Paphos People

He is a young male Pointer/Labrador Cross who was brought to us in a terrible state. He was very emaciated, covered in fleas and ticks and quite weak after weeks of wandering around near one of the apartment complexes in Peyia. He had obviously been kept caged since a tiny puppy; he was covered in sores and his rump was scared from so long sitting either on a stone or concrete floor and his claws were so long and curled that it must have been painful to walk. We had blood tests done and he has tick fever but it is treatable.He was treated by our vets and put in one of the Welsby Cages to recover while I tried to find a foster home for him. Four days later he is still at the vets clinic although we have moved him into a slightly larger cage and put him outside in the basement area for some fresh air during the day and a number of people have volunteered to visit 3 or 4 times a day to feed him and take him for a walk. There should be a foster home for him at the end of next week but until then he will remain at the clinic, spending the nights in the larger Welsby Cage and the day in the cage outside. Every day I go in to the clinic and the vets ask if I have another foster home for him but I have to say “No, not yet but I’m still trying.”

I must have walked quietly this time because he didn’t hear me coming and as I rounded the corner I saw him sitting there in the cage looking so very sad……. and that was when it really hit home to me just what we were doing……….. once again he was restrained in a cage, one that was almost certainly far smaller than the one he had previously spent his life in and we are the ones that are supposed to be fighting for better conditions for dogs here in Cyprus!

I phoned Fran at PAWS Dog Shelter and after hearing my request she said she would take him. When I went to pick him up he was so pleased to see me but a little puzzled as I loaded him in to a travel carrier in my car instead of taking him for a walk but he soon settled down as we started our journey. As we neared the Shelter we could hear the dogs barking and he started to get frightened so I tried to calm him by talking to him and telling him everything would be OK. Fran showed us to the pen she had set aside for him but with all of the dogs barking it was bedlam and he was getting more frightened by the minute so it was hard to get him to walk properly. I tried very hard not to look back at him as we closed the pen door but I still saw the look of bewilderment and betrayal on his face as he could not understand why I was leaving him.

I know it was the best thing for him and once he gets over the first day or so he will be better off as he now has a lovely large pen that he can actually play around in. He will be well looked after, he has other doggy neighbours to talk to and he is such a lovely dog that he will be sure to get a proper loving home once he is completely well …. BUT …… I still wish that we had enough foster homes to have been able to look after him and then rehome him ourselves.
Driving home all I wanted to do was get that last picture out of my head and telephone to speak to my Mum …... “Hello love” she said “are you having a good day?”
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IF YOU WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FOSTERING FOR PARC VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT http://www.parc-cyprus.org SEND US AN EMAIL parc.peyia1@yahoo.com OR SEND A SHORT TEXT MESSAGE TO US 99961157 AND SOMEONE WILL GET BACK TO YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE