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...!

Merry merry X-mas!

Leo

I finally got a photo of Leo, the pack leader He is a beautiful dog, but not very willing to do the modeling thing (or most likely I'm not a good enough photographer for him ;)

Anyway, here he is:

Hope you are having a good weekend!

Pet Therapy Course

This morning I went to the University of Veterinary Medicine here in Messina to drop of the application for the Pet Therapy course. I still find it a bit strange that you have to do everything in person here, but I am happy I went because I got to meet the professor that is in charge of the Pet Therapy Center and he was very friendly, which is a good sign.

Now the only concern is to have enough applicants for the course, because if they don't reach the minimum number of 35 they will not be able to do it.

So please all readers out there wish me good luck!

Hi from Nocciola!

It was pretty cold this morning with only 11 degrees C (52 degrees F) which is a big difference from yesterdays 19 C (66 F). I guess the winter has finally arrived even to Sicily...

Anyway, enough about the weather. Here is a photo of Leo's sister Nocciola:

60 kilometers long walk back home

Oh, my... Do I have a story to tell and I promise it is 100% true.

Let me present Leo, the leader of the pack at the Caronte & Tourist shipyard in Messina, Sicily. Leo, which is short for Leone (Lion), is a stray dog that has built up a small pack of his and their hangout is at the shipyard and where the cars get on and of the ships. Leo fits perfectly in as Cesar Millan's description of a pack leader, calm, assertive and intelligent. He makes sure his pack gets exercise, he disciplines and give affection all in the right order ;)

His pack fits rather well in to the surrounding until there is a car that gets "side-tracked". Then the dogs think it is their job to make sure that the car gets "on-track" again and, as you can imagine, the drivers usually don't appreciated this very much...

The shipping company has promised to assist Streetdog SPA in building up the dog shelter, if we take care of Leo and his 5 friends. Recently there has been some complaints, by clients who are scared of dogs, so in the meantime until Streetdog SPA gets our shelter up and running, the shipping company got in contact with a farmer that lives on the other side of the mountains. They closed a deal with him to take care of the dogs until the shelter is up and running. The dogs were placed in a small truck (food was placed in the truck and all the dogs walked in side by themselves) and they were driven to the farm.

This was done last Friday and the dogs stayed for the weekend on the country side, but on Monday they decided that they had got enough of the fresh country air and walk all the way back over the mountains and through the city of Messina until they finally reached the shipyard yesterday. They all looked well and the funniest thing (depending on which side your on) is that Leo has picked up some new friends on the way back and now they are 10 dogs.

I promise to put up some photos of them shortly and more stories of Leo and his pack will follow.

Helena

New Italian Ambassador - Nuccio

Ciao, sono Nuccio di Catona, una frazione della città di Reggio Calabria, e lavoro a Messina presso una società che si occupa di energia rinnovabile.

Sin da piccolo ( non sono più giovane) a casa mia ho sempre avuto la compagnia degli affettuosi e fedeli amici a quattro zampe e non posso fare a meno di ricordare tra di loro Fox un bracco tedesco intelligentissimo col quale comunicavo solo con lo sguardo.

Oggi fanno parte della mia famiglia anche tre simpatici cani (Lilli, Fire e Bella) che erano stati abbandonati per la strada dai loro padroni e che io insieme a mia moglie ed a mio figlio abbiamo raccolti, curati ed adottati. Proprio la settimana scorsa il medico veterinario ne ha sterilizzato una, l’altra lo era stata qualche mese addietro. Purtroppo la sterilizzazione è un’operazione necessaria per evitare l’aumento del numero dei cani e di conseguenza un trattamento inadeguato nei loro confronti. L’anno scorso, nel periodo di Natale, Lilli ha partorito quattro cuccioli bellissimi allietandoci le feste. Per fortuna ho avuto molte richieste ed ho potuto affidarli alle persone più adatte a prendersene cura. Sappiamo però che non sempre è così: molte storie finiscono tristemente col vedere abbandonati i cuccioli per la strada.

Cercherò di fare del mio meglio per portare avanti il nobile impegno che Streetdog SPA si è prefissato e sono sicuro che con il vostro aiuto ci riusciremo.

Nuccio

Hi, I'm Nuccio from Catona, which is a part of the city Reggio Calabria in South of Italy and I work with renewable energy in Messina, Sicily.

