It's great to be able to start a page about dogs featured on the site who have been adopted. It's encouraging to know there are happy endings and that circulation of pictures and stories on the internet really does work. So here are the dogs that have been adopted so far:
ADOPTED
Seven of nine puppies in Calabria posted in August 2011 have now found homes - hooray!
GREAT NEWS !! SEVEN PUPS HAVE NOW FOUND HOMES. BUT TWO ARE STILL WAITING...
LUIS - MILAN - ADOPTABLE CENTRAL AND N.ITALY ADOPTED!!!!!!
SEPTEMBER 29 2010
This is another dog I have been following since July. Luis is a blind Gordon setter about 7 years old who had a hellish existence in a pound near Rome.
Luis is a seven year old English setter who is blind. He was in an appalling situation in a kennels in a province of Rome. Attacked by other dogs and in a life-threatening situation, he was placed with the puppies who wouldn't be so aggressive but they still nipped him, jumped on him and the usual puppy behaviour, confusing the poor soul who had no idea what was coming at him or from where.
The volunteers there were desperate, especially one lady who said the dog started jumping up to put his paws on her chest when she approached, but she could only stay for a few minutes and then he just kept jumping up into thin air looking for her.
Aurora organised his transport to Milan and from there he moved to Parma where he has just been operated on to help his severe and chronic otitis, which had caused him to be almost totally deaf. You can see him recovering in the photo.
So Aurora wrote to me. They don't know what to do and poor Luis deserves a good loving home with a family that will love him. She says he is quite self sufficient once he knows his way around, but needs a garden and his own space. He is gentle, loving and has won everyone's hearts.
Please can anyone help him? Email me or aurora.romeo76@gmail.com
TW
NAPLES
They have named her 'Collarina' - little collar, for the most horrible of reasons, in that this six month old puppy in Naples was tethered with a metal collar that was far too small resulting in this horrendous wound on her neck, which is now being treated. Imagine doing this to a dog and that the poor creature has lived its first six months suffering such abject cruelty. She could hardly lift her head from the ground when she was found and removed from her terrible situation. She weighs just 3Kg and is adoptable anywhere in centre or north Italy.
Collarina has found a good home.
ASTI but adoptable anywhere
This lovely Italian Segugia hound is called Biscuit. She was saved after being brutally kicked by a group of kids. She just stayed and took it.
She is a hunting dog of about 18 kilos, very, very good natured and well-behaved gets on with other dogs and children (cats are an unknown quantity) and she was probably used for breeding before she became ‘surplus to requirements.’ The person who rescued her expected her to at least growl, but all she did, while blood was pouring from her mouth, was to lick her and thank her for saving her. Her rescuer kept her for six days during which time she stole her heart completely.
She had some bruising and a sore eye from her attack and is now in a foster home in Asti, recovering from her ordeal and all the associated stress.
Biscuit now has a new loving family.
Annie has now found a new home!
This is Annie, found in a rubbish bag in October in the south of Italy. Pregnant, dirty and completely covered in her own excrement she was brought in by a volunteer who found her while at work. The little dog was trying desperately to escape from the sealed rubbish bag which had been dumped by the side of the road and finally managed to get her head free when she was spotted by the volunteer.
The experience of nearly suffocating caused her to give birth prematurely and all the puppies died over the following 24 hours. Following a course of antibiotics she has now been sterilized. The hair on her ears is now regrowing and the crust on her eyes has all but gone.
At the moment Annie is well. She is affectionate and very obedient, which leads the volunteers to believe she may well be a Setter cross. She is about 1 or 2 years old and weighs 12 kilos.
Annie is is need of a loving home and an owner who will help her forget the abysmal treatment she has received. She gets on with cats and dogs. There will be pre and post adoption checks.
NAPLES
Querida is a lovely little dog weighing just 3 kg and had she been healthy, she would have been adopted long ago.
She is a loving, fragile and sensitive dog, but unfortunately she has never known anything more than the barren dog pound cage and the love of the volunteers who take care of her once weekly.
Three years ago, Querida was diagnosed with a form of cancer to the nose, and has received chemotherapy and a surgical reconstruction, but unfortunately the cancer has not shown any signs of receding, and her tiny nose has started to be slightly eaten away by her terrible illness. The volunteers have now decided to stop the chemotherapy, as the cancer seems to be incurable, and they are desperately trying to give Querida a home, where she can spend whatever time she has left in happiness she has never known so far.
Querida is spending her final days in a loving family in Rome.
ROME
The story of Setter is a heartbreaking one that is sadly very typical. He was just six months old when he was thrown over the wall of the pound in Rome province and into a cage of adult dogs. He’d probably grown too big too fast and his owner thought he’d cost too much to keep. He crawled under the kennel of one of the dogs to escape and was found there by chance cold, hungry and exhausted by fear.
And there, in that cage, he has remained for eight long years, one of Italy’s many forgotten dogs, in a kennel that nobody ever visits and from which the only way out if usually in a black bin liner, the normal way of disposing of these poor creatures at the end of their desperate lives.
Can you help give Setter his life back? To help his dreams of a home and a family come true? He’s too beautiful and brave a dog to spend the rest of his days in a cage. He’s still got some good years ahead of him and he would repay you a million times over.
He’s about 30 - 35 kilos, has been sterilized and gets on well with dogs of both sexes, he has a sweet, gentle character and is never aggressive, he could even be trusted with children and would be fine in an apartment or in a house with garden. He’s in good health and he is even a canine blood donor! How could you let a lovely dog like that live in the cold and loneliness of a cage? Don’t make him continue to pay for the cowardly and despicable behaviour of his owner, give him another chance, he truly deserves to finally know what it is like to be loved and cared for.
