I am obsessed with dogs. Thats all you need to know (Written July 20th, 2021)
I think stray dogs know when I’m here. The summer of 2020 a really old black dog somehow made his way to our front yard in Paros and he was in really bad shape. The closest I’ve seen an animal to death in my life. Skinny beyond words and barely moving. I should preface this with saying Greece is filled with stray dogs. It is a very common sight to see them wondering the streets. Some in better shape than others. This KILLS me. I have the biggest soft spot for them and every time I'm in Greece I end up taking one in. This isn't planned. I will also say he had to get use to my reaction to strays. To have a person pick one up and take it home is not normal and comes across a little insane but I don't care.
Thomas
Anyways, after bringing this dog into the house and feeding him for a couple of days I found a wonderful organization called PAWS (Paros Animal Welfare Society) its run by a young man named Nikos and without him this dog who we named Thomas would have been left on the street until he died. Nikos and the vets did everything they could to make sure his last days were the best they possibly could be. This guy was old. Around 11 years old and had kidney problems that were past fixing. So that fact Nikos and the Paros vet took him in and helped him is beyond incredible. If I brought Thomas to 99% of shelters there they would have turned him away. Saying it wasn’t worth it. They gave him a fighting chance and showed him love. If you are ever in Paros and have time please go visit PAWS shelter. It is so wonderful. PAWS is a beautiful well taken care of shelter and they send dogs to homes all over Europe. All of the amazing people there are volunteers and they work insanely hard.
Lu Lu Skip To My Lu
Now for Lulu’s story. I was with him and his family fishing at the port Vorvoulous which is in Santorini one night and this beautiful golden retriever was sitting in the parking lot alone. She was an angel. She looked to be in pretty good condition and I didn’t think she was a stray by how she acted towards us. Very friendly and want to visit. I asked the restaurant at the port who’s dog she was and they didn’t know. They said she showed up in the area about a week ago and no one who lived there knew who she was.
This of course broke my heart. Naturally her and I became best friends and were playing on the beach while the boys fished. I wanted to help her so bad. I connected with her immediately. Luckily his sister is the most kind person I know and allowed me to take her back to her house where we have been staying this summer. I started my research and looked up vets and shelters in Santorini. This time it wasn’t as smooth sailing as it was with Thomas in Paros. The shelters here have a lot of issues and are dealing with some arguments over land and who runs the shelter. Its a long story but when I took her to the vet here she told me it was going to be difficult to find her a place. The vet is amazing. She looked her over and scheduled a spayed and vaccination appointment for Lulu for free.
Side note: I should explain why her name is Lulu. When we brought her back to the house she would sleep in the yard and every morning I would find her laying in his sisters flower beds. I think she liked that the dirt was cool. I asked her what flower was in greek and its Louloudi. Pronounced: Lou-LOU-Thee. That was a given for me haha. So I started calling her Lou.
Anyways, the shelters here are very full and I was not going to have any luck with them. I posted her photos on lost and found pets facebook pages in Santorini and we asked around but no one claimed her. I of course wanted to keep her, but getting her back to Canada was going to be difficult. Especially during the pandemic when moving adoption dogs are considered none essential travel. So I called and emailed shelters in Athens because I knew I would be going there before I head home to Canada but they all turned her down. Which is insane to me because she’s perfect. And I mean it when I say that. Doesn’t bark, likes other dogs, listens so well, just wants love and cuddles. Then I remembered Nikos and PAWS. I gave him a call and he said if I could get her there they would take her. So I was lucky to have Lou for almost 3 weeks. She stayed at the house with us until her surgery and then I took her to Paros.
I have hope she will be adopted very quickly as everyone on the ferry ride loved her and I almost convinced two separate couples to take her. She has so much love in her heart and was a bright soul that was sent to me. I'm soo lucky I got to have her for the short amount of time that I did.
I told Nikos if she wasn’t adopted by the time I come back in a couple months I'm coming to get her. So this might not be the last we hear of little lady Lou. Also, he has accepted that there will always be a stray staying in our home for some amount of time. Bless him for coming to this realization.
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