The Lonely Dog (poem)

Once I was a lonely dog, just looking for a home.
I had no place to go, No-one to call my own.

I wandered up and down the streets, in rain in heat and snow.
I ate whatever I could find, I was always on the go.

My skin would itch, my feet were sore. My body ached with pain.
And no one stopped to give a pat, or to gently say my name.

I never saw a loving glance, I was always on the run.
For people thought that hurting me was really lots of fun.

And then one day I heard a voice so gentle, kind and sweet,
And arms so soft reached down to me and took me off my feet.

"No one again will hurt you was whispered in my ear."
"You'll have a home to call your own where you will know no fear."

"You will be dry, you will be warm, you'll have enough to eat."
"And rest assured that when you sleep, your dreams will all be sweet."

I was afraid I must admit, I've lived so long in fear.
I can't remember when I let a human come so near.

And as she tended to my wounds and bathed and brushed my fur
She told me about the rescue group and what it meant to her.

She said, "We are a circle, a line that never ends."
"And in the center there is you protected by new friends."

"And all around you are the ones that check the pounds,
And those that share their home after you've been found."

"And all the other folk are searching near and far.
"To find the perfect home for you, where you can be a star."

She said, "There is a family, that's waiting patiently,
and pretty soon we'll find them, just you wait and see."

"And then they'll join our circle they'll help to make it grow,
so there'll be room for more like you, who have no place to go."

I waited very patiently, the days they came and went.
Today's the day I thought, my family will be sent.

Then just when I began to think It wasn't meant to be,
there were people standing there just gazing down at me.

I knew them in a heart beat, I could tell they felt it too.
They said, "We have been waiting for a special dog like you."

Now every night I say a prayer to all the gods that be.
"Thank you for the life I live and all you've given me.

But most of all protect the dogs in the pound and on the street.
And send a Rescue Person to lift them off their feet."

- Arlene Pace
September 18, 1998

 

Molly, Goldy, Bobby, Minny and Fudge arrive in Holland

(click on the picture to enlarge)

 

5 more dogs flew to Holland on the 30st of October. The total nr of dogs rehomed in Holland is now 166,

 

This sounds so easy, but it involves a lot more than you think.

Jeroen, one of the volunteers for Dutch charity HzH (Hond zoekt Huis), had taken the afternoon off to fly to Malaga from Amsterdam. There he waited a few hours before the CAS volunteers arrived with Molly, Goldy, Bobby, Minny and Fudge. After the check in procedures, Jeroen boarded the aircraft with Bobby in a bag, while the other 4 shared 2 cages in the hull.

 

Well after midnight, Jeroen arrived in Amsterdam, where the dogs were welcomed by their new families.

 

Our request: if you have friends flying to Holland, please ask them if they are willing to help out by bringing a dog to HollandThey don't need to do anything, the volunteers from CAS and HzH will do all the work. The only difference is the large welcoming committee that’s waiting for you at the airport in Amsterdam (or Rotterdam or Eindhoven).

 

CAS Events for November and December 2009

Every Week of the Year in Nerja  

Sunday morning at the car boot sale, Almijara II

CAN YOU HELP? We urgently need more Bric A Brac for our Sunday Car Boot.

Please deliver to the CAS Office or Tel Richard 952037095 for Collection 

El Trapiche: Alternate Tuesday mornings at Farmers Country Market

(near the airfield)

 

Saturday  Nov 28th
CAS ANNUAL CHRISTMAS BALL  "GLITZ & GLAMOUR".
Hotel El Andaluz, Nerja        7.00 for
7.30pm
Welcome drink, Canapés, Choice of 3 course meal with wine, Coffee & liqueurs.
Entertainment with Mark Peters & Andy Time.         Tickets €35
Make up a table of 10 or more to get 1 place free
Menu choice can be seen and selected in the
CAS Office

 

Saturday Dec 5th

Christmas Market Cómpeta.

Plaza Ayuntamiento. 10:30 onwards. Many stalls and Santa Claus too!

 

Friday Dec 11th

CAS Cómpeta Christmas Dinner Dance

Balcon de Cómpeta. Drink on arrival, canapes, 3 courses inc wines

Music, Games  & Raffle

Just  €15 per person

 

Both events - contact Jane Kirk 616 5300 71

This is why CAS exists and how it helps.

