The Dogs

After months of waiting, I am pleased to finally present to you a dog update. Many of my friends/readers have inquired about our canines since my post in January when I took in Tarzan & Asproula. I had originally tried to put Asproula up for adoption but I only received two phone calls from the rescue organization, both of which were inquiries regarding her status and whether or not she was still available.

So, here are some photos that I've pulled from my collection as well as a few words about each pooch. Enjoy.

Gigi

As Gigi is our first dog, she's the most spoiled of the three. She's the only dog allowed indoors and is always next to me. If I sit, she's on my lap, beside me or on my feet. She suffers from separation anxiety when I'm not available or if she can see me but can't be near me. It can be cute as well as irritating since her whining and crying won't stop unless she gets what she wants. I've probably enabled this behavior because she's so adorable.

She's much faster than Tarzan.

She has a bad habit of tearing through barriers that keep her from being near me. Above, she chewed through the plastic mesh on the gate while I was visiting our neighbors.

Here, she tore a hole in the screen. This happened when we had some neighbors pop in unannounced. As I offered them coffee on the balcony, Gigi was inside barking frantically. She wouldn't stop. Actually, all three of the dogs were barking. It was clear that these people weren't animal lovers and the dogs sensed that. The neighbors didn't stay long since we couldn't carry a decent conversation with all of the barking. As I walked them out to the gate, Gigi tore this hole in the screen in an attempt to save me from the non-dog loving visitors. She might be small, but she's mighty and relentless when she senses that we may be in any kind of trouble. I hate having to tell Kosta when she does this, but he just curses once and changes the screen as soon as he can. She's lucky that she's so cute.

Tarzan

Remember this puppy? Well, he's grown into a giant puppy. He's about 8 months old now and huge!

Handsome

Cute

It's this face that keeps him out of trouble. If there's something that you don't want or wouldn't mind having torn apart, send it to us. He's excellent at destroying things.

Here's a list of recent damages:

• Alexandra's new shoes
• A beach hat
• A whole beach bag and its entire contents-flippers, masks, sunscreen, beach mats etc...
• 2 potted plants...geraniums. He even chewed up the plastic planters and the plants were nowhere to be found. I hope that they were delicious.
• Kosta's leather sandals
• Yia yia's fuzzy slippers
• The sprinklers in the front yard
• All of the hoses that were attached to the sprinklers
• Foti's plastic sword
• Foti's sunglasses
• Books
• 2 door mats
• 1 throw rug

...and much more. If anything is left outside unattended, it's fair game. So, everyone has finally started to pay more attention to their belongings. His habit of chewing everything in his path is beneficial by helping me instill personal responsibility in our children.

This photo is blurry because I was going to wipe his eyes before taking his photo and he ripped the towel from my hand and a chase ensued.

He thought he'd hide in the brush...

And then he stuck his head out to make sure that he could continue to taunt me.

I spend a lot of time chasing him!

Here he is about 6 months old.

Trying to share Foti's Popsicle.

Asproula

She's beautiful, sweet and extremely gentle.

Roaming & playing with Gigi.

Friends with Alexandra

Have a look at this face! This is my view of Asproula...she's always begging me for food & hugs. Her worst (& sort of cute) habit is jumping on me. Asproula is the type of dog that twirls and flips in front of you as you walk. Twirling, flipping and jumping with her tongue out is pretty funny to watch. I'd like to find a tutu for her one of these days and put it on video.

Asproula is fairly easy to have around. Our only challenge with her is trying to tweak the "street" dog out of her. Most dogs love to steal food at any opportunity that presents itself, but she's fast & furious and we can't leave food anywhere unless she's on a leash.

When she first came to us she was squeamish and would crouch and hide if we raised our voices. I think that she's finally realized that we won't harm her as we haven't witnessed this behavior for a while. I'm glad that she's comfortable.

Having the three dogs together has been fun as well as challenging. The fun outweighs the challenges and we love that our children have them to love and care for. It's evident that the love and care is reciprocated by the dogs as they keep careful watch over the them. I'll admit, once again, that I was never a "dog" person, although I didn't mind them I just didn't love them. Now, I couldn't imagine life without the love of a dog...they've won me over.

