Cyprus-Forum.com

[lindy1706]

Hi,

I have just moved permantly to Cyprus from the UK, we are living in Mazados nr Larnaka, in just under 3 weeks we have managed to adopt a beautiful Lab Cross from Nicosia Shelter then just under a week later agreed to take on our neighbour's beautiful 3 month Beagle Puppy as they no longer wanted it and were going to let it loose in the Fields!!! We found this out due to Father dragging puppy down road on chain whilst his son screamed and hollared, we told neighbour that we would keep puppy. Lovely thing is the little boy comes round every afternoon after school to see him and comes with me for walks with both dogs. (Vast improvement as prior to this puppy was being run up and down road on a large chain which the vet needed bolt cutters to remove ahem) he then grooms both dogs for us. His little sister who used to dance around blowing a whistle just out of reach of little fellas chain, then schreech as he dived for her now pets him. our garden is now full of village children for two hoursa day playing with the dogs. and everytime they pass our garden they stop and pet the dogs through the fence. I like to think we aredoing a little to change attitudes!!!

My husband is an ex army dog handler so both mutts walk to heal the older one off the lead and wait paitiently outside the village shops We took them obht to the beach today and had lunch at the Taverna whilst both dogs sat under our outside table quietly........all the locals looked totally amazed and kept coming over to talketo us about the dogs and to pet them .......so a question.....we are informed that this is our neighbours 10th puppy in 3 years.....every time the childeren want a dog they get one then when it has crapped over the yard and barkep too much it goes out to the fields.....how on earth do we stop gaining a on average two dogs a year? and does anyone thinhk that by leting the kids walk and pet our dogs i.e letting them have access to them without actually owning one we may stop them getting another little victim? or are we in cloud cuckoo land???? by the way great board and I look forward to making friends here.

[Alex L]

Hi,

Interesting to read your post, and hope you are enjoying your relocation. As a dog owner with half a plan to relocate to Cyprus myself, I'm interested to hear about dog life on Cyprus, and particularly worried about the posionings that seem to be so common.

I think the cause of responsible pet ownership can only be advanced by what you have done, and I imagine the children will benefit from having access to safe dogs without the hassles that go with full on ownership. They may even grow up respecting animals and with the knowledge of how to look after them properly.

[New_Alex]

Hi ALex

Being an Alex my self I can tell you that there a lot of dog's homes in Cyprus. Pafiakos is one of them.

[sk]

hi and welcome!i think they will not get another puppy!!!they children play with the dogs every afternoon as u say so i dont think they will demand another one!!!in case they do.....RUN!!!!!!hehe.....i am joking!!!u can report them to the veterinary services (if such a thing exists) or to the police

[ex_pat]

I commend you for your kind action with regards to adopting the 2 dogs, but you either have to toughen up and turn a blind eye, or buy a much bigger house so you can adopt more dogs, because you will see a lot more cruelty than what you can even imagine here in Cyprus.

[annecollings]

The dog problem is very bad in Cyprus but believe me, Cyprus is not alone in being the only country with a problem! Yes, you do have to toughen up and sometimes turn a blind eye, in particular for fear of retaliations if you upset someone! For some reason (probably because Cyprus is a relatively small island) we seem to see the harsh realities for poor animals more here. But a couple of years ago I read statistics for N.Ireland in the UK which had more than a third of the UK total in abandoned/lost dogs - 10,000. I believe it was 6,000 destroyed in one year and 4,000 either rehomed or reunited with their owner!!! I have a desperate problem right on my doorstep and can do nothing about it for fear of retaliation!