What A Wonderful Weekend

It's been like a Swedish summer today, we loved being outside today after what has felt like a long period of rain and dreary weather.

We brought home our two kids from the kennel over the weekend, and it was wonderful. Twelve dogs in the house and everyone got along so great. Ariel and Nebbia are two of the dogs we rescued from the "terrible shelter" back in February. (more on earlier blog)

Nebbia was labeled as "aggressive" and sat alone in a small cage. When I met her the first time I knew it wasn't true. And it isn't. She's been tested several different times, in different ways, she lives together with Ariel. She's been with us at Carney Park playing with many different dogs. And, now this weekend, together with the whole pack. She is brilliant.

That's the danger when you label someone, the label sticks and it takes some great heart to see past the label and give them a chance (same goes with humans). If Nebbia wouldn't have told me that she was a kind-hearted dog, God knows what would have happened to her.
Nebbia the "aggressive dog" is resting on our patio and Roberto, who also comes from the same place (remember him with the ligament injury, also earlier blog). Roberto is doing great, happy, yappy and charming and his leg is completely healed.

Ariel has been in four shelters, her whole life; Nebbia in only one but they think for three to four years. Neither of them had ever been inside a house and it was so sweet to see them standing in the doorway, kind of thinking "what do we do now?"

We had to lift them in and they walked around just smelling and looking and then they laid down on their blankets and cuddled up with us. I am so proud over our pack, they are great Amore dogs.

Think We are With Dog Part 2

We went to the veterinarian with Trooper and he will have to stay there for one week. Trooper is now going through a de-worming program, and with the vaccinations shots he has to start all over again. His papers were not completed with all the shoots and they (shots) where also too old!


The trainer at the Kennel told us the story about how the owner had bought this beige Labrador Retriever from Hungary (900 Euro) as a present for his son. The dog dug up the whole yard so the owner put him (not the son) in the Kennel and said, "Give it away!"

That was 3 months and 180 Euro in kennel fees ago.


The trainer had told our Italian translator that if we wanted to give him some money for the dogs boarding bill, it would be great, but just if we wanted.



Todd and I, with big animal hearts thought to ourselves, "of course we will, hell we will even help him with other dogs and medicine."



A phone call three days after our first meeting, we said "yes we wanted Trooper". We agreed we would meet the owner and sign the papers at the Kennel. (In Italy, there is a formal procedure to transfer ownership of a pet.)


For us it is very important to have the papers signed, not least of all because the microchip has the owners name. Later with the paper we will have to go to an Italian office and change the name of the ownership. So it is very important.


I whispered to Todd that this man-- the owner-- would not show up, he would have other things to do than signing papers at a place where he has a bill!


And of course, he didn't show up. The trainer tried his five phone numbers and the answer he got, "he is to busy"



Another Italian friend of mine said, "who else than the Camora has five different phone numbers?"



Oh-boy! Are we having a "hot" Camora! dog?