The Basenji, a dog that is used for hunting and tracking and originally comes from the Democratic republic of Congo is the only dog in the world that doesn’t bark.
The Tibetan mastiff, originates from the nomadic peoples in places like China, Mongolia, India and Nepal and was bred to protect sheep. It is the most expensive dog so in the world going for the princely sum of 1.5 million dollars. One should to bear in mind, you do get a lot of dog for the money as a fully grown one weighs in at around 20 stone ( 286lbs )
The Low chen was once the rarest breed in the world, has no undercoat and has a price tag of around $8000
The tallest dog in the world was a Great Dane called Zeus who was 1118 metres ( 44inches ) tall and when he was standing on his hind legs he was 2.23 metres ( 7 feet 4inches ) tall.
The fastest breed is the greyhound which can reach speeds of up to 45 miles per hour. In 2014 an Australian dog called Shakey Jakey covered 520 metres in 29 seconds
The Dicken medal was instigated in 1943 by Maria Dicken the founder of the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) and is awarded to animals for conspicuous gallantry and devotion the task, commonly known as the animals VC it has been awarded 66 times to 32pigeons, 29dogs, 4horses and 1cat. For those unfamiliar with the term VC, it stands for Victoria Cross considered to be be the worlds highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy due to its rarity. In the 153 years since it’s inception it has only been awarded 1358 times.
The poodle is generally considered to be a French breed, this is incorrect this dog originally comes from Germany
The Saluki is one of the world’s oldest breeds, evidence shows in was around in 6000 BC.
We have been domesticating cats and dogs for in excess of 10000 years
Finally The voice of the gay dog Sparky in the US satirical tv show is actually George Clooney
R
I very much believe in rescuing animals not buying them. Candice Bergman
In all honesty, how many of us look forward to seeing the dentist? Now I am sure that most dentists are nice enough people, probably kind to old people and animals and are good neighbours. In fact a dentist might be reading this right now and if they are, maybe they can let us know what makes anyone decide to become a dentist!! Unfortunately in their line of work they are sometimes obliged to inflict some degree of discomfort and if we escape from the dentists chair without too much it then we are greatly relieved.
While we are talking about dentists have you noticed that when you are trapped in the chair and they are doing whatever dentists do in your mouth, they then start asking questions. Your replies are gibberish as you try to answer with your mouth wide open against a backdrop of gurgling water and the whine of that drill. I am sure they are specially trained to do this as It appears to happen all over the world.
Why, you ask, are we talking about dentists? Well to a dog, there are parallels with a visit to the vet and unfortunately we are unable to explain to our hairy friend why we are at the vets and this visit is for his benefit. Whilst he is enduring the indignities of examinations, injections taking of blood and urine etc, the scents assaulting his nose must be causing him great anguish.( For more information on the nose see the blog on this subject) Not surprisingly then on subsequent visits as you get close to the clinic your best friend takes one look at the destination and decides to retreat with alarming speed. This distress is often a source of amusement to us humans as we drag our reluctant pet to the vets door but if you equate it to your visit to the dentist maybe it isn’t so funny after all and instead of laughing maybe a little understanding!!
R
An animals eyes have the power to speak a great language
For most people the scene is very familiar, you return home to be greeted by the family dog who is very excited to see you, wagging his tail, jumping up, bringing you his favourite toy and showing you how pleased he is to see you.
Now imagine the scene in a home of a deaf dog. You arrive, open the door bring in the shopping, make a cup of tea, even turn on the tv and through all this your dog is still fast asleep!!
Welcome to the silent world in which the deaf dog lives.
When it comes to deafness there are generally two forms.
There is the dog who is profoundly deaf. This literally means total deafness. The other have an ability to hear very sharp sounds very close.
Let’s first get rid of the myth; that deaf dogs are more aggressive, this is total nonsense. People are frightened that waking a deaf dog from a deep sleep will startle it and therefore cause it to bite. As any owner of a deaf dog knows the way to wake it is to stamp on the floor, the vibration will wake it.
The obvious problems are that these dogs don’t hear traffic, so for a stray, vehicles are a major hazzard and if the dog is adopted then communicating your instructions to your dog becomes problematic. Think about it, in order to get your message across you have to use hand signals but in order to do this you need your dog to look at you and if he can’t hear you how do you get his attention.
So what are the options when training a deaf dog?
1 If you already have a dog in the house that hears the hearing dog will help teach the deaf dog and you’ll be able to introduce hand signals.
2 Deaf dogs are no different to hearing dogs in that they will follow food and if they know that you have some they may be inclined to stay close.
3 You can try investing in a vibrating collar but they have limited success.
4 If you are new to this you may need to seek help from a professional who has personal experience.
5 There are a number of videos to help you and in my opinion they are essential to the owner with no experience
This blog is far too short to go into the intricacies of training a deaf dog and without doubt it is challenging but extremely rewarding.
R
“You think that dogs will not be in heaven. I tell you that they will be there long before any of us”
We would like to say a huge thank you to the International Union of Police Officers, lassithi area and the Sitia Veteran Football players, who today did a charity match to raise funds for our campaign… We are very happy to say that we raised a amazing 1040 euros!! Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket and supported us…
Θα θέλαμε να σας εκφράσουμε μια τεράστια ευχαριστία στη Διεθνή Ένωση Αστυνομικών, την περιοχή lassithi και τους παίκτες ποδοσφαίρου της Σητείας, οι οποίοι σήμερα έκαναν φιλανθρωπικό αγώνα για να συγκεντρώσουν κεφάλαια για την εκστρατεία μας … Είμαστε πολύ χαρούμενοι που είπαμε ότι δημιουργήσαμε ένα καταπληκτικό 1040 ευρώ !! Σας ευχαριστούμε όλους όσοι αγόρασαν ένα εισιτήριο και μας υποστήριξαν ..
