If you read my last post, you will know that I stumbled across my beautiful rescue dog Flossie, by scrolling through photos on the Facebook page of a dog rescue I had been following.
Falling in love with a photo
It wasn’t the most conventional way to find a rescue dog and I wasn’t sure at the time how, or even if, it would work out. But the photo of Flossie stopped me in my tracks and I felt compelled to find out more about her.
Dog rescue in Cyprus
The small, brave rescue searching for Flossie’s ‘forever home’ was Saving Pound Dogs Cyprus (SPDC), a registered charity in the UK. I had been supporting SPDC for a while and had been totally humbled by the vital work done by the volunteers in Cyprus and also by their loyal network across the UK.
The reason I support this rescue, apart from the amazing and selfless work they do to save dogs from death, is because I share their ethics, that they will never put down a healthy dog. It is also because, without their help, the dogs they save have almost no chance of survival. To many Cypriots, if a dog is not useful in some way, for example for hunting or as a guard dog, it is simply discarded.
Stray dogs are poisoned, abused, pelted with stones, shot at and treated like vermin. And black dogs fare the worst because black dogs are deemed to be unlucky in Cyprus, as they are in other countries too. They are also the first to be put to sleep and the last to be adopted.
I didn’t care what colour dog we adopted, but as I looked at the soulful eyes of the gorgeous black puppy staring back at me, I knew she stood almost no chance of finding a home in Cyprus. Besides, I had completely fallen in love with her adorable face so I was determined to learn more about her background and see if we could help her.
The back story
Flossie had been found living wild in a dry river bed in Nicosia, with her three siblings, her mother and, possibly, her father, or certainly a male dog who had taken on the role of protector of this vulnerable little family.
We have no idea whether the puppies had been born into that environment or whether the mother had been thrown out after giving birth. And perhaps the litter had been larger than four – there is no way of knowing whether Flossie had more siblings who perhaps had not survived or had been killed. We still wonder what she might have witnessed in those first few weeks and months.
A fantastic woman who works for SPDC spent two weeks patiently sitting on the riverbank, slowly gaining the puppies’ trust so that they would eventually come to her and be placed in the safety of the sanctuary. Flossie was the second one she saved.
Flossie and her family were safe
The rescue named the family after authors. Flossie was known as Austen and her almost identical sister, as Bronte. Her parents, Agatha and Shakespeare were much more difficult to capture, having suffered severe trauma at the hands of humans, and they are both still being taken care of at the sanctuary today, too traumatised to ever be rehomed, but safe, loved and well cared for.
Once in the safety of the rescue, the pups underwent several medical tests, they received the necessary treatments and of course, regular nourishing food, something which they had never tasted in their short lives. Because the sanctuary was bursting at the seams with dogs in need, the founder of the charity, Constantina Constantinou took in all four puppies to her own home so she could care for them personally and also assess their temperaments.
A playful, loving puppy
The description of Austen estimated that she was around four months old, and stated that she was playful and loving. Those two words, playful and loving, were important to me. Having lost our playful and loving dog Dotty, I wanted our next dog to have those qualities. I knew that Austen would have had a tough time during those first crucial weeks of her life and that any bad experiences could have a lasting effect. However, I hoped that because she was still very young, we would have a chance to work on any issues and nurture her playful and loving side so that she could enjoy a happy life with us.
Having fallen in love with a photo and been drawn by the description of this bundle of fluff, I should probably mention that before I contacted the charity I rushed into our kitchen in a certain amount of hysteria, waving my phone around at my partner Graham and squeaking excitedly that I’d found our next dog.
We found ourselves agreeing that we would now adopt a dog from Cyprus and I scampered off to get in touch with the charity. I was paranoid that someone else would snap her up. As far as I was concerned, she was ours.
The adoption process
By the end of that Sunday afternoon, I’d registered my interest in ‘Austen’ via the UK branch of SPDC and I was set up in a Messenger group with the charity in Cyprus so that I could ask loads of questions. They were so helpful and answered my constant stream of queries about her story, her character, her health and what I needed to do to reserve her.
We would need to undergo a home check, agree and sign a comprehensive contract and pay a fee to cover her adoption and travel. SPDC were professional at every stage. I was nervous about the home check although I knew there really was no reason why we wouldn’t pass with flying colours, which we did. I signed the contract, agreeing to have Flossie neutered when she was old enough and that we would engage professional help with training and behaviour if it was needed. In turn, SPDC agreed to provide support throughout the dog’s life. They also provided five weeks’ free insurance.
Because Flossie was so young, we had to wait for five weeks so that there was sufficient time for her to receive the required medical tests and vaccinations for her Pet Passport, and so her travel could be arranged. SPDC took care of everything. She was microchipped with my details, she passed all the tests and was declared fit to travel by a vet.
She would fly to Paris and then be transported by a specialist DEFRA registered pet courier to the UK. I was so nervous for her – what a momentous journey for our precious pup, but I felt reassured by SPDC’s efficiency and experience, so I tried to focus on the end point, when she would arrive with us and we would hear the patter of paws in our house once again.
The anticipation
It was only a few weeks since we’d lost Dotty. I still felt raw about that and slightly disloyal to her that we were getting another dog. We would never replace Dotty, but we had a huge hole that needed filling, and only a dog could fill it.
We decided to call our Cyprus girl Flossie. This was after much deliberation, writing of lists, searching for name ideas online and eventually drawing up a shortlist. I really wanted to call her Winnie. We also liked Poppy and Bella, but we needed to both feel happy about the name. Eventually I came across the name Flossie and we both agreed, it was perfect.
So, Austen became Flossie from that moment, the charity started calling her by her new name straightaway, and we were told that she should be with us in time for Christmas.
Although I’d done as much homework as possible, we had no real idea of what to expect. We had just ordered a dog online. I really hoped we had done the right thing.
Read the next post to find out what happened next…
Suzy Pope is a versatile lifestyle writer and newspaper columnist. If you would like help with a writing project, please get in touch.
