Well, after my agonising over whether to get a rescue dog, which one to choose, how it will get on with my own menagerie and so on I decided I had to take action of some sort, so yesterday I went to sign up as a volunteer at our local canile (dog pound). It's the Casentino branch and is located up a long track with a lovely backdrop of woods, where the dogs are allowed to run around (supervised of course).
I met Domenico who told me the canile is staffed entirely by volunteers and 'isn't a normal dog shelter' in the sense that the dogs are treated extremely well, look healthy with shiny coats, get to run in aforementioned woods and all look quite happy, considering. There are 24 residents at the moment.
I wasn't quite sure what the procedure was, so first I had to fill in a form and pay a fee of Euro 25 to become a 'socio' of the canile. I was ready to get stuck in there and then, but Domenico explained that volunteers have to wait until the peperwork is cleared by the ENPA head office in Rome and then I would be added to the roster.
The hours aren't too onerous, three hours once a month on a Saturday or Sunday. The rest of the time the canile is run single-handed it seems by Domenico who also has a full time job but is on shift work and so comes the part of the day he is free. He clearly adores the dogs, picking them up and kissing some of them and exchanging in good hearted (one sided) banter with the others.
I'm really looking forward to getting started in a couple of weeks. Oh, and by the way, I did see this dog there…