Best Woof about Greece: The strays are fat!

Worst yelp about the Greece: Getting my panting portraits at the temple of Olympian deleted by security - except one! Woof-woof…

Greece was a great surprise. I know that thousands of the stray dogs in Athens were destroyed prior to the 2004 Olympics, but those that have survived in Athens are fat, happy and cared for by the locals. You can spot them loafing between the traffic jams or howling above the Acropolis!
I had a fantastic morning meeting with a school first thing, and many school children as well as members of GAWF (The Greek Animal Welfare Fund) also arrived to meet me at the Friends of Animals Nea Filadelphia Shelter a little later. They were all wearing stickers with my mug shot saying ‘Friend of Oscar’ – thank you Kiki Karathanasou for all your special touches and interpreting my presentation to the kids!) I felt so welcome – maybe I was Greek Dog in olive leaves in my last life! The shelter itself is situated in a lovely park – in an old zoo premises believe it or not. All the dogs are very well socialized and its testament to the incredible work that the volunteers of the shelter do. It’s truly amazing. (They have also been instrumental with the government’s instrumental involvement with TNR (Trap, Neuter and Release) so most of the stray dogs you see are tagged in their ears to prove that they’ve had the snip. What’s amazing, too is that the volunteers from GAWF as well as those from Nea Filadelphia know exactly how many stray roam each area – Yip, they know the number and general history of each dog in each location. It’s really amazing! Some dog owners I know don’t even know their owned dogs as swell!
I also had the pawing pleasure of meeting the Major, Mr Kontos. I don’t think he gets to shake a paw too many times in his office – so a big bark of approval for his willingness to meet this mutt!
The rest of day consisted of media interviews as well as a really fun ride on the City Sightseeing Woof Bus which kicked off from Syntagma Square. The last shot of Athens consisted of an illegal pant between the pillars of the largest of the ancient temples of Athens-the temple of Olympian. I got into dog poo, but I didn’t go all the way to Athens without posing on some marble!
On the ferry ride across the Mediterranean to Turkey, I stopped off for a day on Kos Island and visited with the organization, ‘Friends of Animals Kos’. If I ever need ‘yelp’, Vangelis is the mighty man to bark for. A bit like a vibrant Italian on an electric current of purpose, he runs around all day searching for destitute dogs and prosecuting anyone who inflicts pain onto pooches – and any other animal for that matter. On the day I found him, he was rescuing turtles from a beach that was being illegally cleared by a bad hotel! He covers all the cost of the shelter from his own pocket and helps to get an average of 500 dogs adopted from the Island each year. That’s dog-garn dedication for you!
A special yap of thanks to Carol McBeth of GAWF who arranged this dog’s day as well as Kiki Karathanasou and her team at the Nea Filadelphia Shelter– the dogs of Athens are so lucky to have you Top Dogs on their side! Athina – thank you so much for letting a pack of kids and darling dogs take over your bus for 2 hours, and to Dorina at the incredible Plaka Hotel – Your generosity and exception permission of allowing me to stay at your hotel is truly appreciated. That view of the Acropolis is the best in the whole of the world and I plan to sniff it again!

Kalo Taxidi (good travels) to Istanbul, here I canine-come!

 

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