walton, without her help this would have not been anywhere as easy to sort out, or smooth.

Thompson Pet Transport: For taking such good care of Bear, and all the other animals they transport. (again…… really cant recommend these guys enough!!)

Nikos Pandermalis: for taking the amazing photo that caught Layla and Josh’s eye.

And everyone else who played a part in making this happy end happen…..

Details have been changed to preserve anonymity

It was a strange request and I had my reservations, this could turn out to be a nightmare. The request came from the farmers wife. Could I visit the farm and ascertain whether the accommodation provided for her husbands sheep dogs was up to standard. I was puzzled, firstly because it was a very unusual request, unique in fact, and secondly, the voice on the end of the telephone was rather more cultured than one would expect from the average Cornish farmers wife. Ok, let’s be honest she sounded posh!!
I was even more puzzled when we met. Mrs Roskilly was a tiny lady, no more than 5 feet tall, immaculately coifered , designer clothes, she just didn’t fit the mould.
She led me without preamble to the dogs kennels put her hands on her hips and said. “Well”
I assumed that she thought the accommodation was not up to standard, but in fact it was superb. Block built, lined, sloping tiled roof the bedding was hay at least a foot deep and the food and water bowls were attached to the wall so as not to tip.
I then spent the next few minutes answering questions.
No, working sheep dogs would not benefit from having a pretty fleecey blanket, it would become wet and soiled and would have no benefit.
No they didn’t need little woolie coats. I suppressed a giggle as I imagined a working collie rounding up the sheep dressed in a woolie jumper.
No the dogs would not benefit from living indoors
The high energy dry food was correct and no, the dogs would not benefit from Sainsbury’s gourmet pate for pampered pets.
I explained at length that the feeding and sleeping of working dogs was totally different from pet dogs.
I was then invited in for a coffee, served of course in a china cup and saucer in an immaculate kitchen.
At this point Mr Roskilly arrived I was immediately struck by the contrast between Mr and Mrs. Mr Roskilly was a giant of a man 6 feet 4 inches tall and big, not fat, he was just a very large man, he extended a hand the size of a shovel and introduced himself.
“I’m John” The greeting was friendly without a hint of animosity.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately it was a quiet day and I was able to sit and enjoy John’s anecdotes. It transpired that his wife Jenny had lived and worked in London and has been employed by a fashion magazine and her introduction to the harsh world of farming was something of a culture shock.
As someone who had never seen a live sheep and whose only contact with meat was on a cardboard tray covered in cling film in a supermarket and being an advocate for animal welfare Jenny found the adjustment difficult. Fortunately John adored his tiny wife and accepted that her concerns were heartfelt and also accepted that they were now a part of his life but it did lead to some rather strange conversations and bizzare events.
One of the first conversations went something like this:-
“John it’s raining”
“Yes my lovely.”
“The sheep are getting wet.”
“It’s ok they have a thick woolie coat that keeps them dry.”
“What about their faces they haven’t got any wool on their faces.”
“No my lovely they don’t face the rain they turn their backs to it.”
“What about their feet John won’t their feet get wet. “
“No sweetheart they are born with special feet.”
Five minutes later
“John don’t you have a barn or something so they can get out of the rain!!”
 The event went like this and I must admit that I can’t remember the reason, sheering or dipping (dipping was compulsory in those days)  but John had hired two men for the day and without warning Jenny arrived to help and as John said, the look on their faces was something to behold. Jenny being very fashion conscience arrived wearing a pink jumpsuit, very fashionable at the time, a pink woolie hat, a pair of pink marigolds (gloves) and a pair of pink wellies!!! For those who saw the tv series it was reminiscent of Margo in the The Good Life.
My favourite story, however, concerned Sunday dinner. John came in to the kitchen, washed his hands and noticed a piece of cling film on the kitchen surface, he spread it out and the conversation went like this.
“My lovely why are we having New Zealand lamb and not English?”
“Oh no John we can’t have English lamb it might be one of ours I couldn’t eat one of ours!!”

