Non Profit Bank Account

Dear All,

I am very happy to tell you that we have opened a bank account. It is a special bank account at Credito Siciliano, for Non Profit Organizations and the account details are:

Associazione Canili Streetdog Onlus

Viale della Liberta', is 515

98121 Messina (ME)

IBAN: IT 69 Q0301916504000000150016

Please help us help the street dogs of Messina and Sicily. Now we need money so we can start building our dog rescue center.

We cannot thank you enough for caring!

Helena Eriksson

We are registered!

Just when the holiday started here in Italy we got the very good news that we got the registration as an Onlus association.

So now I will open the bank account.

Big dog-kisses to all of you and please help us keep the ball rolling :-)

Woff woff!!

One step at a time....

Hi there!

We finally got some positive news regarding the Onlus registration (which means that we will soon be registered as a charity organization) The registration will soon be done which means that we can soon start to collect money for our Streetdog SPA. This make us and Max (on the right) very happy, because as soon as we have enough money we will open up. We already have a promise from the big shipping company here in Messina that they will give us a good contribution so lets cross our fingers and paws so that we will find enough money to open this autumn.

The Mayor of Messina will not have time to see us before the holidays, but we will be barking up his door as soon as he gets back again :-)

Woff woff = Dogkisses to all our friends out there!

An appointment with the mayor of Messina...

At the moment we are trying to get an appointment with the Mayor of Messina to ask for some land for our dog refuge.

Wish us good luck!

Införsel till Sverige av hund och katt

Jag har varit hemma i Sverige i helgen och passade på att få med mig lite information om hur man tar in hundar (och katter) till Sverige. På Jordbruksverkets hemsida så kan ni hitta uppdaterad information här.

Checklista:

• ID-märkning - Djuret ska vara identitetsmärkt med mikrochip.
• Vaccinationer - Djuret måste vara vaccinerat mot rabies.
• Blodprovsanalys - Blodprov tas tidigast 120 dagar efter sista rabiessprutan och analys ska påvisa godkänd mängd antikroppar.
• Avmaskning - En behörig veterinär i avreselandet ska avmaska djuret mot dvärgbandmask
• Pass för sällskapsdjur - Djuret ska ha pass som utfärdas av behörig veterinär.
• Transporten - Djuret ska föras med direkt transport till Sverige. Det är tillåtet att mellanlanda men djuret får inte lämna flygplatsen.
• Anmälan till tullen - Anmäl införseln av djuret till tullen.

Att adoptera en hund från Sicilien är ett stort beslut som tas gemensamt med oss på Streetdog SPA och inte förrän vi är säkra på att det kommer vara rätt hund för dig. Vi kommer självklart att hjälpa till med alla nödvändiga papper och dokument, men du som ny ägare måste själv hämta din nya hund.

Greetings from the President

We are still waiting for our organization to obtain the Onlus status, which means that we are waiting to obtain the official charity organization number. Things here take a long time, but with a little bit of patience everything will come together.

I'm very proud of the group of people involved in starting up Streetdog SPA and I thank them for their support and patience. We all come from different personal and professional backgrounds including; a lawyer, financial controllers, top managers, a secretary, an engineer, a photographer and an Italian actor, with at least one thing in common: We all love dogs and want to help stray dogs to have a chance for a better life.

Please cheer us on our quest!

//Helena - President of Streetdog SPA

Paper work....

The meeting on Friday went very well, and now we are organizing a meeting with a "notaio". The english translation is "public notary", which is a lawyer with a specialization in notary. This public official certifies legal documents and with this certification all of our papers for Streetdog SPA will be in order.

We don't expect to run into any problems as our controller, Dr. Cutugno is a highly respected man that has due to his professional skills also been elected to be the president of the Controller Order here in Messina, Sicily (Ordine dei Commercialisti di Messina)

It is very important for us and me as the president that our organization is professional and legal. I don't want any single detail to be left out and the same will be true for the dog refuge once we open it.

Photo: My very own streetdog Max that I found with a broken foot on the streets of Messina 2 years ago.

Start meeting for members of Streetdog Onlus

We welcome all the associates of Associazione Streetdog Onlus to

our start up meeting on the 23rd of April 2010 at 12.00.

The meeting will be held at Viale della Libertà is. 515, 98121 Messina.

For further information please contact info@streetdogspa.com

Photo: "Lo Statuto" will be put online as soon as all the associates

have signed

Happy Easter!

Dear All,

Sorry for not keeping you updated for some time, but we are still struggling with the paper works. Such things takes a loooong time here in Sicily, but we are still moving forward. We aim to have all the paper works ready in April.

Wish us good luck and have a really happy easter!

Building up Associazione Streetdog Onlus

We are currently working hard to build up our organization here in Italy. We aim to apply for a Onlus association, which means that we will be a non-profit organization. We have to have at least 10 associates, but it doesn't look like it will be a problem and we have a lot of people contacting us being willing to help - Thanks! Alone we cannot reach the stars, but together we can do anything :-)

At the moment our organization's controller is going through the paperwork we prepared, and then we have to register Streetdog SPA. The next step after this is to get the permission from the city of Messina to use a piece of land for our dog refuge. It all looks really promising and with your support we will be up and running soon :-)

Dog adrift on ice saved from Baltic Sea

A dog was found adrift on ice in the Baltic Sea and was saved by a Polish research team. Read the article in USA Today here.

Photo: Krzysztof Mystkowski

The president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, has sent a letter to the crew who saved the dog to thank them and to say quote "Acts like this make our world a better place" and I can just agree with him :)

A poem to a dear friend...

BEYOND THE RAINBOW
Author Unknown
As much as I loved the life we had and all the times we played,
I was so very tired and knew my time on earth would fade.
I saw a wondrous image then of a place that's trouble-free
Where all of us can meet again to spend eternity.

I saw the most beautiful Rainbow, and on the other side
Were meadows rich and beautiful -- lush and green and wide!
And running through the meadows as far as the eye could see
Were animals of every sort as healthy as could be!
My own tired, failing body was fresh and healed and new
And I wanted to go run with them, but I had something left to do.

I needed to reach out to you, to tell you I'm alright
That this place is truly wonderful, then a bright Glow pierced the night.
'Twas the Glow of many Candles shining bright and strong and bold
And I knew then that it held your love in its brilliant shades of gold.

For although we may not be together in the way we used to be,
We are still connected by a cord no eye can see.
So whenever you need to find me, we're never far apart
If you look beyond the Rainbow and listen with your heart.

No Pet Therapy course...

As I wrote earlier (here) I had been planning to do a Pet Therapy course at the University this spring, but they called me this morning to tell me that the course had been cancelled. Apparently not enough people had applied. I still don't understand why 1st - you had to have a university degree from before and 2nd - why the course was so expensive (€1600). Anyway there is nothing I can do about that so it is just to keep studying by myself. My test-object Max is a very good dog and endure my training with him with patients. I actually thinks he likes it and even though I'm only in Naples once a week he listens much more to me now than his real owner. My ultimate goal is to stop him from killing all the cats that crosses his path - he is a real serial-killer when it comes to cats. Wish me good luck...!