Nico & Elsa were the dogs of Lynn. Lynn was born in Australia, lived in Holland for a while, and moved to Spain a little over 2 years ago. She lived in a house in the campo near Velez Malaga. On the way to her house she passed an old Spanish house every day. There was a young dog, tied to a short chain the whole day without any shelter for sun or rain. So, one day she had enough! She went to the house, unchained the dog and took it with her. The dog she named Elsa, was about 6 months. A few weeks later when she went to the basura to throw away her rubbish, she heard a soft yelping in one of the containers. She looked in and saw a puppy of only a few days old. She climbed into the container and took the puppy home. The first thing she did was give the puppy (and herself) a good wash :-)

Some time ago, Lynn was diagnosed with breast cancer. After months of chemo therapy she planned to go back to Australia to finish her treatment. As she felt she was not fit enough to take proper care of her dogs, she asked CAS to re-home Elsa (2.5 years old) Nico (2 years old).

 

It is nearly impossible to re-home 2 large dogs together, so Nico and Elsa were separated and fostered by 2 different families in Spain, whilst waiting for a permanent home. Separating them was needed in order to prepare Nico for his new life. He was the younger of the two and was not used to making decisions on his own. He just followed his leader, Elsa.

A permanent home for Nico was found within a few weeks and he flew to Holland mid September. In the weeks at the foster home, waiting for his flight, Nico was taught the basic commands (sit, down, come, etc) in Dutch.

 

Nico is doing great, according to the feedback from his new family. He went with the children to school the first day after the holiday. The whole class came to greet him and scratch his belly. He loves the children and the children love him; running back after school to walk with Nico and play with him. For the moment, they don’t have much time for their human friends anymore.

 

A new home was found for Elsa a few weeks later, and she flew to Holland mid October. She has joined an English speaking household out there and the two boys made a Count Down Clock which ticked off the seconds until Elsa arrived at the airport.

She was fostered by Jane (editor of CAS E-News) & her husband, Brian.

They also had a Count Down Clock – but a sadder one that told them how little time they had left with this big bear of a dog. Putting her into a flight cage was difficult emotionally as well as physically (she’s 39 kilos!)

 

In Holland, Elsa was amazed to be confronted by something called “Stairs” in her new home – all her life had been spent in or around single storey homes!

A few lessons with Jennifer, Tim & the boys soon had her almost trotting up and down. The new family stayed in close touch with us whilst both families waited for Elsa to do her very first tiddle in Holland ! We all had to wait over 28 hours!

 

Epilogue: from the editor

After spending several weeks emailing back & forth with Jennifer- answering questions from her and, especially, the two boys; sending photographs of Elsa and describing her behaviour etc. – our two families became “E-mail Friends”.

We shared their joy when they collected Elsa from the airport and when her settling-in process was underway.

So, it was with horror that we read an email from her husband, Tim, telling us that Jennifer had been killed in a traffic accident!

Elsa has now become an even more important member of their family, giving back twice as much love as she receives.

 

Carpe diem!

Dog Haiku

"Haiku" is an ancient form of Japanese Zen poetry, known for expressing a timeless thought in just three short lines consisting of five, seven, and five syllables.

I love my master,
thus I perfume myself with
this long-dead squirrel.

I lie belly-up
in the sun, happier than
you will ever be...

Many dog behinds
I sniffed today. I rejoice
by kissing your face.

I sound the alarm!
Paper boy come to kill us!
Look! Look! Look! Look! Look!

I lift my leg and
whiz on each bush. Other dogs
will sniff this and weep.

How do I love thee?
The ways are numberless as
my hairs on the rug.

My human is home!
I am so ecstatic that
I make a puddle!

I hate my choke chain.
Look, world, they strangle me!
Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack!

Sleeping here, chin on
your foot. No greater bliss - well,
maybe catching rats...

Cat is not all bad.
She fills the litter box with
little chocolste Rolls!

Dig under fence-why?
Because it's there. Because it's
there. Because it's there.

I am your best friend,
now, always, and especially
When you are eating...

As my owners kiss,
I lie here next to their feet
and fart a big one...

You cannot deny.
No human could ever love
you as much as I.

 

One phone call isn't enough

Many people who call the CAS volunteers think that a single phone call can result in the immediate solving of their problem.

Most people genuinely want to help a cat or dog but hope that calling one of the 2 or 3 active CAS volunteers will mean that they themselves will not have to actually do anything and that only CAS has any responsibility within local society to act. Totally untrue and unrealistic, I’m afraid.

 

We receive calls reporting the following kind of incidents

  • I’ve seen a black dog roaming free twice this week – can you come and get it?
  • There’s a mother cat and 3 kittens outside and it’s raining tonight. Can you come and get them?
  • Sorry to call at 11:30 but I can hear a dog howling in the valley below me…
  • We’ve just come back from a night out and there’s a dog messing in the rubbish near us……
  • There’s a man near Granada who keeps his dog on a chain all day, can you come and take it away?

 

And the one we really, really HATE….

  • We ‘re going back to England day after tomorrow. Will you come and collect our two dogs, cos they can’t come with us ?  OR
  • We’re taking our dog back to England tomorrow but we’ve a cat with 8 kittens that we don’t want. When will you pick them up?

