With my all-time fave toy, an old food cup, which I toss in the air and sometimes place on my head. / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

by Barney, with a little help from Katerina Lorenzatos Makris ~

Yo everybody,

When you’re as good-looking as I am, you’re going to leave a trail of broken hearts behind. If I had just a penny for every time somebody has fallen in love with me, I’d be rich enough to buy all the cookies in the world. And I’m only four months old! In just a few more months I’d be able to buy all the toys too.

Me under a bunch of big dogs at Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK) / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

The only person who wasn’t in love with me, I guess, for whatever stupid reason, was the one who dumped my sister and me at Aristophanes’s restaurant in Argostoli on the Greek island of Kefalonia when we were just a couple of months old. Soon after that, my sister got hit by a car. She screamed like crazy. It was really scary.

But the restaurant owner called the animal shelter, Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK), to help us. They couldn’t come right away ‘cause they were super busy, so the restaurant guy paid one of his workers to stay after hours and protect us till the shelter people could come late that night.

The animal shelter people took us to the vet and then helped my sister get better.

With a very pretty lady who also happens to be a veterinarian, Dr. Spiridoula Vavasi. She fell in love with me too. Of course. Heh heh. / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

No fleas please

For a while we lived at the shelter in a pen with a bunch of big dogs. They were OK to us as long as we didn’t bother them too much.

One day a different lady came and took us and two other puppies to the vet again.  The vet found more than 100 fleas on each of us and spent about an hour spraying us and combing them out. Although the shelter people work all the time to keep things clean and safe, it’s really hard for them to stop the fleas.

The lady felt that while we waited to go to our forever families some day, it would be better for us to have no fleas, plus more room in a bigger pen where we could run and play without big dogs to worry about, plus have a nice comfy bed, so she took us to her house.

After a couple of weeks my sister and the other puppies went to another country to their foster and adopter homes, and I moved inside the house with the lady and her big dog.

Ferociously attacking Agapi. He didn’t stand a chance. / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

At first I was worried about the big dog, Agapi, but he was cool and stayed away from me till I felt braver. Soon he was letting me jump on top of him, tug on his ears, bite his neck, and stick my toys in his face. We had tons of fun messing up the lady’s house together.

Why do they fall in love?

A couple of weeks later the lady kissed me lots of extra times, cried a bunch (major broken heart on that one), then put me

Me arriving in Amsterdam / Photo: Ellemieke Wagenaar Hummelinck

on an airplane with my flight partner, a really nice and pretty girl named Ellemieke Wagenaar Hummelinck, who naturally was in love with me too. The trip was totally scary, but afterward, as soon as I stepped out of my kennel, there were people there waiting to hold me and kiss me some more and tell me how adorable I am.

Know what I mean?  People just can’t help themselves.  Love at first sight.  Why do they fall in love with little ol’ moi?

Well, first of course I’m incredibly cute. A terrier-dachsund mix, is what they say, with golden scruffy fur and short legs.  I’m about 10 kilos now and will probably grow to no more than about 13 or 14 kilos.

Second, I’m really mellow. As long as I’m with someone who loves me (and as previously mentioned that’s nearly everybody) I’m calm around all kinds of people and dogs and traffic and noises. The lady who I stayed with here in Kefalonia took me with her in the car on errands and to the beach and just about everywhere. Even if I do say so myself, I was really good.

At Mirtos Beach on my home island, Kefalonia, Greece / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

I’m house-trained as long as you take me out to do my business about every two or three hours.

I’m crate-trained, too, so you can leave me alone inside my crate, where I can stay safe and comfy in case you need to leave the house or sleep or whatever.

Me and Pirate. Discretion is the better part of valor, I always say. / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

OK, so I get a wee bit excited about cats. But it’s so much fun to bark at them. If they run I might chase them a little but then if they turn around and hiss… well… I’d really rather not get whacked by those claws, so I just stop and sit and wag my tail.

Third, I love to play. One of my fave games is fetch.  I have a special ball that I’ll bring back for you all you want if you feel like throwing it for me.  Of course I love to wrestle and play chase and hide-and-seek with other doggies too.

Fun with my sis Frederike and foster bro Solomon before they left / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

Plus I do funny stuff like lie down and hold toys between my paws, and lift them up in the air over my head and bark at them, then put them on top of my head like hats.  I like to do that with my favorite toy, an old plastic food cup, and my even more favorite toy, a stolen sock.

Speaking of socks, yeah, all right, I can’t resist ‘em. So just don’t leave them out where I can

Do you like putting toys – especially socks – on your head? You should try it. / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

grab them.  Or really anything else you care about.  Like an alarm clock. Yes I ate the lady’s alarm clock. And other stuff that I will not mention on the grounds that I may incriminate myself.

It’s partly the lady’s fault because she was laughing so hard most of the time that she couldn’t tell me not to do stuff.

That’s how it is when you’re in love, right?  She was really seriously nuts about me. She had it bad. Totally head over heels.  Almost couldn’t put me on that plane.

Get in line

Anyway here I am in the Netherlands now, with a group called Mirtos Animal Project, waiting for the next heart to come along.

This time I’m making a promise, though—no more broken hearts.  This time I want a heart to keep all to myself, forever.  And you know what?  I’ll give away mine too.  I’ve already done my thing with the heartbroken ladies. Now that I’m four months old I’m ready to make a commitment and settle down.

In my foster home in the Netherlands / Photo: Mirtos Animal Project

But you better get in line. Adorable dudes like me don’t last on the shelf for long, ya know?

Peace and fried bread,

Barney

 Barney’s veterinary fees, documents, and travel pre-Holland, including ticket and lodging for flight partner, were sponsored by Spicy Stories Save Lives.

He is now available for adoption under the kind auspices of Mirtos Animal Project.

Please FOLLOW Spicy Stories Save Lives by clicking the ‘SUBSCRIBE’ button above. You’ll receive email notifications of our new articles, we will NEVER give your email address to anyone else, and it’s free!

Please note: Spicy Stories Save Lives is proudly providing part sponsorship for several Kefalonian animals including Viktor and Violetta and their mom Vaso (if/when we find her).

Meanwhile, Kefalonia Animal Trust (KATs) provides free spay/neuter for hundreds of animals per year here. Please give to KATs via PayPal or bank transfer. Spay/neuter and education are the animals’ best hope for a better future.

Also please consider Animal Rescue Kefalonia (ARK), another group on the island that runs a shelter and works miracles with terribly few resources. 

Spicy Stories Save Lives and the author of this article have no affiliation with KATs and ARK other than as a friend, volunteer, and donor.

Seen our book?  Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need, by Shelley Frost and Katerina Lorenzatos Makris, available through Amazon.com.