I am looking to give a home to a labrador puppy. If there is anybody with information please contact me.

Thanks
Andrea

Hi Andra
I have a female labrador but she is still a little bit to young to breed we are going to wait till her next season in 5 months. If you can wait that long then I can help you.

Helen

Hi Andrea, I assume you live in Halkidiki. Whilst I applaud your choice of dog (we have a black lab, who we bring over to Halk with us), I would just like to suggest that perhaps you consider adopting one of the gorgeous strays (many of which are of labrador descent, if not pure labrador). You need to contact Julie who runs the rescue centre. Most people over there have her number or email as I have not got it handy here in the UK.

Please consider this, there are so many deserving dogs that need a good home, and loads of puppies regularly abandoned and saved by Julie and others. It seems a shame to breed dogs for sale in a country where there are tons of gorgeous dogs waiting to be saved.

Cheers, Jane

Hi Andra
Send me an e-mail to nostos1@otenet.gr Jane you are right there are lots of strays here and Julie does a fantastic job but if you have young children like I have you have to have a dog you can 100% trust which is why we chose perdie the lab. We will only breed her once and the puppies will all go to people that want a family pet and as i don't need the money I would not charge them.
Helen

I understand that Helen, but some of these pups are rescued at only a few days old and the ones I saw were perfectly labrador like, full of play and gorgeous temperaments. There are always loads of dumped few day old pups unfortunately. Some good friends of ours over there took some in last year and cared for them for ages before Julie could take them in, and then ended up keeping one too !!!

The comment was not meant to "get at" you for breeding them, but as you know only too well the situation over there with dumped pups is awful. When we left last year on our very last day in October I found a small few days old pup drowned in a bag in the sea outside our house, very very upsetting indeed.

I am glad you got a nice lab in any case.

Jane

Jane
I didn't at all feel like you was "getting at me" I'm not that sensitive i do what I want for the best of my family I don't care what anyone thinks. I know the situation is not nice here for the stray dogs but has it ever been any different in the time you have visited Greece? I've lived here 9 years and have vivted Greece many time before that and the dogs and cats have always been a problem. This unfortunatly is the culture here. It's not right but you have to accapt it or not come. Good on you and people like Julie and stefan in sithonia but you are fighting a lossing battle you will never change the Greeks minds about animals. Please send me Julie's e-mail address as I have a dog I've started feeding in afitos that was dumped last week it is a setter and very old. To be honest no one wants it so may be better just paying for it to be put down!!

Helen, I have sent a PM.Jane

Hi Helen and Jane

you are both right. The Greeks will never change. But what they also seem to forget is that halkidiki especially relies very much on tourism. The tourists do not want to see dead or dying cats and dogs. Or packs of dogs roaming the streets, they also dont want dogs poisoned for their benefit before the season starts. The problem is not the dogs, it is the greeks mentality.

When it starts to hit them in their pocket then they will change

Hi Joanne, yes they have to change. As I said to Helen in a PM I think they are getting, slightly, better over my 30 years of visiting. But they have a long way to go. Like you say, empty pockets may be the answer but to be honest until I lived long term in Greece I used to feed the strays while on holiday and not really give a second thought to anything else as I did not realise they were poisoned at season end and start. A lot of other tourists who only come for a few weeks will probably only see the cute well fed ones around the tourist areas too and not realise what happens out of season.

I do not want to hurt Greece or the Greeks, my dad was Greek. What I want is for those (and it is not all Greeks that don't care, I know many who do and have well cared for dogs of their own) with the non caring mentality to try to come up to date and realise that animals DO count, and certainly count to many tourists.

Unfortunately, as the British and German tourists decline in this economic climate, and the Eastern Europeans and Russians come in droves, I feel that the situation may not improve as the new wave of tourists are in general not that interested in animals/animal rights. This is not a dig at these tourists, but they come from areas that are similar in their attitudes to the Greeks. Also, like I said before, a two week holiday sometimes doesnt really show the true horrors or truth behind the cuddly strays and the umpteen cute kittie calendars on sale !

Luckily we have people who live over there who do their utmost to help in what must sometimes seem a never ending struggle, but at least some get saved which is better than in some other countries.#

Lets hope it gets better in the years to come, but the Church need to come on board as the centre of most things Greek and get people to care about all life, not just human life.

Geia.exeis akoma to labrador?me lene eui menw Athina kai an mporeis epikoinwnise mazi mou.