I hope that you've enjoyed this long overdue update.

A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than you love yourself. ~Josh Billings

Tarzan

It was a another rainy day when I set out for the grocery store. I was navigating my way around miniature lakes that have formed along the road when I swerved to avoid running him over. I stopped the car and opened the door to see where he went. And then, there he was. Standing in the pouring rain, muddy and shaken was a little black puppy with white markings obviously in need of a loving home and at the very minimum, some food.

I closed the car door and thought to myself..."oh crap". I sat in the car sheltered from the rain as the puppy looked at me from outside. I dug in my purse for my phone and dialed home.
Kosta answered and I said, " you're going to kill me".
His reply was, "what did you do to the car?". (typical male response eh?)

I said, "nothing, the car is fine but there's this puppy out here...it looks distressed and it's alone...near the dog lady...I don't want her to get him. Can I bring him home?" (the dog lady is a dog hoarder, her dogs live in cages and filth...over 200 of them...someone probably dumped him there thinking she's doing a good thing)

Without a pause, he said yes. (Whew... )

I opened the car door and he was a little nervous but then he came toward me, licking my hands and wiggling his little body. I picked him up and put him in the back of the car. He was so muddy and seemed to have some trust in me as he didn't put up a fight when I placed him in the car.

Izabella was home from school that day, she was very ill early in the morning. She watched from the front window as I took the puppy out of the car. She started to giggle and jump on the couch. I put him on the back porch with some food and water. He ate all of the food within minutes. I still had to go to the store so I left him on the porch with some towels and blankets where he was sheltered from the wind and rain.

Here he is, shortly after his arrival, muddy and wet.

He was a little camera shy too.

Here he is just days after we took him in... already comfortable with stealing my slippers and outfitted with a masculine collar.

Biting my toes...

Getting to know Foti.

Foti is thrilled with Tarzan because he's always wanted a big dog...a big dog that's a boy. I remember when we introduced him to Gigi. He was disappointed because she was a small dog. Foti also named him Tarzan. Other name possibilities included: Hercules, Caesar and Zeus. But, Foti picked Tarzan and so that's his name. End of discussion.

We took him to the vet for his immunizations and his estimated age is about 2 months. Yep, he's a big 2 months! He's a Shepard dog but I can't find his breed online. Well, I'm sure that he's not 100% anything, but I'm still looking for the closest match. He's going to grow to be about 70lbs./around 32 kilos and I'm told that he's going to be wonderful with the children. Actually, he is a very gentle dog and is already great with them. We've had him for about 2 weeks and he's already grown a lot. He's also damaged a lot! That's why he'll be our happy outside puppy...much too big for indoors. Tarzan is the now the king of our olive grove.


And there's one more... dog...



Shortly after we took in Tarzan, another stray dog came to our home. She walked in the gate as if she belonged here. It seemed as if she knew Tarzan because she went to him as soon as she was in. I put her out of the gate and she came back in through the bars. Kosta and I put her out again, only for her to return. We spent 2 hours on a Sunday afternoon putting plastic mesh over the bars so that she couldn't get in...but alas, she got in. As she would squeeze through the bars she'd get stuck and squeal as she wiggled her way in, she was desperate. We couldn't watch her do it anymore...so we let her stay. I called a local animal rescue agency and our vet to try to find her a home. She's adorable and really no trouble at all. We've actually considered keeping her too. But can I have 3 dogs and 3 kids?! I received a call from an organization in Thessaloniki, they may have found a new home for her. We're really on the fence because she's a doll. And, whenever we open the gate to pull the car out -she watches patiently and as soon as we're ready to close the gate, she runs back in, making it clear that she plans on staying. So, we haven't officially named her because we don't want to get too attached. Izabella calls her "Asproula" and I call her "Blondie".




Here she is...

I'm not sure what will happen with her but whether she stays here or goes to a new home, she'll be loved more than she apparently had been. I've got my hands full but it's ok. The kids love having 3 dogs to play with also. There's never a dull moment around here.