Greece is wonderful. I mean it’s seriously heaven to me.
And the Greeks are lovely, lovely people.
But as a nation they do treat animals terribly. You can’t turn a corner in Greece without coming across a sorry looking dog begging for a scrap or food, a box of kittens mewing in hunger or a donkey on his last legs.
The whole country is struggling terribly with the recession & many of the animals that had been taken in have been discarded again. It’s pretty distressing to be honest.
Brilliant people from all over the world have moved out there & are doing all they can to set up shelters & rescue the ones they can.
Mum & I decided that we wanted to do something, even something small to help.
We called around the local pounds & rescue shelters asking if there was a dog we could take home. We thought most people would probably adopt the cute little Custard sized dogs, so we asked for the biggest dog they had.
We were put in touch with Jessica who’d just taken in two puppies she found starving on a beach. They were still young but looked like they could be big ol’ cuddlebugs given the chance!
We headed over to North Elounda to see if we’d found our baby. As soon as J opened the door we knew we’d never be able to leave him behind. Say hello to Hector (orange) & his sister Hera (black).
They’re two of the soppiest, most delicious puppies I’ve ever met! And natural born posers, look…
We decided to let the pups show us around their town & headed out for a walk.
You can find my daisy dress here.
This is the inside of an old Cretan house…
That’s the sleeping shelf & on the other side of the room you have the fire…
They’ve mostly been abandoned now as the youth have all moved out & modernised but these places must have been deliciously cosy in winter.
Having walked home, we nestled the dogs back in their beds & went to grab a drink with the lovely Jessica to iron out all the details.
The quarantine rules have changed now & it only takes around a month to get a dog a passport. Hector & Hera are 4 months old & as Jess kick started the process a few weeks ago they’re almost ready to roll! We paid for his jabs, ordered a crate & bought him a flight. The whole process cost around £600 (it can all be done for about £300 by boat but takes a bit longer). Now, there’s the tale of Hera. We were advised not to take both of the dogs as they’d be untrainable together. They’d be much better off going to two loving homes where they can have their new mum & dad’s undivided attention. Hera is the smaller & brighter of the two pups & she needs a home.
Can you or a friend give this little girl a loving home & spoil her rotten?
I’m happy to cover the cost of her passport if you can get her home?
A trip to England costs around £250 but a trip to somewhere like Belgium, Amsterdam or Germany is only about £80. Let me know & I can put you in touch with the right people.
She’d make a great sidekick for any willing hero!
Alternatively if you’d like to help but can’t take on Hera, here are some very worthwhile causes that desperately need your support:
“An old man had a habit of early morning walks on the beach.
One day, after a storm, he saw a human figure in the distance moving like a dancer. As he came closer he saw that it was a young woman and she was not dancing but was reaching down to the sand, picking up a starfish and very gently throwing them into the ocean.
“Young lady,” he asked, “Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?”
“The sun is up, and the tide is going out, and if I do not throw them in they will die.”
“But young lady, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it? You cannot possibly make a difference.”
The young woman listened politely, paused and then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves, saying, “It made a difference for that one.”
The old man looked at the young woman inquisitively and thought about what she had done. Inspired, he joined her in throwing starfish back into the sea.
Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved.”
The Star Thrower by Loren Eiseley
