Mans best friend

France is over run with dogs homes and dog charities.
Most if not all are privately financed.

We spent ages scouring the countryside looking for a companion for our Carli an English boarder Collie cross.

Where to look?

Off to the Vets we went and with my extremely limited ability to speak French I posed the question. And now with the benefit of hindsight I feel sure the girl was telling me about the dogs organisation called S.P.A near Angouleme. I spent ages looking for a village called 'spa'!

We went up to Limoges and across to Cognac and it was near Saintes at our last port of call where we found 'poppy'.

France is hunting mad and as a consequence there are all manner of hunting dogs which come into these homes. The staff are dedicated and try to home each pet. But by the time we got to our last call we were some what shocked by the sheer number of inhabitants in these homes.
Be warned if you go when it is hot the odour is almost overwhelming. Some would surely be better off if they were euthanized. Clearly mad running round in circles cutting further into the soil their eyes popping out as they bounce off the wiring. It is distressing.

We arrived at Saintes and the view was the same.

However in the distance I saw 'poppy' poking through the wire, despite the girl stating there were no puppies. I asked and it transpired she was found with 13 other dogs of various breeds and ages, who were all present in the cage. A tramp had been illegally squatting and the Gendarmes had evicted him and his canine companions. The latter were brought to the kennels until a judge decided their fate.

I handed the pup to Veronica and we made our way back to the office and en route the girl said we could register an interest in her and if we were allowed at future date we could come back for her.

Thankfully there was a woman who spoke English and as soon as she had discovered that we were English announced that the dog was ours! They had no intention of handing her back to her former owner in any event. She was tiny and frail, some sort of Belgian Griffon cross.
We weren't even charged for her, I don't think they thought she would last.
And at the time neither did I but Veronica had by this time concealed her under her coat.

We made a donation for her and made our way back to the car.

When she met Carli she sprung into life and has been the same ever since.
I nearly killed her with a botched DIY job in the form of some cupboards which fell off the wall one night. I was convinced she must have been crushed, but no thankfully she had survived.

I took her almost straight away on all walks there were no other dogs so after her first injections off we went. I had to watch she didn't go into any drains and kept an eye on those birds of prey because she was so small.

I learnt that it is not a good idea to have the Anti Rabies jab done either when they are too young or when they were having the other jabs. The Anti Rabies jab can cause problems let alone failing to reach the necessary levels for the passport. I suspect it also caused our Poppy to fit a very worry episode.