These are actual calls that we’ve received lately.

 

It’s astounding how many people are “suddenly” returning to the UK and cannot (will not) take their pets. Personally, I call it the “Crime Stoppers Effect!”

 

Our resources to deal with such calls consists of :

Ø       3 volunteers

Ø       12 kennel spaces (always full!)

Ø       A network of fosterers – similarly always overwhelmed by our pleas to “Just take another cat/dog for a few days…..”

Ø       One Website (www.casnerja.org) on which we place photographs of cats & dogs along with information on each of them. This website is updated 3 or 4 times each day & is getting more and more “visits” from people interested in adopting an animal.

 

We can really only utilise our resources effectively if individuals help us – mainly by agreeing to care for the animal in question whilst we add details to the website and then investigate how we can move animals from one place to another and accommodate them.

 

Spread the Word please……..

A Volunteer Crisis hits CAS

At 31st December 2009 the following people will withdraw from any active involvement in the work of The Costa Animal Society:-

Karen O´Brien       

Responsibility for Cats & Kittens, CAS Office Management

Mike O´Brien          

Responsibility for all weekly  Fund Raising, but will continue with annual events

Peter Thomsing    

Treasurer

 

At 31st March 2010 the following people will withdraw from any active involvement in the work of The Costa Animal Society:-

Wendy Thorne      

President of the Society - special responsibility for Dogs & Puppies.

(She will remain a member of the committee with drastically reduced participation)

Richard Thorne     

Responsibility for supporting fund raising and accounting

 

The Executive Committee will thus consist of Jane Kirk, Vice President

This is not a tenable (nor a legal) situation for The Society.

 

 

Online shopping through www.buy.at/CASNERJA

Do you shop online through companies like amazon.co.uk, woolworths.co.uk, ebay.co.uk, national express, sendit.com, or many more.
 
But instead of going directly to those sites, go through www.buy.at/CASNERJA.
 
For you there is no difference. Prices and products will be the same, but CAS gets a commission on every purchase you make. Everyone wins!
 

Cages return to Spain



With all those dogs flying to Holland (161 in less than 2 years) , it is always a challenge to find transport cages for the flights. Of course we reuse the cages over and over, but that means they have to be transported back to Spain every once in a while.

The transport of those bulky cages can be expensive, so we are happy that Grayvis Logistics (http://www.grayvis.nl/) has offered to transport the cages FOR FREE from Holland to their storage in Malaga. From where we can pick up the cages.

CAS Annual Christmas Ball - 28 November

CAS GLITZ & GLAMOUR BALL Saturday 28th November
 
Book a table of 10 or more and get one free
To book, call the CAS office 952523607 or Mike 952526312
 
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
 
Menu choices for Glitz and Glamour Ball (wine coffee and liquers included) - vegetarian options available
 
STARTERS:
- Stuffed flat mushrooms on a bed of Roquefort risotto
- Goats cheese tartled on a bed of salad
 
MAINS:
- Solomillo of pork with green pepper sauce, Dauphinoise potatoes and veg
- Hake Florentine served with rice and veg
 
POSTRES
- Chocolate tricolor
- Red fruit Charlotte

CAS needs volunteers

CAS is constantly looking for volunteers. Not only for the jobs in the board, but also for specific activities.
 
Please consider if you have time to:
 
- FOSTER a dog or puppy short term
- TRANSLATE into German, Spanish, Dutch - any other ex pat languages.
- DRIVE a dog to Málaga Airport or to and from the vet & kennels
- Give BRIC-a-BRAC that we can sell
- Work on one of our MARKET STALLS (call 952 037 095 or 660 271 984)
- FOSTER and/or FEED a kitten
- FEED a few street CATS (call 95 252 6312)
- Help on the CAS Sunday Market in Nerja. Two of the chaps who normally help out are returning to the UK and the other CAS volunteers are desperate for HELP ! Call Wendy 952 037 095 or 660 271 984

Elsa, Pixie and Heather homed in Holland

(click on the picture to enlarge)
 
Elsa, Pixie and Heather flew to Holland yesterday, making it a total of 161 dogs rehomed in Holland. And a few more flights awaiting in the next few weeks.
 

Pip, Buster and Chunky fly to Holland

Pip, Buster and Chunky were picked up by the President of Hond zoekt Huis last Saturday and flewn to their new homes in Holland.
With these three lucky ones, the total number of dogs rehomed to Holland is 158.

(click on the pictures to enlarge)

 







Happy times for Chacho, Daisy May, Ivor, Jedy, Molly, Pip, Sweety and Widget

Pictures of Chacho, Daisy May, Ivor, Jedy, Molly, Pip, Sweety and Widget in their new homes.
(click on the picture to enlarge)