The Pied Piper of Sitia shows that while most follow the money, the Sitia ducks follow the food!
One of our amazing volunteers, a man named Bob Body, feeds the sitia ducks several times a week.
They have learnt the sound of his car, and when he arrives they come and gather around and wait for him to park, then they proceed to follow him to the feeding area.
One of our local fishermen help Bob, by looking after the ducklings, he has created a little enclosure beside the steps, and they are safe in there from predators, until they are old enough and strong enough to go out with the rest of the flock.
All together there are around 50 ducks and geese now on the pond…. (which equals a large amount of food!)
Bob also is one of the key people that look after the feeding stations that you see around our town.
This means collecting the food from the shelter before going to town. Then he thoroughly cleans the feeders and water containers before filling them up again.
Bob like all our volunteers at the shelter, gives all his time and energy for free, not only doing the above, but helping when ever he is needed.
Without the help of our amazing volunteers we would not be in the place we are today…..
Thank you bob, and Thank you to all our volunteers, each and every one of you helps make a huge difference in all the animals lives, and without you the shelter would not be the success it is today.
Our local football team Niki, which has been going since 1951. Is a important part of our community, and as they show support to us, we in return will show support to them……
They have on their facebook page all news and upcoming fixtures, as well as news in general about the team.
We have added a link to the webpage, which will take you directly to their facebook page, where you can follow them and keep up to date with any news about the team.
We want to say a huge thank you to Leonidas Moutakis, the seminar on Sundays the 20th October was a great success. We all learned a few valuable bits of information about our four legged friends.
And also we want to say thank you to Sam’s Field animal food. Who provided some free samples of dog and cat food for various ages, that were given to everyone who attended, as well as 3 prizes for a raffle…
Sitia K9 will be giving a lecture all about dogs. Some very interesting information about things a lot of us do not know, including how dogs first became man’s best friend.
Come a long and support us and learn a little about your four legged friend.
10 euros entrance fee….. and all the proceeds are donated to the shelters fundraiser.
Tessa tells us her story, and the story of a few of her friends who her new adoptive family have also helped..
Tessa writes:-
My first try at blogging and having keyboard trouble. Paws not designed to type, really, so I’m getting some help from a friend. My name is Tessa, because I was the fourth dog from Sitia adopted by my people – for people who don’t speak Greek, let me explain that the Greek for “four” is “tessera”!
I live with some nice people and 3 other dogs near Sitia. Life is good, but it wasn’t always like this; I spent my first few months living on the street, as my first owners didn’t want me any more and threw me out.
Living on the streets is hard for dogs & cats, and I got very weak & thin; I used to let the tiny puppies get to food before me, as I knew they were really desperate, but it didn’t help me. I could only go a few steps before I had to lie down & rest. The people I live with now found me in December that year (2009) – just before Christmas and came every day to give me extra food. They must have been really worried about me because at New Year they came to find me and brought me home. For 3 days I just slept and ate the food they gave me – I couldn’t believe my luck and could finally relax because I was safe. I stopped being smelly, as well; living on the streets makes it hard to keep clean when you have a thick coat!
This is me not long after I arrived at my home.
My people love dogs – all the other dogs that live here were strays too, and we are good friends. There are so many dogs on the streets that need homes, and I hope they can find them. My people work with others in Sitia, in a group which helps animals; they leave stray animals food every day and take them to the vet when they are ill. Some of the animals get to go to new homes, too! We have had lots and lots of puppies staying here since I’ve been here.
These 2 (Abbi & Aliki) were found as 2 week old pups with their brother. Our family made sure they were fed properly, and they grew up into big, strong girls.
They stayed at our house for 6 months, until they were found permanent homes in Germany.
When the puppies came here, there was an adult dog called Renaud with them as well. He still lives here with us! My people said that if he came here, he stayed – they didn’t want him to be sent away again. He’s quite old now, but he still runs around ok.
One day, he and one of our other dogs (a very naughty one called Dusty) nearly caught a CAT! It was a bit hurt, but luckily (I think) the people saved it, and kept it in their bathroom for a while until it could have a “little operation” and then it went to Germany.
It was a white cat called Snowy, and white cats sometimes get sick here, so I’m glad it could go somewhere safe. There have been other CATS here sometimes, too, so I check the bathroom every morning just to make sure that none have sneaked in! You know how dodgy CATS can be!
This one was really dangerous!
Some of the puppies that have come to stay here have been really sad. Poor little Casper arrived at our gate very early one morning. It was still a bit dark, and our people could just see a little white shape, sitting there crying. Once they were able to catch him, they brought him in, and could see him properly. His poor ears were absolutely full of ticks (yuk) and the skin couldn’t be seen at all. Once they had got rid of the ticks he grew up well and I loved playing with him (even though he was a boy puppy!) The last I heard from him he was sitting in the back of a Saab Cabriolet on his way to the south of France – he really landed on his little paws!
One day we got a call to look after another sad puppy that was crying all the time. He came home here, and still cried, so my people found the tiniest puppy in the shelter to come and keep him company; enter Bonnie!
This is Bonnie, with my big friend Alex – he was terrified of her! She stayed here for quite a long time, and then went to Germany. We loved having her here, but we were really pleased that she found a new home.
Little Scamp was found by the side of the main road, along with another pup called Scruffy, and they both came to stay here for a few months. Scamp had something wrong with her front legs when she came here, and couldn’t walk properly. She had to do lots of exercises, but by the time she left she was fine, and found a nice home. She changed her name to Luna!
I’m really glad that all these pups have found new homes.
We are 2 girl dogs and 2 boy dogs living here now, and all of us are lucky.
