Gaspare

Well, last Friday I decided to go and see a dog on our dogs looking for adoption page. Gaspare the English setter who was abandoned in Avellino (in the south) and then hit with sticks (breaking two ribs, two teeth and given a nosebleed) by locals who thought this pitifully thin and gentle dog was some threat to a child he approached, hoping for some food. His story really got to me and I did email about him but then fate intervened, my Mum broke her hip, I had to rush to the UK and Gaspare was on hold.

When I got back I found out he had been adopted in Milan (800km from where he was abandoned) BUT… the people only kept him for a night before handing him back saying their dog had attacked him. So Gaspare was staying temporarily (or ‘in stallo‘) with a lovely girl called Daria and her fiance Alessandro. She was off to the States in mid July and so Gaspare was once again in desperate need of a home.

I thought and thought. Was it the right thing to do? And then it came to me. I’d go and see him. Obvious really. Then I’d know, wouldn’t I? And so I took the train to Milan (4 hours each way), met Daria and Ale and Gaspare at the station and went to their flat for a couple of hours before getting the Eurostar back.

Gaspare is adorable. Gentle, friendly, a great big softie. How anyone could do what they did to him is completely beyond me. He’s still thin but putting on weight, Daria told me he’s gained 3 kilos since she’s had him! Of course I knew the moment I gazed into those big brown eyes that I wanted him and so he is coming to stay for good next Friday, once I get back from another short trip to the UK. We have asked that he be castrated first and that is best done there as I don’t want him associating this new home with any trauma. Daria says he knows he is going to a new family. I hope he does. I can’t wait.