R

If there are no dogs in heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.
 Will Rogers

Date of Birth: 2012

Sex: Male

Colour: Light brown and white

Size: medium

More about Rufos:

Rufos, is unfortunately back with us once again. This lovely boy has not had the easiest of lives, and this is the second time he has come back to us.

Unfortunately his new family was not able to keep him any more, and had to make the heart breaking decision to bring him back to us.

He is house trained and neutered, and brilliant on the lead.

He is the sweetest soul. And gets on great with all other dogs brilliantly.

It has often been a source of puzzlement to me that whilst there are unlimited numbers of stray dogs and the shelters are full to overflowing with delightful animals deserving of a home people still go and spend hundreds, even thousands on a pedigree dog from a breeder which unfortunately can come with built in problems. If, however, you decide that is the path you wish to follow, you need to be aware of the hidden defects that can plague any number of breeds. So before buying, please research.

Hip Displacia (HD)
Occurs when the joint at top of the back leg (commonly called a ball and socket joint) is not properly formed causing lameness.
This can be a very painful condition and may require major orthopaedic surgery. It tends to be found in larger breeds

Hereditary Cataracts
This results in the dogs vision being impaired and can lead to blindness. The first signs are a cloudy appearance on th dogs eye. This can sometimes be corrected by surgery. This condition affects 80% of recognised breeds

Collie eye anomaly
A congenital eye condition found in most types of collie caused by a defective gene and leads to total blindness. There is no cure.

Luxating patella.
Occurs when the patella (kneecap) moves slightly causing lameness. Can be corrected by surgery

Ectropian.
A particular unpleasant condition when the lower eyelid has excess skin exposing the inner part of the lid. This can be corrected by surgery

Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA)
 A condition that is basically a degeneration of the retina, leading to total blindness. There is no cure

Congenital Deafness. Exactly what it says. The dog is born deaf, particularly common in pure white dogs. There is no cure.

Epilepsy.
This is a brain disorder causing the dog to have seizures. This is generally controlled by medication There is no cure.

Intervertebral Disc Disease.(IDD)
Discs between the vertebra which act as shock absorbers start to degenerate. This can be a particularly painful condition which may require major orthopaedic surgery

Breathing difficulties.
Caused by the breeding of dogs with distorted facial features which results in flattened face making it difficult for the dog to inhale sufficient oxygen for its needs. There is no cure.

Distichiasis. An eye condition where a second set of eyelashes grow causing irritation. It is corrected by surgery

Entropian.
Where the eye lashes turn inwards and cause irritation to the eye.
It is corrected by surgery.

Overshot and undershot jaw.
This is where the top and bottom jaws are not in alignment. This can be congenital.

Please be aware that the purchase of animals is protected under both European and UK law and whilst the wording differs the law is basically the same. There are however two issues of which you need to be aware.
If you demand your money back then you almost certainly have to return the puppy.
Also, some of the defects I have raised won’t become obvious until after 6 months from the date of sale. This may require you to engage an authority on the subject in order to prove that the seller is responsible.
You are probably best advised to seek legal advice from the outset and you should understand that in a court of law even if you receive judgement in your favour and receive compensation, depending on the wording you still may have to return the dog.

R

Money can buy you a fine dog but only love can make him wag his tail.
Kinky Friedman.

This is a slightly different type of story….. The story of Zeus

In the summer of 2019, A young lady named Hannah Jane Petts, and her boyfriend Josh, where on holiday in Heraklion, Crete. They spent most of the time relaxing at the beach, as you do when your on holiday…

This is where they met Zeus! He was very very shy at first, and they just saw him from a distance… But slowly slowly he gathered his nerve and approached them….. Little did either of them know that their lives would be forever changed!

Over the process of the 2 weeks that they were on holiday, both Hannah and Josh fell in love with this gentle giant, they were feeding him daily with food they snuck out from the hotel buffet, and of course the occasional icecream!

This is where things got a little tricky…. They made the decision that they would adopt Zeus, and take him home to England with them… Seeing as they were on holiday, they had no idea how they could do this…. who could help them?

They took to social media and the internet and searched everywhere, everyone they reached out to, was already full to the brim….. the days ticked past,, and they were more in love with Zeus than ever, he had started to trust them, and was waiting for them every morning at the beach…. But their departure day was growing close….

In one last attempt the took to twitter, where they found us….. And what can we say, their story touched our hearts…… of course we would do whatever we could to help them take this big man home…..

The day after they messaged we arranged one of our volunteers to drive up to heraklion and collect Zeus, and bring him back to the shelter.

At this point i would like to say, before agreeing to help Hannah and Josh, we did have long talks with them about adopting a stray, especially one who is not a puppy (as we put Zeus age at around 4 years old) they were both aware that it would not be easy, and would cost them quite a bit to have him delivered to England (as he is big) but they were sure they wanted to give him the life he deserved. And also upon arriving at Heraklion, our volunteer stopped at a couple of local tavernas and beach bars, near to where Zeus was found, just to check he did not have a owner or family, they all said the same thing, he had appeared that summer out of nowhere, and was very very shy and timid.

So our volunteer met with Hannah and Josh, down at the beach, where a very skeptical Zeus was waiting…. he knew something was going to happen, and was not sure at all if it was a good or bad thing….. So we ended up taking the travel crate down the beach, and carrying him back to the van, inside the crate!

Zeus was at first put into a separate area of the shelter, due to fact we had no idea ow he would get on with the other dogs, and also he needed to have his vaccinations, and flea treatments etc, so that is would be safe for his and our other dogs health. As soon as it was safe we put him in a large enclosure with 6 other dogs, here he had companions to play with, and he thrived…….

he was checked for a microchip (none found) and measured, weighed and fully checked out by the vet… apart from being under weight, he was in great shape.

Now the next hurdle would be, how to get such a big dog to England, the cheapest and most stress free way… this is where we bring the brilliant Tracee Walton (of Ambers hope) came into the picture….. This woman is amazing, and without her help we would be lost. She was on holiday when we messaged her, but that did not stop her for one minute putting the wheels in motion, and by the end of the week we had booked his seat on a transport van to drive over to England!!!!

We had to wait just over a month for his departure day….. so that we could make sure all his paper work was in order, and all his vaccinations were done…. then he left us, on a over night ferry to Athens where he would start the next phase of his journey. This is the bitter sweet moment…. as happy as we are that he is going to a new home, we would miss our gentle giant… who was always sitting like a gentleman waiting for you to go inside and give him a back rub.

He stayed with Tracee for just over a week, so that she could make sure his paper work and passport were all up to scratch.

Then one Monday morning, he met the wonderful people from Zouis Pet travel….. He would be traveling in their amazing van, in a large cage with blankets, plenty of loo breaks and pit stops…. these amazing people kept us all up to date, with constant photos and videos, not just of Zeus but of the others they were bringing with him, who were also off to start their new lives in England.

After travelling for 4 days, Zeus and his fellow passengers reached England….

Hannah and josh met Zeus at the pick up point and took the big boy home…. Hannahs home already has a rescue boxer, so they had done some research on how to introduce 2 new dogs to each other, and went to a neutral piece of land… and all was good.

When they got home, things were not quite as plain sailing….. Zeus did not want to come inside…. at all! and yet he would cry out side, like he wanted to come inside but was scared too, he was a little bit snappy with his new brother Harvey, and a few more issues…….

Due to the fact that none of us knew anything about Zeus history or what he had been through, it is hard to be ready for how he will be in a home…… And this is always the hard part of rescuing a dog from the streets, you have no way of knowing what their life has been like before they met you, they could have been abused, or traumatised, a number of things could have happened to them, and they have no way of telling you, this is why you always need to be prepared for a lot of work and patience with your new friend.

Hannah and her family have worked wonders with this big boy… Their time and patience has already made a huge difference in this gentle giant, he now comes inside and enjoys sleeping in front of the fire, and licks his brother Harveys ears.

He still has a long road ahead of him, with many small little issues to overcome and work on, but we are all sure that with the love and support of his new family he will overcome them all.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Tracee Walton and to Zounis Pet Transport for helping getting this big man to his new home.

Here he is in his new life!