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!

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

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.