It's gone to the dogs

[Guest guest]

RE: It's gone to the dogs ...Athen's famed pooches add to character

of these flawless Games - Toronto Sun August 27/04

 

From : Dianne Aldan

 

Please crosspost - and please send in your comments to Licia

Corbella at editor liciac

 

Thank you for writing about the stray dogs of Athens; it is one of

many over the past few weeks which attempt to discredit accusations

that poisoning dogs was a means to clean the streets before the

olympic games. Saying that all the talk about the poisoning of

strays was nothing but a 'bunch of negative hype' is so untrue.

 

You would do well to have spoken to a few animal rescue groups as

part of your research for this article. If it weren't so serious it

would be laughable that suddenly the people in the City of Athens

love their dogs and do not kill them. Even more amazing is that

they are now considered safe in nice kennels and are served gourmet

food. Well the pictures displayed on my website tell a different

story. Please go to www.garcanada.com and click on Picture Gallery

I and II and see for yourself what goes on in shelters run by the

city and other municipalities. Yes, private shelters have taken in

some of the strays, maybe 300 or so, in recent weeks but this

doesn't say much when there are normally tens of thousands of strays

on the streets. Where are all the others? The few hundred dogs

which have been taken to one of the few private shelters in Athens

is nothing more than a gesture to make things look good during the

games. And what about the rest of Greece, where there are no

olympic venues taking place? Rest assured that deliberate poisoning

and other cruel acts against strays is ongoing and ignored by

officials.

 

I am not being critical for what the City of Athens is doing in

principle; what I am critical of is the timing of their actions.

They waited until the eleventh hour and it is too little, too late.

This should have happened 3 years ago. We would have been proud to

congratulate them at this time if that were the case. Their efforts

over the last couple of weeks are nothing more than a public

relations stunt.

 

 

If you wish to discuss this subject further, please feel free to

contact me.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Mrs. Dianne Aldan

Greek Animal Rescue - Canada (GARCANADA)

614 - 25 The Esplanade

Toronto, ON M5E 1W5

 

It's gone to the dogs ...Athen's famed pooches add to

character of these flawless Games - Toronto Sun August 27/04

 

Fri, August 27, 2004

 

It's gone to the dogs

 

Athens' famed pooches add to the character of these flawless Games,

tells Licia Corbella

 

By Licia Corbella

 

I CALL him Blondie, though a couple of his attributes clearly

indicate Blondie's a he. Sports columnist Eric Francis calls him

Whitefeather and Toronto Sun sports editor Pat Grier simply calls

him, " that mangy, flea-bitten mutt you love. "

 

Frankly, Pat's name is the most telling and true.

 

Blondie is just one of the thousands of stray dogs that can be seen

all over Athens -- one of the ones supposedly culled prior to the

Olympics to project a better image to the world.

 

Like most of the slander that was dumped all over Greece by the

world's western media before these so-far flawless Games (remember

the immovable traffic, the choking smog, the lack of air-

conditioning and the unfinished venues?) it was clearly just a bunch

of negative hype.

 

Last night, Blondie popped by the little outdoor restaurant inside

our media village just as I was buying a coffee and I lured him over

to my ground floor room for a snack.

 

I had saved him some omelette, ham, bacon and sausage from the

breakfast buffet and I topped off his little meal with Pedigree

biscuits and some water.

 

For this, Blondie honoured me by flopping down on the tile patio

outside my little room and proceeded to lick those male attributes

of his to a high sheen.

 

We first met on my second or third day here. It was about 4 a.m.

when I walked through the front door of the three-storey building in

this complex I'm sharing with many other journalists from around the

world.

 

It was dark and I was exhausted. I gasped with fright at the sight

of this unexpected intruder. He had, I presume, entered through the

main door, which is usually left ajar but likely slammed shut from

the wind. After I found the light switch, he looked warily at me and

I looked warily at him. " Gosh, " I said softly, " you really scared

me. " He wagged his tail in response and we've been fast friends ever

since, though I think I look forward to seeing him more than he

cares to see me.

 

DOG TREATS

 

Blondie is the main, though not only reason, I have taken to

carrying around dog treats here. I sometimes even carry around wet

dog food in my already jammed and heavy backpack filled with my

laptop, media guides, tape recorders and the like. But nothing is

more readily accessible than the treats.

 

When I see some mutt at the side of the road, if I'm in a cab or a

shuttle bus with open windows I'll, literally, throw the dog a

bone ... or two or three.

 

And I'm not alone, not by a long shot. For the past three days I

have been getting on the 7:30 a.m. bus for the Schinias canoe/kayak

centre -- about a one-hour drive from Athens -- and I have seen a

pattern that explains a lot.

 

There are two dogs -- one with long black fur with touches of white,

the other with shorter black fur and brown markings -- who sit

patiently, side by side, in front of a bakery, waiting I presume for

a daily treat, perhaps a sausage roll, or cheese pie. But one

morning I forgot my media accreditation and ended up having to catch

a later bus. By the time I drove past that same bakery the dynamic

duo was not there. Instead, I saw them sitting a couple of blocks

down, side-by-side again, in front of a small supermarket.

 

I laughed aloud at the sight of them. These two were making their

daily breakfast rounds.

 

The bus to Schinias also stops in a little beach town called Andreas

to pick up more media types on the way to the canoe/kayak centre and

I have come to know two other dogs there -- one a magnificent and

well-groomed German shepherd, the other just a scabby, mangy mutt.

They are, invariably happy to see me as I am them. These dogs -- all

of them -- have enhanced my time here. They are not pests and they

are certainly nothing for Athenians to be ashamed of.

 

As I finish writing this, Blondie is here on the patio, his presence

a calming gift. Now his ears are perking up and he gets up. There he

goes. He's trotting off in the direction of the outdoor grill. Maybe

short-order cook Nektaria (who calls him Rudy) has something for him

to eat. I call out after him and he looks back briefly, but keeps on

trotting.

 

Yes, he's a mangy, flea-bitten mutt, but I love him. And the best

part of all for Blondie and me is so do many others.