I am so pleased this lovely setter has been adopted as I had to choose between him and the setter I eventually adopted - Gaspare. I often wondered what had happened to him and so this is excellent news. You see, even after eight years, dreams do come true!
MESSINA
Good news, this liitle dog has been adopted!
This poor dog was probably abandoned and is completely blind. He lives on the beach under a boat and a volunteer, Giovanna, brings him food. He’s a very gentle dog and for this reason is often picked on by the other strays on the beach. He is very frightened and won’t let you touchhim. He just lives under his boat and sometimes doesn’t come out for days.
When Giovanna found him he was just skin and bone. Now he’s started to recognise the sound of Giovanna’s car and comes out from the boat to eat as soon as she arrives. After a few months an abandoned beagle also turned up and that has really brought him back to life. They play and seem happy together but sadly the beagle is now very ill with leishmaniosis. If he can be saved then he needs a home too.
TUSCANY- Ottone is adopted!!!
How cute is this!!! Just as a reminder, read his story below.
Ottone is a young puppy who was found in a field and urgently needs a home. He is going to be a small dog, probably reaching no more than 10 kilos. He is affectionate but completely shocked and needs gentle, loving care.
Volpino has found a new home! Great news.
Volpino was found with his muzzle tightly tied with wire and then shortly after that with his genitals bound with rope – something almost too horrific to imagine. Had the volunteers not found him in time he would have certainly died. Despite careful tending of his wounds, he still bears the scars on his muzzle.
Despite this, the poor dog has not lost his trust in people, which makes it very dangerous for him! The volunteers haven’t been able to find a foster home for the dog
and the local asl (the council funded veterinary unit responsible for the emergency care of stray animals) has put him back on the streets, in the area that he knows, and where he is regularly tormented and tortured. He is a very friendly little chap, and he goes up to anyone for affection, which is why these awful people chose to hurt him rather than any of the other strays in the area.
Kona has now found a good home. Thanks to all involved!
He is a lovely dog with a lot of character and needs someone who would spend time with him as he needs/ loves the companionship.
AVELLINO, East of Naples and MILAN
I'm delighted to say we have adopted Gaspare (Gassi) ourselves!! See my post here. I am leaving up his story here though...
Gaspare is a five year old setter probably abandoned by a hunter who, after deciding that he was no longer useful, just let him roam free, knowing what would happen when he went looking for food in a nearby town.And this Gaspare did. One afternoon he ventured into the town of Montoro Superiore, near Avellino and tail wagging, he approached a child eating a snack, hoping to maybe get a pat and a scrap of his food. Instead Gaspare was attacked by villagers, who kicked him and hit him with sticks. Fortunately, a volunteer from the local pet rescue team happened to witness this attack, and intervened to help poor Gaspare, nearly getting beaten themselves in the process. They took Gaspare to the vet's where he was found to have two broken ribs, two broken teeth, a severe nasal haemorrhage and severe bruising.
UPDATE: Gaspare was driven 800km to Milan to his new home, but after a weekend the family decided that he didn't get on with their own dog (not Gaspare's fault) and so they wouldn't be able to keep him. He is now staying with a volunteer in Milan but this is only temporary as he is off to the USA for his gap year soon. The situation for Gaspare is VERY URGENT as no-one wants him to go to a pound.
Setters are extremely friendly and peaceful dogs. Despite being used for hunting because of their great sense of smell, they share the same behavioural traits of Labradors, the most popular breed with children, combining great sweetness of character with a lively and positive attitude. Older setters enjoy nothing more than to laze about in the shade and stay in the company of their beloved family.
Gaspare is adoptable anywhere in Italy.
ROME
Rex is a ten-year-old (estimated) German Shepherd living alone in the streets of Rome. He only survives thanks to a local shopkeeper who feeds him and lets him sleep in his shop on cold nights, while he shelters under a public stairway every other night of the year.
Rex is a sensitive soul, and good with people, but also scared and submissive, probably due to past mistreatment which happened while living alone in the streets at the mercy of thugs. His eyes are very sad, marked by his abandonment two years ago, after years spent with a family that he believed loved him. Wonderful news - Rex has now found a new home!
Gennaro landed in the dog pound a few weeks ago at 11 years old. Having spent his whole life in a family, it was very bewildering for him to realize that his family would not be coming back to get him. They decided to let him die of old age in a dog pound. I'm delighted that this lovely, friendly old dog has found a new home. Bravo Gennaro!
This little dog is Gelsomina, who was thrown out of a car on the streets of Viterbo. Formerly a family dog she was finding it particularly hard to cope. She was rescued and given a temporary home but is now with her new family in Brescia.
Pasqualino was found in this terrible state on the streets of Caserta near Naples by the carabinieri. He'd been wandering for hours and no-one had helped him. The worry once that once he was patched up he would have to go back on the streets.But that's not going to happen now as he has found a new home!
Lana had spent years in a dog pound before her photo and description were circulated by volunteers.She has a malformed front leg and had also had a broken pelvis, both resulting from maltreatment. But now this lovely old lady has a new family to love her. Miracles do happen Lana.
This poor little soul Lilla had spent all of her eight years chained like this.Her only home was a tarpaulin covered hole, yet despite everything she kept going and was friendly and affectionate towards the volunteers who helped her. Well Lilla, your nightmare is over as you now have a new home.
Polenta is nine years old and this gentle docile dog was abandoned by her family in April last year because she was getting old. Unbelievable isn't it? Obviously she was finding life in a pound very bewildering as she could not understand why she had ended up there. Now she is with her new family, who understand that the final years of a dog's life are as fulfilling, rewarding and important as its first ones.
.jpg)
