Jakes new best friend

Its been a very hard day! Tomorrow, Sandy, the little stray hunting dog puppy, goes to the sanctuary and I’m heartbroken. He is such a sweet little dog – and Jake is now totally besotted with him and has shared all of his toys AND his food with the pup. Molly is still very jealous and Alfie is just wonderful Alfie.

I rang the sanctuary and arranged to go in the morning, getting the telephone wrath of the lady who runs the place and who must be heart sick of hearing people wanting to bring dogs in. Our reasons for not being able to keep Sandy are genuine but she isn’t to know that. Sue, who works at the sanctuary, tells me how well the dogs are cared for and how many find homes, so I’ve got to keep that at heart. At least, he is not out on the hills, hungry and scared: his ensuite kennel with lounge and patio seems to make him very happy!

After my telephone call, it was time to go and do some welcomes to holidaymakers staying in the villas in Coral Bay . I cried all the way to the first one then tried to blame the rain for my appearance when I met the guests……….tomorrow, I’ve a lot more arrivals and departures to handle so will do so wearing shades – thankfully the sun is due to shine again so it won’t seem so ridiculous to be wearing them!

The hunting season begins first of November and with it, the number of stray dogs increases. Some Cypriots simply kick the old dogs out in favour of puppies to hunt with – and many of the dumped dogs end up on the streets in need of care. Sadly, an increasing number of English people take dogs in or bring them here, only to dump them too when they get too much or the owners realise how hard it is to care for dogs in the heat.

There are a couple of animal sanctuaries on the island. Their work is tireless and soul destroying though from time to time, good things happen. Sue told me a story recently of an older German Shepherd whose mummy person had just died after he’d lived with her for around 10 years. He was very upset to have lost her and his home and found the sanctuary very hard at first. Thank god, he found a new loving owner and is on the mend.

I pray Sandy is so lucky but know he’ll have company (and he seems to love other animals), good food and more chances of finding a good home than he would have had by trying to live off the hill or being stuck in our little kennel much longer……

Doesn’t make me feel any better though – but I’m grateful to the Paws Sanctuary for taking him in.