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This time we visited our home in the Cape Verde islands without Maria our Podengo Medio, whom we rescued from there after we met her on the day after Christmas. Flights are more difficult now since the failure of Thomas Cook, the British airline which provided some competiton for the German Tui on the tourist routes from Northern Europe. So flights are few and expensive - perhaps $1200 for a dog- one way . We have two - neither is in the Avatar which is Jet whom we rescued and took to Germany.
We did not meet Boyar, this time. He is a very friendly Podengo Medio, who races to us and leaps up, wagging his tail. His distraught owner usually trails behind, imagining that he is about to attack us. We did meet an unfriendly Podengo Medio, rescued by an Italian waitress, who keeps six rescued dogs, behind a wire fence in the yard of her rental house.
Much more friendly was Discha, a smaller three-legged male who whenever he was let out of his yard would hobble over to our house about 100 yards/metres away. We fed him fresh bluefin tuna and beefsteak from England - but I like to believe he comes for the company.
He lost one of his rear legs after he was tied up on a sunny roof by a tight rope. It had to be amputated because of the gangrene. He has now got milky eyes, a possible sign of glaucoma. We remove the ticks from his neck and back. Still he is much happier with the Italian waitress than on a hot stone roof.
We also met a female Labradengo, (Labrador-Podengo Medio cross common on the islands) who runs two miles (3km) from her home every evening to meet tourists. She stands on rocks in the bright lights of the restaurant which is raised on stilts, above them. She wagged her tail effusively when she saw us. Last time we fed her prime English beef steak.
She has had puppies since we last saw her, for she lives in the open, like many dogs in the islands. German vets come once a year to operate on 30 dogs and cats a day, but they scarcely dent the birth rate.
If anyone wants to help the dogs of Cape Verde with a Christmas gift, they can find OSPA on Facebook. It is run by Italians, but the text is in english.
We did not meet Boyar, this time. He is a very friendly Podengo Medio, who races to us and leaps up, wagging his tail. His distraught owner usually trails behind, imagining that he is about to attack us. We did meet an unfriendly Podengo Medio, rescued by an Italian waitress, who keeps six rescued dogs, behind a wire fence in the yard of her rental house.
Much more friendly was Discha, a smaller three-legged male who whenever he was let out of his yard would hobble over to our house about 100 yards/metres away. We fed him fresh bluefin tuna and beefsteak from England - but I like to believe he comes for the company.
He lost one of his rear legs after he was tied up on a sunny roof by a tight rope. It had to be amputated because of the gangrene. He has now got milky eyes, a possible sign of glaucoma. We remove the ticks from his neck and back. Still he is much happier with the Italian waitress than on a hot stone roof.
We also met a female Labradengo, (Labrador-Podengo Medio cross common on the islands) who runs two miles (3km) from her home every evening to meet tourists. She stands on rocks in the bright lights of the restaurant which is raised on stilts, above them. She wagged her tail effusively when she saw us. Last time we fed her prime English beef steak.
She has had puppies since we last saw her, for she lives in the open, like many dogs in the islands. German vets come once a year to operate on 30 dogs and cats a day, but they scarcely dent the birth rate.
If anyone wants to help the dogs of Cape Verde with a Christmas gift, they can find OSPA on Facebook. It is run by Italians, but the text is in english.