Since I was a child (I'm not young anymore) we've always had company of affectionous and faithful 4-legged friends and one of them especially springs to mind, Fox - the German shepherd. He was so intelligent that it was enough to communicate with him only with my eyes.

Today I have 3 nice dogs (Lilli, Fire and Bella) that take part of my family. They all have a past where their previous owners have abandoned them on the street, and together with my wife and son we have taken them in, treated and adopted them.

Last week the veterinary sterilized one of the females and the other one was sterilized a few months ago. Unfortunately the sterilization is a necessary operation to decrease the number of dogs and as a consequence the inadequate behaviour towards them. Last year, during the X-mas period, Lilli gave birth to 4 beautiful puppies. Luckily I had a lot of requests and was able to find good people to take care of them. Sadly, as we know, this is not always the case and many of these stories end up with abandoned puppies on the street.

I will do my best to support the noble engagement that Streetdog SPA has prefixed and I am sure that with your help we will make it.

Nuccio

Pet Therapy

On the 18th of December the University of Veterinary Medicine in Messina is starting a new course in Pet Therapy. A maximum number of 50 students can attend. You have to have a university degree from before and they take 10 students with a degree in Veterinary Medicine, 10 with a degree in Science of the formation (direct translation in Italian - Scienza della Formazione), 5 with a degree in Philosophy, 5 with a degree in Political Science, 5 with a degree in mathematics, science and nature, 10 surgeons and 5 lawyers.

The problem is I'm an engineer...! All other university degrees in the world seems to be accepted except the one in engineering... What is wrong with engineers? -Or on the other hand, please don't answer that ;)

I would sooo much like to do this course. In total it would be 100 hours during the spring and summer. Please hold your thumbs for me so that they will accept me in their course even if I'm just an engineer...

In Naples with Max

Let me present Max for you, the wonderful straydog I found 2 years ago. His owner had been murdered and he was walking on the streets of Messina with a broken foot asking for help and help he got. Now he is living at my in-laws place in Naples and he spends his days with the gardener and plays with the other dogs around. Here is a photo of Max and his best mate:



The little terrier loves Max as well and they kiss and kiss and play. They look so funny together. The photo above i taken this morning, when we were taking a walk on the road.

My only regret is that I'm not able to take him home to my place as it i too small and I know he has a better life here.

Have a great weekend!

Woff from us!

Lots of puppies...

I'm just about to leave to Naples for the weekend and I've seen all the new puppies the stray dogs have had here at the Catania airport. I had to pass quickly because they were just too adorable and there were at least 10 of them... Hope there are other good hearted people out there that will be able to take care of them... I cannot wait until we get the Streetdog SPA refuge up and running....

Additional information inserted on the 25th of November 2009:

I'm happy to tell you dear readers that the puppies have been taken care of by 2 ladies from Catania (Sicily). Let's hope they will find a good caring family for them.

Kelly - Ambassador in Norway

Hi there! My name is Kelly and I live in the southern parts of Norway. At the moment my days are mainly passed studying and working. Sorry to say, I currently don’t have a four-legged family member by my side. Through the years, however, I’ve had the honor to share my life with three highly loved (and deeply missed) companions. One of whom in fact was a street-dog rescue.

I am and have always been a genuine dog lover and I cant express enough how incredible I think it is that somebody, not only converts words into actions, but also allows for us fellow dog lovers to contribute. When offered the possibility to represent Streetdog SPA as an ambassador in Norway; how could I not jump at the opportunity? Thank you so much for caring enough to bother and for accepting responsibility! Together we really can make a difference, so lets all take part and act.

Kelly

Welcome to our new Streetdog SPA Ambassadors

A big welcome onboard to Streetdog SPA's new Ambassadors Camilla and Dalton. :-))

Photo: Who doesn't need unconditional love?

They will now become one of our focal points in Sweden and help promoting Streetdog SPA as well as finding new families for adoption.

If you too are interested to become an ambassador for Streetdog SPA please contact us on info@streetdogspa.com

We cannot thank you enough for caring!

The dog whisperer

Finally the dog whisperer show with César Milan has come to Italy. I've only seen the 1st show, but I will definitely become a follower. If you are interested in this show (and live in Italy) you will find it on the National Geographic channel every Sunday at 21.00.

For you guys out there who has already seen the show and know more about him than I do -What do you think about his methods?

Looking forward to hear your answers.

Big hug!