LIVING
LIVING
JUNE 2009
A FEW CANINE STORIES:
PAST
When we first moved to Aegina,
we were lent Billy for a couple of months, to see how a dog
might fit into family life, a pilot study if you like. Billy
brought the children great happiness but I found caring for him
quite stressful. He would bark incessantly at any bird that
happened to perch on one of our trees and for some obscure
reason, it seemed to happen at night. The neighbours started to
complain. He chased motorcyclists, bit my brother-in-law and one
day, killed a chicken. Each morning, I would drive down to the
beach and he would run behind me. We would play ‘fetch’ on the
sand and then I would drive home, Billy running behind me.
One day, he sustained an
injury; a perfect circle of raw pink flesh glistened beneath his
white fur and it must have been sore because he wasn’t quite
himself. To this day, we don’t know how it happened or what was
involved. Rather than take him to a vet, I took him for a swim
to his beloved sea and then, finding some old antibiotics in the
bathroom cabinet, gave him a quarter of a human dose once daily
for 3 days along with 250 mgs of Paracetamol. The daily swimming
continued for a week and within 2 weeks, the wound was
completely healed.
Unable to keep the daily beach
jaunts going and exhausted from trying to keep him quiet at
night, he was returned to his original owner.
PRESENT
I was completely shocked, if
not angry when George asked the children if they’d like to
choose a puppy from a litter of Bulgarian hunting dogs. He took
them for a viewing and they opted for a doe-eyed golden male. We
hoped he’d grow up to look like his father, a tall, well
maintained creature of good hunting pedigree. He was to be
collected two weeks later. The time arrived and I drove the
excited children to the house. The puppies were nervous but cute
and I suggested that since daddy was happy for them to have a
dog, they should take two. So a black and white patched sister
accompanied her brother in the cardboard box that was to take
them to a new life. As we were about to leave, a most hideous
creature sauntered past us; a short dog, a cross between an
Afghan hound and a Corgi with pendulous breasts that scraped
across the ground as she walked. “Who exactly is that”? I asked
the dog owners.” Oh, she is the mother”! they replied.
One lunch time, we heard the
most desperate expression of pain emanate from the female puppy.
She had been exploring the garden, then the shed and chanced
upon a carrier bag containing fishing tackle. A hook was
embedded in her lower lip and the pain was excruciating. Being
trained to deal with medical emergencies, I delegated our middle
child to be my assistant and instructed him to place his
clenched fist in the puppy’s mouth while we urgently rushed
round to a friend who’d worked at the animal centre in Anitseo.
Manos tossed his long dark
hair to one side and removed his hand-rolled cigarette so that
he could examine the puppy .He silently left the garden and
returned with pliers and a bottle of betadine. One clip and the
fish-hook was removed, two dabs and the infection risk was dealt
with.
The puppies are now hideously
short adults with the keen intelligence of hunting dogs. We have
periodic gifts of dead reptiles and a garden that is an
embarrassing hole-pitted war zone but the children have more or
less kept to their prescribed timetable of dog care and even Mr
L has a vague kind of fondness for them.
FUTURE PETS
Thank God for ANIMAL
PROTECTION!
One day, a honey coloured
fluff-ball with large pale green eyes arrived outside our gate.
Being a homeless puppy, she appealed to the children who
immediately rescued her. She found everything interesting,
particularly nocturnal insects and would yap excitedly as she
chased them. At 3 am one morning, Mr. L, unable to bear his
third night of insomnia, scooped her up, walked down the road
with her tucked under his arm and placed her into a walled field.
The following morning, the children conferred, agreed on a plan
and returned with her one hour after Mr. L had left for work. I
meanwhile, phoned ANIMAL PROTECTION and they agreed to take her
that afternoon as a vacancy had become available.
Recently, on returning from a
party, we found someone had left a box of puppies outside a
neighbour’s house. Once Mr. L had gone to bed, our daughter
prepared them a feast of dried bread and milk and ensured they
had a supply of water.
The following day, they were
found running around and we feared for their safety. We cleared
all items from the shed floor and covered it with plastic
sheeting and newspaper and the 4 puppies slept until ANIMAL
PROTECTION arrived to collect them. (Apparently, it is easier to
find puppies new homes as they are more endearing.) Once they
are collected, they are transported to the ANIMAL PROTECTION
centre in the mountains of Souvala where they are exercised, fed,
watered and generally cared for until someone suitable is
available to adopt them
ANIMAL PROTECTION offer free
sterilization of dogs. They are always looking for volunteers,
either in the shop in Aegina town or in the dog enclosure in the
mountains.
If you are interested to learn
more about them, phone 22970 27049 (the shop)
0r 6977 90 50 90 if you are
interested in helping at the enclosure.
Alison Lorentzos
copyright 2009
