Family Album

Last week, we found another dog. Some terrier mix, with big eyes, funny ears and very short legs, a very lovable hair ball.
Estella, who is much more sensible that I am, beg me not to take her, but to no avail. Not that Estella doesn’t love dogs, she does, but this little one makes number fifteen and they are a big financial burden.


This begun six years ago, with our first stray. Before then, we never had dogs and I never thought we would. But this lovely and opinionated cocker spaniel choose us by simply coming into our yard and refusing to go. After a couple of days, we found the owner, but she was happy to get rid of her dog, she had clearly grown tired of it. And that is the big problem here, and I suppose in other places too.

People get dogs, often buy dogs for a lot of money, without realizing how much work, expenses, and commitment a dog costs. Often are puppies bought as a toy for children and get thrown out when they start chewing the furniture or peeing in corners. Also there is a general believe here, that a dog is a health hazard for a pregnant woman or a baby, so well loved dogs go out when a baby is coming.


There is a shelter in the town were we live, where they are well fed and well treated, but it has a capacity of about 150, and they are much more dogs coming in than out, so they get killed after a while. It is a shame that people don’t want grown up dogs. I would always prefer a grown up dog, what you see is what you get. A very cute puppy can grow too much, or become very ugly. With an adult dog you can see much better if the dog suits you, and if you have any luck the dog will be already house trained.


All our dogs are ‘second hand’, they have been given to us or we found them, some times in very bad shape, they all have a past, often a hard one.
In the mean time…dogs have changed our lives, totally. Our house holding is not similar to any other house holding that you may know. Overall where you look you see dogs, every chair and settee is occupied by a doggie, very busy sleeping. Our furniture is in tatters, we spend much more on the dogs than we do on ourselves, we can not go anywhere overnight and the neighbors hate us.

But ah, the joy! If is true that people with a furry pet live longer, we will be a hundred and ten. They are truly lovable, and loving, creatures, and they are always happy to see us, longing for a cuddle. It is amazing to see how they make place in the pack for a newcomer. By the way, they are all neutered, of course.

And the new girl? We are bonding famously. Not surprising, considering that we share the same hair color and the same hair dresser…