Not Only Puppies Need Help

Did my stint at the kennels (dog pound for US readers) on Sunday. May 1 but no day off on Monday for Italians as if a bank holiday falls on a weekend – tough luck!

There are two tiny puppies that have just arrived, absolutley adorable. One has already found a home (the male) and so they are looking fora home for the brown and white female. I don't think it will be long as puppies usually go quite quickly.

How cute is that? I am very tenpted myself, but really think that if we ever take on another dog it would have to be an older one – you know the mid age, mid size type that no-one looks at.

One of the canile dogs is very ill. Marlene, a beautiful alsation type is not eating and has lost a ton of weight. The vet has sent off her samples for 'analisi' but as she has a lot of lumps and bumps things don't look that bright for her.

I've seen about six dogs now die in the canile, from old age or from consitions they had when they came in. I am sure that the love shown by the volunteers makes up in a small way for the hell some of them have been through but if I could get my hands on some of the people who treat a dog as though it is a piece of rubbish…well, I'm sure you know the rest.

I picked up a copy of a free magazine the other day for the Arezzo area and it had a whole page devoted to a new association I hadn't heard of before. I checked out their page and they seem to be doing good work under very hard circumstances in Sardinia, where a lot of dogs have a very tough time indeed. They are called associazioneliberitutti so do give the site a visit. It's all in Italian, but the dogs speak an international language.

I would urge anyone thinking about getting a puppy to consider an older abandoned dog as some of the stories and the life they have had is just horrendous. As I always try and remind myself, the problem is huge but if you help just one dog then 'it makes a difference to that one'.